BENTON COUNTY -- This year's junior livestock premium auction at the Benton County Fair was handled differently due to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead of gathering in the livestock barn at the county fairgrounds on a Saturday night and all the exhibit animals shown in the arena before live bidders, the auction was conducted online Thursday evening.
"This year we are going virtual!" the fair's website stated. "Pre-bidding will start August 7th at 7 p.m. through August 13th. A live ending with auctioneer will start on August 13th at 7 p.m. ... All livestock shows will be streaming live!"
The auction was live-streamed at the fairgrounds and on Facebook and YouTube.
There were 124 young exhibitors, with several showing more than one animal. If an exhibitor had more than one animal, the animal with the highest bids was the one that was sold.
Instead of showing their animals in the arena, the exhibitors -- most of them members of local 4-H clubs or FFA clubs -- submitted photos of themselves and their animals. The bidding was done by lots, one lot per exhibitor.
The auction is a premium auction, meaning the young farmers get to keep their animals and use the sale price to cover costs of raising the animal or to begin a new livestock project for next year's fair.
As of Sunday, $96,075 had been raised in support for the many youth animal projects, but add-ons were still coming in, so that number was expected to go higher.
The online auction was conducted via CMC Auctions, an online auction service founded by Robbie and Anna Myers, who created the service to make it possible for charitable livestock auctions to be successful in this time of social distancing and caution due to the covid-19 pandemic. The Myers have been longtime supporters of the Benton County junior livestock premium auction and of youth agriculture programs such as 4-H.
Will the auction be live at the agriculture barn on the fairgrounds or online next year? That question remains unanswered but, considering the success of this year's online auction, the sale very well could continue to be conducted online in future years even after the current pandemic passes.
See the special section on the junior livestock premium auction in this issue.