The 15th annual Sale of Champions at the Kosciusko 4-H Livestock Auction will be held at 6 p.m. Friday, July 14. The sale will feature the grand and/or reserve champion animals of each species including the sale of the 4-H King and Queen kisses.
Shown is last year’s grand champion specialty market goat, owned by Danielle Jenkins, Milford, and the buyers.

WARSAW — The 15th annual Sale of Champions at the Kosciusko 4-H Livestock Auction, Friday, July 14, has a few changes including a new time. The Sale of Champions will start at 6 p.m. with the display of the champions in the dairy barn at 5:30 p.m.

Another change is there will not be the sale of pork loins and ribeyes at the end of the sale. A year’s break from this fundraising activity will be taken.

The annual 4-H Livestock Auction is the culmination of a year of hard work and dedication for more than 375 4-H animal exhibitors. Through these projects, 4-H’ers learn a number of valuable life skills and lessons. This is the final step for their project where they learn about marketing aspects.

The auction of eligible animals will begin promptly at 10 a.m. and continue throughout the day with no break. This year’s order is: poultry and waterfowl, beef steers, dairy steers, dairy calf feeder steers, rabbit, dairy products, swine, goats and goat products and sheep. Unlike the past, individuals who wish to purchase a hog for personal use, cannot take place during the auction. The swine committee can assist and needs to know by Thursday, July 13, by contacting Peg Zimmerman at (574) 457-6858 or the 4-H office at (574) 267-8363 by July 10. The swine will be loaded up Thursday night.

The 15th annual Sale of Champions, which include the grand and/or reserve grand champion animals of each species, will have up to 22 lots representing the champion animals exhibited at the fair. The sale of these champions will be in the same rotation as the regular sale. The sale also includes the sale of the 4-H King and Queen kisses, which are annual fundraisers for the 4-H program.

Last year’s auction brought in $418,950.41 which went to local 4-H’ers. The sale total was up in total dollars from 2015, and up in the number of lots sold at the auction. A total of 516 lots were sold in 2016.

Individuals, buyers groups, service clubs, lodges, unions and businesses can participate in the purchase of animals during the auction. Interested buyers for the auction can register at the 4-H office at the fairgrounds starting at 8 a.m. on July 14. Sale bills will be available after 7 p.m. Thursday, July 13 at the 4-H office on the fairgrounds. Buyers will purchase the animals on a dollar per head basis, but only pay the difference between the bid price and the market price of the animal.

The purchases can provide families with quality meat throughout the year, clubs and organizations can use the meat to host a barbecue, donate to a favorite organization or charity, or auction packaged meat to members. Businesses can present top quality meat to best customers, use the purchase in promotional campaigns, host a barbecue or resell the purchase. Those in the restaurant or market business can advertise and serve top quality local meat and use the 4-H logo on menus or displays.