Photo: Andy Murphy of Murphy Cattle Co with his Grand Champion Steer, raised and sold by Robyn Halley      Photo courtesy of Trail Photography

With the dust of the sale ring clearing and all transactions checked and verified, the 2018 Middle park Fair and Rodeo Junior Livestock Sale inched its way to a record setting year with the net total of the sale approaching $243,00O.  Over 140 Businesses, parents and local supporters from Grand, Summit, Routt and Moffat Counties convened at the Junior Livestock Sale held on Friday, August 10 at 7:00 pm to bid on market livestock projects raised locally by 4-H/FFA youth.  Although no new records were set with champion purchases, the sale remained very strong throughout the evening, even into the resale potion of the sale as Auctioneer Randy Lewis sold over 97 lots in the regular sale and 25 lots in the resale.  The resale portion of the sale is where individuals that purchase in the regular sale donate the animal back to the resale, and money that is raised is donated to the original purchaser’s charity of choice. This year the resale raised over $10,000 for its various recipients.

Historically, Grand County has a reputation as being cattle country, and the sale started off with the Grand and Reserve Champion Beef projects exhibited by Robyn Halley and Luci Bruchez. The two champions combined brought close to $25000, and were purchased by Murphy Cattle Company and Northwest Ranch Supply.  Average of the sale remained high, with beef averaging over $7400 per head, through to the swine averaging $2100 per head to close out the regular sale. It was a strong showing of community support in that the sale remained strong even though we saw the total number of animals in the sale increase, due to increased participation from the youth of Grand and Summit counties in market livestock projects.

The Middle Park Junior Livestock Sale Committee is always amazed at the continued support of the community in helping kids reach future personal and educational goals through the Junior Livestock Sale.  For many of the kids it is a yearlong commitment to caring for and raising their projects for fair, and we send our sincerest gratitude to those who invest in our community’s youth.

Rick Wahl, Chairman

Taura Perdue, Treasurer

Sami Lechman, Secretary

Sheena Terryberry, Committee Member