What a generous community and what a community of volunteers! They came together at the Tehama District Fair Junior Livestock Auction when 426 animals were sold, and on Wednesday May 8 I was told the sale was at $1,177,924.94 with add-on money still coming in. Last year it was 357 lots and $1,144,732.00 on Monday.
The 2024 sale had 59 steers, 220 swine, 102 sheep, 29 goats, 15 poultry pens of three and 23 rabbit pens of three.
Back in the 1970’s or 80’s we were so excited when the sale grossed $100,000.
In 1979, my Christmas letter, “Kendra’s steer weighed 1035#, stood 1st in class, sold for $1.50 a lb. to John Wheeler Logging, and then won a large trophy plus $50 as Champion Carcass animal with a 2.1 Yield Grade, Choice minus, 11.9 rib-eye, 61.61 percent dressing percentage, and carcass index of 52.1. Steer came from Tehama Angus. Our Jr. Auction grossed $96,000.” Forty and 50 years ago cattle were smaller than today.
The 2024 Sale of Champions: Supreme Champion Steer, Jayda Staley, Independent, at $10 a lb. to Redding Kia; Reserve Supreme Champion Steer, Samantha Prouty, Antelope 4-H, at $4.50 lb. to Triple R Gas and Wright Brothers; FFA Reserve Champion Steer, Ellis Macfarlane, Independent, $6.25 lb. to Redding Kia; 4H Reserve Champion Steer, Jordyn Staley, Independent, $7.25 lb. to Allen Gill Construction.
Supreme Champion Market Swine was owned by Jayden Byrd, El Camino 4-H and sold by Jayden at the microphone as auctioneer, with a smooth chant that was professional. Les Schwab Tire, Red Bluff and Corning paid $20 a lb.; Abigail O'reilly, Independent, had the Reserve Supreme Champion, but for some reason she sold her back-up pig instead, and One-Up-Front paid $5.50 lb; FFA Champion Swine was shown by Aubree Fox, Corning FFA selling to TX Bar Grass Fed for $7 lb.; FFA Reserve Champion Swine was shown by Bronc Joanette, Red Bluff FFA, but he was at Cal Poly for the state judging competition, and his sister was in the auction ring with the animal when Borror Brothers paid $7 lb.
Supreme Champion Lamb was shown by Macey Grissom, Red Bluff FFA, and Pat Jenkins paid $24 lb; Reserve Supreme Champion Lamb shown by Hayley Byrd, El Camino 4-H and sold to Schene Enterprises for $23 lb.; FFA Reserve Champion Lamb shown by Luciana Ferreira, Red Bluff FFA sold to Big Time Pest Control for $11 lb.; 4-H Reserve Champion Lamb shown by Abigail Jauregui, Westside 4-H sold to Alsco, Inc. and McCarthy-Rubright, Attorneys at Law for $22 lb.
Supreme Champion Market Goat was shown by Braxxton Byrd, El Camino 4-H selling to Lok Tite Mini Storage for $22 lb.; Reserve Supreme Champion Market Goat shown by Ty Ellis, El Camino 4-H, sold to Basin Enterprises at $16 lb.; FFA Champion Market Goat shown by Harrison Hamre, Los Molinos FFA sold for $12 lb. to Furtado Ag Construction; Reserve Champion FFA Market Goat sold by Clayton Raimer, Los Molinos FFA selling for $14 lb. to McCarthy & Rubright.
Supreme Champion Market Rabbit Meat Pen sold by Kalissah Villavicencio, Bowman 4-H for $2,500 to Bunn Fencing, Accurate Clipper Sharpening, The Embroidery Shop; Reserve Supreme Champion Market Rabbits shown by Erik Lydon, Manton 4-H sold to All-American Emergency Services for $800.
Supreme Champion Market Poultry Meat Pen sold by Albert Alonso, Los Molinos FFA to Mike & Kendra McCluskey for $900; Reserve Supreme Champion Poultry Meat Pen shown by Emmalyne Stultz, Lassen Colony 4-H sold for $900 to Hi Tech Diesel Specialist; FFA Reserve Champion Poultry Meat Pen was $900 from Sue Knox to Jilberto Hernandez, Los Molinos FFA; 4-H Reserve Champion Poultry shown by Brylee Hansel, Flournoy/Paskenta 4-H sold to Surrey Enterprises for $ 1,000.
The awesome auctioneers were Randy Parnell, Adam Boles, Kyler Radelfinger and Dean Fumasi. Taking the bids were ringmen Jake Pickering, Bret Friend, Bryer Ronan, and Abel Hernandez. I was sitting by Red Bluff Bull & Gelding Sale’s Ron Anderson and he was subtly bidding on several lots; some he got and sometimes he was out-bid.
