Despite the heat, a packed house turned out to bid on chickens, goats, hogs, lambs and steers. The auction is always a huge event at the fair and this year was no different. Children and their families from the area packed in to see how their animals would fare and there was little disappointment as a healthy group of livestock was paraded throughout the arena, a testament to these 4-Hers’ skills.

Natalie and Trey Hoyt of Panama come from a farming family and both sold pigs in the sale.

“We’ve been raising them since January,” Trey, a six-year member of 4-H, stated.

“I was expecting them to do pretty good and I got pretty good,” Natalie, a four-year member, said excitedly.

OBSERVER Photo by Jo Ward Morgan Becker, Kylie Keefe and Hallie Boardman celebrated their hard work as they watched their hogs and steer be sold off at the meat auction Friday.

“Mine was decent, could have been better,” Trey added Friday. “They’ll stay here until tomorrow and then everything will be gone on Sunday.”

Three friends, Hallie Boardman and Kylie Keefe of Mayville and Morgan Becker of Silver Creek talked eagerly of their time in 4-H and the animals they raised.

“I have a hog and a steer,” Keefe stated with pride.

“They’ve all done well,” Becker said, referring to the animals sold.

The work they put into their animals was evident as they talked lively about them.

“It’s hard work but it’s worth it,” Boardman went on. “It’s fun until the last day and then you have to say good-bye and then it’s sad but you learn stuff and it is so fun.”

Keefe has been involved in 4-H for five years and Boardman for three. Their families, along with Becker’s, are all farmers.

“We raised our hogs for six months, and my steer I’ve raised since September,” Keefe said.

When asked about 4-H, Boardman had this to say: “I think it’s better to have 4-H friends and then you have your school friends because your 4-H friends have something in common with you.”