Real Life For Young Farmers

Do I hear a 20, how about 30, now a 30, who’ll bid 40, now a 40….

On August 29th, this is the type of rapid-fire patter you’ll be hearing from Mark Boardman, auctioneer and president of the Junior Livestock Auction Committee for the Kitsap County Fair as he cajoles an eager audience to buy one of the quality meat animals raised by 4-H and Future Farmers of America kids.

And one of the premier animals to be sold is the steer Timmy Crabtree will bring in.  The youngest of four Crabtree children who have all brought market animals to auction, Timmy, 13, and headed for his 8th grade year at West Sound Academy,  claimed last year’s grand champion and hopes to win the top award  again this year with another hefty animal from the family’s prize registered black Angus herd in Kingston. In addition to his market animal, Timmy will also bring four other steer in to show.

Timmy Crabtree With His Market Animal Angus

“The minimum weight for a market steer is 1,000 pounds and I think he’ll weigh in at more than 1,300 – my animal last year weighed 1,365,” Timmy  said.

While it twists and turns in a stanchion, Timmy brushes and washes his animal in preparation for the Othello County Fair this weekend…which he says it’s the only fair on the West Coast that does a type of ultra sound that measures the amount of marbling and other qualities prized by knowledgeable beef buyers.

1350 lbs

As he brushes his steer’s belly, the young 4-H Club member, says his animal requires a lot of food – he’s 18 months old and eats 24 pounds a day of a premier cattle feed called “Barnyard Buffet”. When the animal is auctioned Timmy says he will have about $1.25 per pound of expense in him. Keeping track of expenditures and income from an animal is one of the requirements of a market animal project.

“Last year’s steer was his full brother and he went for $2.10 a pound so I’m hoping to do the same or better with him,” says Timmy, who is the lone remaining member in his 4-H Club, Awesome Animals.

He adds that there are only four steers at the market auction this year – two from 4-H and two from FFA members. Timmy will be one of the speakers at the KCAA meeting on August 11, at 7 p.m. at the Norm Dicks Center in downtown Bremerton.  Most of the meeting will be devoted to young farmers and the future of farming in Kitsap.

Cooling Off Dazey

But large meat animals are not the only ones being auctioned at the Fair. In Port Orchard, nine-year-old Ryleigh Randall, a member of the Kids of Kitsap 4-H Club, has been raising her animal, a Suffolk lamb named Dazey for the sheep auction.  Dazey leaps and runs away while Ryleigh tries to spray her down in the 100 degree heat.  This is Ryleigh’s first market animal – she picked it because she thought hogs were “too smelly” and sheep were cuter.  Dazey became the market animal because her twin brother, Dillon, nearly died of hypothermia and in the course of saving him he stayed in the house for two weeks and became somewhat of a pet.

Ryleigh Randall and "Dazey"

As the daughter of Farmland, Inc. owners, Ryleigh’s mom, Shannon, also raised market animals and was a member of 4-H. She’s happy that her daughter has shown an interest in animals and says Ryleigh been an animal lover since she got her first guinea pig at around age two.

“I don’t feel bad about Dazey going to be meat because she will be feeding some people,” says Ryleigh.

Michelle Turk With Her Market Animal Goat

Another member of the Kids of Kitsap 4-H Club is Michelle Turk, 17, of Fox Island, who will also be a speaker at the KCAA meeting. Outreach, marketing and education are other components of the market animal project. Originally involved in 4-H with horses six years ago, she’s now raising seven goats and will be bringing one of them to auction.  She hopes to educate people at the meeting and Fair about the value of goat meat and milk. She says her family loves goat milk and she’s invented lots of recipes for tasty puddings and other goodies using the milk.

A Working Farm Partner - Clearing Brush

“Good goat meat can be very tasty and it’s used often in many countries around the world, though it’s not as well-known here,” says Michelle.  “I had some great goat curry recently at a Thai restaurant.”

Mark Boardman of Stokes Auction is in his second full term as president of the Junior Livestock Auction Committee for the Kitsap County Fair.

“The numbers are down from 70 last year, probably due to the economy, but we will have around 50 good meat animals for auction in four categories – swine, steer, goats and lambs”, says Boardman.

In his two terms of office, Boardman is credited for cleaning up the rules and by-laws of the market auction into one document for both FFA and 4-H members so that everyone is on the same page and going by the same set of rules and regulations.  He says the animals can be viewed beginning at their check-in on Tuesday evening, August 25th until the auction which begins at 11 a.m. on the 29th in the swine area of the Fair grounds and will continue through a good part of the day.

All animals are grain fed and must make certain weight limits for each class. Careful records are kept of any medications or vaccinations the animals have had. They are also judged on such things as appearance and grooming, ability of the owner to answer judges’ questions, and are auctioned according to award class with the grand champion going first, then the reserve champion, followed by blue and red ribbon holders.

“Raising a market animal gives children a good sense of  responsibility as well as educating them about marketing and economics because they have to keep track of how much expense they have into the animal versus what they can expect to get for it,” says Boardman.

There are a number of businesses such as Farmer George, Central Market, Les Schwab Tires, Larry and Shirley Stokes, Kitsap Bank, Red Apple markets, and Tim Ryan Construction who have supported the Junior Livestock Auction during its long history. For an individual who wants to experience the auction for the first time, Joe Keehn of Farmer George says the auction committee is on hand to walk you through the process and make it easy. And with his auction experience of more than 20 years, Keehn will also be available and more than happy to answer questions.  He can provide certain services and give you advice on an auction animal that takes you through the process from gavel to slaughter to packaging and storage.

‘I would say that the majority of the small animals are purchased by individuals and a first-time animal auction buyer shouldn’t worry about the process – there are plenty of people to help you through it – in turn, you are helping out a young farmer by buying one of these quality meat animals,” says Keehn.

For more auction details please visit:

http://www.stokesauction.com/marketanimal.htm