How do you make a goat stand still? Can you really steer a turkey with a stick? How does someone use a rope to guide a steer that weighs over 1,000 pounds? It all happened this past weekend at the Junior Livestock Auction at the Plumas-Sierra County Fair in Quincy.
Collaboration and hard work are key
While many children came to the fair just to have fun, 4-H members with animals to auction followed a demanding daily schedule of chores interspersed throughout the day. For them, hard work, determination and a strong work ethic were key. Each club member is responsible for caring for their animal onsite and for providing their own feed and supplies. A barn duty chart assigned everyone a turn at watching over the stalls, sweeping the aisles and keeping water buckets filled. Only when chores were finished were the kids free to explore the fair.
4-H relies on a strong community of parents and past participants. Parents help smaller children and former 4-H members return every year as volunteers. Longtime county resident Gina Bresciani-McGirr, of Bresciani Ranch in Quincy, was a member of 4-H as a child and raised her children and grandchildren in the program. She continues to volunteer with the organization, both at the club level and by actively taking part in fair auctions. Bresciani-McGirr said she “believes that the 4-H program is important in teaching kids about responsibility and leadership.” She wants to keep the program going.
The fair auction also included animals raised by National FFA Organization members, typically high school students. Their presence was felt through the help they provided to many of the younger participants.
Many club members who live outside Quincy chose to camp at the fairgrounds, rising as early as 5:30 a.m. to care for their animals.
Showcasing the livestock
This year’s fair auction entries included 137 farm and ranch animals raised across Plumas and Sierra counties. They were all housed at the fairgrounds and ranged in size from a 23-pound turkey to a 1,460-pound steer. The auction animals began arriving late July 22 — before the fair opened — and each was assigned a specific stall in a specific barn.
On July 26, the day of the show, 4-H members were busy grooming their animals to look their best in front of the judges in the ring; both animal and club members are judged on appearance.
The auction followed on July 27. Before auction, animals were officially weighed by Plumas County Agricultural Commissioner Willo Vieira.
A new addition to the Junior Livestock Auction in recent years is an ultrasound of the animals’ loins, overseen by Megan Neer, of Genesee Valley Ranch.
“The ultrasound is used to show the quality of the meat by measuring the fat-to-meat ratio in the loin thickness,” said Neer. Ultrasound results are sent to the Centralized Ultrasound Processing Lab in Iowa for a rating. Previously, meat was manually graded at slaughter.
Then it was time for the club members to display their animals before an audience of potential buyers. Once sold, animals were transferred to holding pens, where they would remain until shipped to the slaughterhouses. 4-H club members cleaned their stalls for the last time — this year — leaving them empty and quiet, waiting for next year’s sale.
