Livestock auction draws a crowd

Hundreds of people packed the building as children involved in various 4-H and FFA programs around the county put their animals up for bid during the 51st annual Shawano County Fair livestock auction on Sept. 3 in the Coliseum on the fairgrounds.

Hogs, steer and sheep that were raised by kids were shown off in a pen in front of everyone as the bidding took place.

Surrounding businesses then bid on the animals that these children have raised.

“The kids put a lot of time and effort into being a part of this event,” said Paul McClone, vice chairman of the Shawano County 4-H livestock committee. “I don’t know of another fair that has something like this.”

McClone said that there was $506,000 spent between 168 animals this year, a fair record.

He said that the money that is spent on each animal goes to the child who raised the animal and put it up for auction. This helps to set up their future plans.

“A majority of the money that the children makes helps them in the future,” said McClone. “They could use the money for college, tech school and even a nice tool set. The money gets spent in a reasonable way.”

In preparation for the auction, children could spend a year or longer raising the animals and building a connection with them.

McClone said that due to the connection that the children build with these animals, it can be sad to see them go.

“Ninety-five percent of the animals that are bought harvested for butchering,” said McClone. “It is hard on the kids to let them go. We see a lot of kids crying.”

He said that a big takeaway for the kids for entering animals in this event is that they learn a lot about responsibility.

“The kids work with the animals all summer,” said McClone. “This is a great event to teach the kids a life lesson.”

With the popularity of the auction, McClone said that it is incredible to see the support of the community.

“It really is overwhelming to see the amount of support from surrounding businesses and community members,” said McClone. “The kids write these businesses letters and they (the kids) get rewarded generously.”

At the auction, businesses also have the opportunity to win the bid on the animal, donate the money back and have the animal put up for bid again. This money then goes to a scholarship fund for students who are moving on to college.

McClone said that seeing the amount of people in the crowd was encouraging to the children and the auction officials.

“We had a very good crowd,” said McClone. “We had 12 to 15 new buyers, which is more than normal.”

Last year during the COVID-19 pandemic, the auction was held virtually with kids showing their animals at the Crawford Center. McClone said that it was good to get people back together at the fair to bid on the animals.

“There were a lot of people at the fair this year,” said McClone. “I think that there are a lot of people that are over COVID. Everyone just wants to get back to normal.”

He said that, outside of the auction, the fair had a great turnout.

“I would imagine that the fair was close to record attendance,” said McClone. “I talked to some food vendors and they said that they were very happy with the turnout.”

McClone said that the auction has grown in popularity since the first year it was held. This is proved by the record number of money spent in 2021.

“The auction gets more and more popular every year,” said McClone. “The kids take their time and put in a lot of hard work. It is great seeing new people come every year.”

The Shawano County 4-H Livestock Committee also has a feeder cattle program, where the animals are fed all year in preparation for the auction.

“The kids feed their animals all year,” said McClone. “Some people already have their animal that they are going to put into next year’s auction.”

He also added that the children buy their animals from local and state-wide animal breeders.

McClone said that the popularity surrounding this event has been very positive to see.

“A lot of people came to partake and watch this event,” said McClone. “That shows that people think this event is very cool.”

lreimer@newmedia-wi.com