For most of the general public, a summer without county fairs means no pig races, funnel cakes, or grandstand events. But for the hardworking youth exhibitors all around the state, a canceled county fair means a great deal of uncertainty when it comes to exhibiting or selling their projects.
There are a lot of ideas being tossed around at fair board meetings in an attempt to let kids either show their animals, sell their animals, or both. The Green County Fair recently announced that it was not happening this summer. But soon after, another announcement was rolled out that gave Green County youth exhibitors some hope: they would be able to sell their animals.
On June 10th, letters were sent to past buyers of the Green County Fair Livestock Auction, offering up a couple of ways to purchase fair animals from exhibitors. First, they could pick an individual animal they would like to purchase from a specific exhibitor. According to the letter, “if you have an animal you would like to purchase at market cost, from a youth, please contact the Extension Green County office by June 26th, at 608-328-9440 and we will connect the youth to you.” The second option offered is to contribute to a pool of money that will be split up evenly among all the exhibitors. Even if a child doesn’t sell their animal they will still get compensation from this pot of money. “All the hogs will be the same price, beef will be the same price, chickens will be the same price,” says Leslie Brugger, the head of the Green County Fair Livestock Auction. “Whatever animal it is…those youth will get back the same price from the donation pool.”
To break it down, a youth exhibitor could actually get money from two different sources. They could sell their animal outright to an interested buyer at market price and make roughly what they would at an auction during a normal year. Then, they could also receive the set amount from the pool of money that is being put together. If they do not sell their animal they will still be get a payout from the donated money. Everyone will walk away with at least some sort of money to offset the costs incurred by raising animals.
This entire process is being done through the Green County Extension office and no physical auction will be held. You do not have to be a Green County resident to purchase an animal or donate money to the youth exhibitor fund.
If you are interested in contributing money to be divided amongst auction eligible youth: please send a check, payable to Meat Animal Auction and mail to Extension Green County, 2841-6th Street, Monroe, WI 53566 by June 26th, 2020. If you have questions, please contact Jackie McCarville, Ag Educator, or Jayne Butts at 608-328-9440. Any contributions collected will be pooled together and split accordingly amongst all auction eligible youth, as determined by the Auction Committee. Any donation is welcome and there is no amount too small.
The auction organizers and Extension would also like to say a special thank you to Erik Huschitt of Badger State Ethanol. His forward thinking helped to promote this effort.
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