Tessa Delmore, 19, has been showing animals with the North Forty 4-H Club since she joined 11 years ago. This year, her steer won the overall Grand Champion Market Beef award for the first time, making it one of the most sought-after animals in the area.

She and nearly 230 other 4-H members gathered Wednesday night to sell their animals for a profit to a crowd of bidders at the Larimer County Fair’s Junior Livestock Sale at the MAC Equipment Inc. Indoor Arena on the ranch.

The goal of the annual auction is to teach 4-H members ages 8 to 19 skills in “animal husbandry, responsibility, time management, bookkeeping and public speaking,” according to the ranch’s website.

Delmore’s grand champion steer Leonard was purchased last year by an Iowa farm. They have raised the steer since then and he has grown to a whopping 1,423 pounds. He sold for $12,500 on Wednesday night.

Delmore said the amounts spent on sales have not been the same since the COVID pandemic, but the work of organizers is gradually driving those numbers back up.

“We’re working on rebuilding the whole thing. This year we’re trying a different format. This year we went with a smaller, enclosed format with private space. Last year it was too big, people got lost, we felt like people couldn’t see who was in the ring and it was too busy,” Delmore said.

It wasn’t just cattle that were for sale on Wednesday night. Lambs, pigs, turkeys, rabbits and chickens were also on the auction block. Selene Spence, 17, sold her reserve champion chickens to bidders and has been selling since she was eight years old.

“It’s a big responsibility,” said Spence. “Although I’m attached to it, the meat brings profit to many places, many people buy it in the supermarket. But in the end it’s worth it.”

Delmore said she has learned a lot from participating in the sale over the past 11 years, including how to be a role model for younger 4-H members and how to be responsible when caring for animals.

“It’s not like sports where you have to be responsible for yourself. There’s always a live animal out there that’s dependent on you and that you’re responsible for. It doesn’t matter if you’re tired after a show or something, you have to be the one to get up and take care of the animal,” Delmore said.

Bidders had three options when purchasing an animal during the auction. Option one was to purchase an animal and pay the difference between their bid price and the market price, option two was to purchase the animal and donate it to the Larimer County Food Bank, and option three offered people the option to purchase the animal for personal consumption.

All money earned by 4-H members is either reinvested in purchasing animals for sale the next year or goes toward funding future college plans.

Kellen Riedlinger is another member of the North Forty 4-H Club and has been showing animals since he was 8 years old. He is a freshman attending Colorado State University this fall studying agricultural economics and has also learned a lot about showing animals during his 4-H years.

“You learn how to make money, how to work hard and how to talk to people. You have to go into an arena with a 700-kilogram animal and act like you’re in charge, even though in reality you never know,” Riedlinger said.

This is the last year that Riedlinger and Delmore will be able to participate in the livestock sale, and Delmore is looking forward to returning to the sale and mentoring the younger members.

“I love this and I’m going to miss it so much. This was my life for 10 years and I love it,” Delmore said. “I’m excited to be able to end it this way and come back to help the kids.”

Originally published: August 7, 2024 at 18:49