Whale of a sale

PALMER — Saturday was payday for youngsters participating in the Alaska State Fair.

Where else other than the state fair livestock auction can you sell a turkey for $1,000?

Participants in state 4-H Clubs showed off their best Saturday during an afternoon of heated and blood-pumping bidding while selling their prized cluckers, goats, pigs and cows at the Alaska State Fair’s 4-H Jr. Market Livestock Auction. For many, the hard work of raising a champion farm animal had paid off.

Micha Fry, a 17-year-old Palmer High School student, spent most of his summer at home with his 470-pound pet, a bovine named Benz.

“My first cow was Mercedes,” he said.

Fry and his family purchased Benz in March, where he proceeded to take care of him for the next five months proceeding the livestock auction. Benz was fed bags of grain and gallons of milk each day, was groomed and clipped, and taught how to walk for judges. In five months, Fry had a champ on his hands.

At 11 years old, Fry became an active member of the 4-H Club in Palmer, starting out raising farm pigs, then moving up to cows a few years later. The cows is where the big money’s at.

Livestock sold at the 4-H Jr. Market Auction typically ends up at Mt. McKinley Meat and Sausage Plant to be butchered, then either donated or eaten by the business owner who bought them.

Fry said he doesn’t worry too much about letting go of the animals he’s helped raise. The future is a lucrative one.

“4-H teaches us how to be responsible and consistent with animals,” Fry said. “I’m hoping after I graduate to go to college with the money I’ve earned.”

Benz sold at auction to Carlisle Transportation for $4 a pound, earning Fry $1880, plus an additional $400 to $600 in add-ons. Add-ons are extra charitable donations thrown in from participating businesses attending the auction. The extras add up and are a pat on the back from the community for a participant’s hard work.

It pays to be in the 4-H Club.

Jim Gilbert, president of Udelhoven Oil Field Services, dropped $100 on Fry alone. Sitting in the front of the auction bleachers, Gilbert watched the auctioneers run around and ramble out the bids. He kept his eye on each seller and their livestock, making his move to bid when the timing felt right. It’s a pastime he enjoys immensely.

“I’ve been attending the auction with my wife for about eight years now,” Gilbert said. “I was president of my 4-H Club once and now I’m the president of my own oil company. I always look back and think there is a correlation between the two.”

Gilbert bought a young steer at auction and a couple of cluckers, which he plans on taking to slaughter and donating to the food bank. Gilbert said supporting the kids in 4-H is important as they show an extraordinary amount of leadership, hard work and responsibility in what they do. A couple of kids on his list received sizable add-ons from Gilbert during the event.

“I know these guys,” he said. “They are really good kids.”

Cathy Glaser, a 4-H Club leader in Palmer, knows about auctions. Glaser has been involved with the 4-H Club for 38 years, first back in her home state of Wyoming and today in Palmer. Glaser’s 12-year-old nephew, Quillan Jackson, has been preparing his steer since last October for this event, knowing it could earn him enough money to pay for a couple of semesters at a school of his choosing.

Her grandson, Kamerin Ewart, 7, is living with cerebral palsy and is also very active in 4-H, raising chickens that sold for $300 to Fred Taylor Construction Co., plus a substantial add-on amount from other auction participants.

“His chickens are peckers,” Glaser said. “We’ll enjoy cutting their heads off later.”

Contact J.J. Harrier at 352-2269 or valleylife@frontiersman.com.