Your State Fair

[NBL]

I was wondering how the different state fairs work with regards what they do with the animals at the end.  Do they have a sale of champions where they sell for good money?  If, how much?  Do they sell everything on a carcass system?  Do they only sell the champions?  Do they offer varying degrees of scholarships and sell the steers at Market Price?  Just interested to hear, because it seems as though most of the champion and reserve champion steers at state fairs sell for $10K, $20K, $30 to larger companies or syndicate groups.  Thanks.

 

[breyfarm]

Ohio State fair only the champions sell, and they have caps for the amount the exhibitor gets like 21,000 for grand and 10,000 for reserve then the rest of the money like 2 years ago (grand 65,000) goes to youth reserve program to pay other exhibitors for places 1-10 each class or so. Also for other youth fundraisers and scholorships.

 

[iowabeef]

In Iowa, The Grand and Reserve for each species are sold on the Sale of Champions the last Saturday of the fair.  All other animals are the responsibility of the exhibitor to take home, keep or market how they see fit. Once an exhibitor has been named Grand or Reserve, they then have about 3 days to go home and raise "local funds".  They are supposed to approach local businesses and family to raise money to start their bidding.  They are "encouraged" (semi-pressured) to raise at least $10,000 in 3 days.  Then at the auction the bidding starts at the amount of the "local funds" and goes up from there.  The final total announced is a combination of the "local funds" and the live auction bid.  The buyers and sale price  of each of the animals is basically predetermined by the auction committee and the auction is basically a show.  The exhibitor gets around 75% of the auction price with the rest of it going to scholarships.

 

[RankeCattleCo]

In Wisconsin, the hog, sheep, and cattle all sell in the "Governer's Auction"  It's a really cool thing to watch.  Normally the animals are bought by large corporations, i.e. Case IH, the fair's carnival, etc., etc.
The Grand champion of each breed sells, plus the grand and reserve obviously.  They typically sell for 20-40 thousand for grand/reserve overall then anywhere from 5-15 thousand depending on breed, place overall (3rd, 4th, etc.) and name.  Here's what the exhibitor gets...

Sale Price Exhibitor Receives
$1 to $5,000 80%
$5,001 to $10,000 78%
$10,001 to $15,000 76%
$15,001 to $20,000 74%
$20,001to $25,000 72%
$25,001 to $30,000 70%
$30,001 to $35,000 68%
$35,001 to $40,000 66%
$40,001 to $45,000 64%
$45,001 to $50,000 62%
$50,001 and up 60%

The rest are normally taken home and butchered for family use, otherwise they go to market or some sell to business's if they're lucky. 

RCC

 

[twistedhshowstock]

I grew up in Louisiana.  At our State Fair the number of animals making the sale was based on a % system, though I forget what the actual % was.  But basically a certain # of the animals entered in Market shows made the sale, so you had to place in that top percent of your class to make the sale.  So lets say it was 10% that made the sale and there were 20 in your class, then you had to place 1st or 2nd to make sale.  At that time, about 12 yrs ago, the entire sale was terminal. So if your animal made the sale it went on the consignment truck after the sale.  Most animals were bought by big businesses that didnt really want the animal, so the consignment company gave the buyer back market value for the animal.  Also if you did not make the sale you could take your animal to the consignment truck and they would give you market value for the animal, but we always just put whatever didnt make the sale in the freezer.  When I was showing it wasnt uncommon for Champion steer to bring $40,000 or $50,000 and at that time we basically just got charged a commision, like they kept 10% or something, and there was no cap on what an exhibitor got.  But my Sophomore or Junior yr they put a cap on how much exhibitors got and didnt do a very good job of explaining it to either echibitors or buyers, and we didnt really see any scholarship from it, or improvements to the show.  So that extra money basically just went in the fair boards pockets I think.  After that the show there really went downhill, exhibitors and buyers alike didnt trust them, buyers quit coming and so eventually the exhibitors did to.  These days their entire market steer show only takes a few hours to run.  I think they are trying to fix some of the problems, but there is a lot that I think they can do.  I know the sale has changed, because of lack of buyers and exhibitors the number of animals sold has been decreased, I dont think there is even enough to make the consignment truck want to come anymore, so now the only terminal animals in the sale are the Champion and Reserve Champions, the rest of the animals go through the sale ring and then go home with the exhibitors. And I think there is even a way the Champs can go home with the exhibitor, they just surrender part of the bid price.  I think part of this was to try and get exhibitors back.  In all of the Market Shows in Louisiana except the steers they can show females,  so people can come with a gilt for example and make sale then take her home and breed her or sell her to someone to breed.  And the kids can show lightweight steers, make the sale, and then take them home for the State Show in the spring.  But it hasnt seen much improvement.  I think they need to start by taking some of that money they keep from the sale and putting some pride in their show.  There are probably about 20 washracks in the cattle barn but you are lucky if you can find 5 where the pipes arent broken, when the pipes break in a washrack instead of fixing them it seems like  they just cap the pipes and forget about them.  And of the 5 washracks  that have water your lucky to find 2 that actually drain and dont leave you standing in 6" of nasty water the entire time.  And where as the major shows here in Texas are largely run by volunteers and are emaculately run.  Everyone at State Fair of Lousiana gets paid for what they do, and it sux majorly.  Isles are never cleaned, are always covered in crap so its like walking on ice as you slip and slide down them, dumpsters are dumped in a pile right beside the barns so there is a mountain of stinking trash and crap there the entire show.  And the way their schedule is makes it hard for more than one breed of cattle to thrive there because its hard for Agents and Ag teachers to be there to help their kids.  I have no problem with shows capping sales and stuff as long as the funds they keep are being put back into supporting their show.  But it gets suspicious when they do this and the show steadily goes downhill with no improvement. 


P.S> Sorry for the diatribe, this topic just reminded me how disappointed in this show I am.

 

[breyfarm]

I forgot to add..grand and reserve doesn't leave..straight to the packer I believe

 

[iowabeef]

In Iowa, The Grand and Reserve for each species are sold on the Sale of Champions the last Saturday of the fair.  All other animals are the responsibility of the exhibitor to take home, keep or market how they see fit. Once an exhibitor has been named Grand or Reserve, they then have about 3 days to go home and raise "local funds".  They are supposed to approach local businesses and family to raise money to start their bidding.  They are "encouraged" (semi-pressured) to raise at least $10,000 in 3 days.  Then at the auction the bidding starts at the amount of the "local funds" and goes up from there.  The final total announced is a combination of the "local funds" and the live auction bid.  The buyers and sale price  of each of the animals is basically predetermined by the auction committee and the auction is basically a show.  The exhibitor gets around 75% of the auction price with the rest of it going to scholarships.

In Iowa, they grand and reserve also go I believe to Iowa State University.  They are butchered and the carcasses are studied by the animal science department.  Once the carcasses have been analysed, there is a forum where all of the exhibitors and other dignitaries are invited to see the results.  The sale of champions includes  Grand & Reserve for  4-H Market Steer, 4-H Market Heifer, 4-H Hog, FFA Hog, 4-H Sheep, FFA Sheep, and I believe broilers also....might have missed something