{"id":45464,"date":"2021-08-01T01:09:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-01T07:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/4-h-youths-thrive-at-montezuma-county-fair\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:25:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:25:35","slug":"4-h-youths-thrive-at-montezuma-county-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/4-h-youths-thrive-at-montezuma-county-fair\/","title":{"rendered":"4-H youths thrive at Montezuma County Fair"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"More
More than 100 4-H animals were auctioned off on Saturday at the Montezuma County Fair. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span>Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Forty local buyers bid on over 100 animals raised by 4-H participants during the livestock sale at the Montezuma County Fair on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The auctioneer urged on the large crowd gathered in the main barn as bidders drove up prices for steer, swine, sheep, goats and fowl.<\/p>\n

Local businesses, individuals and organizations buy animals above market value to support the youths who raise the animals.<\/p>\n

\"Dallin
Dallin Lanier shows his steer during the livestock sale of the Montezuma County Fair Saturday. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span>Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A buy-back program allows the kids to keep the animal if they choose.<\/p>\n

The Grand Champion steer, owned by Hunter Goodall, weighed in at 1,364 pounds and sold at auction for $7,300. Dannika Goodall had the Reserve Grand Champion steer, which sold for $7,100.<\/p>\n

The livestock sale is a chance for 4-H youths to earn money while showcasing the animals they have raised all year. They learn how to care for and produce quality market animals and make a profit after paying off costs of raising the animal.<\/p>\n

Last year, sales hit about $250,000.<\/p>\n

Taylor Garner, 12, raised a Maine angou steer named Mike, which sold for $3,800.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like how much fun it is raising them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Gabriella Gray, 15, raised a dark cross pig named Sporky. It sold for $2,400.<\/p>\n

\"Gabriella
Gabriella Gray shows her hog Sporky at the Montezuma County Fair livestock show. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span>Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThey are super-smart creatures and are very beautiful,\u201d she said. \u201cThe best part is showing. The challenge is keeping them at a good market weight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dallin Lanier sold his steer for $3,700, and his costs included $1,000 in feed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m using the profits to save for college,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fair intern Tierney Wilson spent 11 years in Montezuma County 4-H, and the money she earned selling sheep at the fair paid for college.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helped me graduate debt free,\u201d she said. \u201cThe opportunities I had in 4-H were a huge part of where I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The open class portion of the 4-H fair events includes a variety of projects, ranging from food, arts and crafts, and research projects.<\/p>\n

\"4-H
4-H member Lily Forsythe presented information on gun safety and participated in the .22 pistol shoot at the Montezuma County Fair.<\/span>Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Lily Forsythe, 15, had a presentation on gun safety. She also took fourth place in the .22 pistol shoot competition after practicing all year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is nice to learn from people with experience and a lot of knowledge,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The 10-day fair wrapped up Saturday. It featured rodeos, a demolition derby, animals shows, arts and crafts and a country music concert.<\/p>\n

Kids reveled in the chicken chase, sheep scramble, and other fun events.<\/p>\n

Fair attendance is up over last year, which saw less people because of the pandemic, said Greg Felsen, director of Montezuma County CSU Extension.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen good interest in the 4-H program and people were signing up this week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@the-journal.co<\/a><\/em>m<\/p>\n

\"The
The hustle and bustle of the chicken chase entertains kids and the crowd at the Montezuma County Fair. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span>Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Local
Local kids take home chickens they caught during the Montezuma County Fair chicken chase on Friday. (Jim Mimaga\/The Journal)<\/span>Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Beatrice
Beatrice Lawson, age 3, traveled from New Jersey to attend the Montezuma County Fair and participate in the chicken chase. She named her catch Olivia.<\/span>Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Popular livestock sale wraps up events Saturday <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[947,281,21,28,1398,2105,445],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-45464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-4-h","tag-agriculture","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-livestock-farming","tag-montezuma-county-fair","tag-newsletter-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45464"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86504,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45464\/revisions\/86504"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45464"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=45464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}