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Relief Accompanies County Fair Steer Auction

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By RONNIE BLAIR

rblair@tampatrib.com

Published: February 21, 2009

DADE CITY - The organizers of the steer show at the Pasco County Fair approached this year's event with a little trepidation.

They figured the state and nation's dismal economic conditions could affect sale prices when young people competing in the show auctioned off their steers Thursday night.

They were right about prices being down from a year ago.

They also were relieved the results weren't as bad as they had feared.

"Everybody was bracing themselves for something a lot worse," said Dicky Brown, chairman of the fair's agriculture committee.

The average price for the 76 steers sold Thursday night at the Albert A. Barthle livestock pavilion was $2.45 a pound, Brown said. That was down from $2.70 a pound in 2008.

The Grand Champion steer sold for $4 a pound, he said, and the Reserve Champion sold for $3.10 a pound.

The latter price sets the precedent for other steers sold, because none of the steers in the show can sell for more than the Reserve Champion, Brown said.

A steer shown by Amanda Crouch, 15, a member of Dade City Senior FFA, took this year's Grand Champion prize.

Zachary Alvarez, 11, a member of Possum Trot 4-H, had the Reserve Champion.

Total sales were about $220,000, Brown said, compared with about $260,000 last year when there were 92 steers in the show.

"We feel pretty fortunate our community comes out and supports our program and these students," he said.

The steer show features students ages 10 to 18 who raise the animals and must handle them in front of judges.

A steer might seem like a big animal for a 10-year-old to deal with, but the children manage fine, said Earl Singletary, chairman of the fair's steer committee.

"Usually, the young kids do better than the bigger kids," Singletary said.

Singletary said the decline in the number of steers this year could be because of the economy, but it also could just be that fewer students decided to show steers.

He has chaired the steer committee for nine years and said the number of entries fluctuates.

Although the students earn money when they sell the steers at the fair, they must invest their own money to get there. They buy the steers, feed them and care for them.

The education tends to be the real payoff.

"They learn how to take care of animals," Singletary said. "They learn right quick with a steer."

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218.

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