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March 6, 2009

Auction helps kids with tuition

Winning money to go to college.

That’s what Thursday’s Woodward District Livestock Show Premium Auction meant to three young students whose animals won top titles and top dollar.

One of them, Randall Castor, of Vici 4-H, won Supreme Heifer with a shorthorn that auctioned off for $1,500 from K101 and the Bank of Western Oklahoma.

“I’ve won $3,000 to $4,000 at premium auctions and shows” with the heifer, Castor said while trying to figure up his total earnings. “I’m putting the money in the bank and saving it for college.”

Castor, who paid $2,000 for his animal, bought her from Roy Fleming of Woodward.

Justyce Barnett, Woodward County 4-H, had a Chianina breed champion steer that brought $2,000 at the auction.

K&S; Tire bought the steer, whose name was Thunder.

“I’ve been raising him for eight months to a year,” Barnett said, noting she invested about $1,500 in Thunder for feed and medicine. Her secret to producing a winner was “hard work,” she said.

When asked what she planned to do with her earnings after totaling the figures, Barnett said she would “put it in the bank and save it for college.”

While Castor said he would probably keep his heifer, Barnett said she would eventually sell her steer.

Chelsea Head, Waynoka FFA, had a Hampshire wether lamb that brought $800 at the auction and a reserve grand champion club lamb breeding ewe that brought $775.

For Head, lambs are a business.

“I actually don’t raise them,” Head said after auctioning her two lambs off. “I buy them when they’re about three months old. On average, every year, I put about $12,000 into them. I’m real serious. Most of the time I break even on them.”

Asked what she planned to do with her lambs, she said she would either sell them at the state fair in Oklahoma City, or sell them to a meat packer.

She also planned to go to college on money earned from livestock auctions.

FFA and 4-H students weren’t the only winners at the premium auction Thursday.

A man who had invested years of hard work in putting together auctions for the students was also a winner.

Terry Nelson, former long-time extension agent for Woodward County, received both the Woodward District Livestock Show’s honoree award and the 2009 Black Jacket award.

Both awards recognized Nelson for his many years of service to and involvement with the livestock auction.

Upon receiving the award, Nelson said, “it’s a privilege to be a part of this show.”

Nelson noted that the 4-H and FFA students were what made it all worthwhile.

“We love the kids,” he said.

Asked how it felt to be given the Black Jacket, Nelson said, “it is extremely pleasing. This is something I’ve had the pleasure of awarding to people in past years. I know how much effort goes into it.”

C.J. Montgomery, president of the Woodward Chamber of Commerce and emcee of the premium auction, said all together, about $125,000 was raised at the event.

“It went very well,” Montgomery said. “We got a lot of good support from the community and surrounding area. We sold the scholarship jar several times, raising $2,000 to $3,000 in scholarship dollars.

“We were very pleased with the outcome,” he said.

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Workers prepare to load a damaged diesel tanker onto a tow truck following a fatality collision along Highway 412 west of Orienta Thursday.

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