Joyce Bundy and Trina Richards were handing the buyer sheets to the many volunteer runners that collected the signatures, while Bob and Beth Chaney handled the shipping, eat or resale.
Last year we had a cloud burst in the afternoon of the sale, and it nearly muffled the auctioneer’s chant. This year I came nearly an hour early, and I missed the heavy rain as the auctioneer’s were doing a sound check and you couldn’t hear their voice over the public address system until they went full volume, and then the rain was just a steady rain nearly all day. One tall young man came into the sale ring with his hog, and he looked like a water hose had drenched him. I had one inch in the rain gauge when I got home, after pouring out a third inch in the morning, then at 6 p.m. I had hail on my newly planted tomatoes.
Thanks to Umpqua Bank for coffee and doughnuts as we picked up our buyer number and sale order. The buyers' caps were sponsored by Cornerstone Community Bank. Golden State Farm Credit hosted a beef sandwich for lunch, since the sale started at 9 a.m. and concluded about 5:30 or 5:45 p.m. Four-H and FFA members, and then their little brothers and sisters were offering bottled water all day. Many thanks to all.
Volume buyers were Crown Motors 11, Corning Ford 9, Outback Contractors 9, Les Schwab Tires 8, Lok Tite Mini Storage 7, Tri R Gas 7, All American Emergency Services 6; Big Time Pest Control 6, Crain Walnut Shelling 6, Green Waste of Tehama 6, Redding Kia 6; Basin Enterprises 5; Bell Carter Foods 5, Brewer Construction 5, Cedar Creek Corporation 5, Cline Cellars 5, Copper Canyon Heavy Haul 5, Sue Knox 5, Lamb Unlimited General Engineering 5, Red Bluff Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram 5; Red Bluff Motor Sports 5, Renstrom Trucking 5, Tompkins Electric 5; Hulas Chinese BBQ 4, McCarthy & Rubright 4, Furtado Ag Construction 4, Sierra Pacific Industries 4, John Wheeler Logging 4; Franklin Anderson 4, Anderson & Sons Shelling 4.
Purchasing three animals each was Bob’s Tire Center, Corning Chevrolet-Buick, Corning Mini Storage, Crown Nursery, Crain Ranch, J B Cusick, Elmore Pharmacy, Allen Gill Construction, Golden State Farm Credit, Hi Tech Diesel Specialist, Les Schwab Tires Corning, David & Teresa Lindeman, Greg Long Ranch, Mattingly Concrete, North State Trucking Equipment, John Owens Ranches, Brad Peek, Shasta Farm & Equipment, M D Sites Grading, Tehama Angus Ranch, Wright Brothers Construction, In Memory of Chas. Wright, X3 Steel Construction.
And many thanks to the following who purchased one or two animals: ACE Hardware South Avenue, Red Bluff ACE Hardware,A-A Cattle Corporation, A & R Custom Butchering, Accent Properties, Aggressive Transport, All American E. Services & Lamb Unlimited, Alsco &McCarthy & Rubright, Franklin Anderson & Alturas Ranch, Rolls Anderson Civil Engineering, Azevedo Ranch, Automotive Parts & Napa Auto.
Bandera USA, Bargin Bins, Tom Bengard Ranch, Bengard Ranch & Jared Kerr, Berks Construction Management, Bid Col Online, Bunn Fencing, Accurate Clipper & Embroidery Shop, Cody & Sadie Bolts, Borror Brothers, Bryce & Erin Borror, Byrd Cattle Co.,California Giant Berry Farm, Capex, Cattlemen’s Livestock, Collins Entersprises, Cottonwood Veterinary Clinic, Daggoret Orchards, JJ & Kelly Daggoret ,Tom Dale, Del Logging, Donahoo Inc., Mike Dudley Enterprises, Dudley Excavating, Duker Logging.
E-6 Farms, Ava Early, Ellis Cattle Co. & Ron Humphrey Construction, Emergency Command Support, Emergency Fire & Shasta Farm Equipment, 4 Star Rodeo Co., Family of Ron & Janice Knight, Travis & David Ferreira, Firewater Supply, Fleet Feet Redding, Furtado Ag & Mike Hill, Tim Gallagher, Gillette Electrical Engineering, Jeff Godwin, Grange Co-op & Allen Gill Construction, Grange Co-0p, Robert Gregg, Grit Ranch, Matt Hansen, Co. Supervisor, Harbert Roofing, Harless Land Leveling, Joe & Lisa Havel, Hawes Ranch & Farm Supply, Hill Enterprises, Holiday Ranch, Irrigation Rentals & Alsco., J & T Quarter Horses, Jackson & Sands Engineering, Pat Jenkins, George Johnson & Porterhouse, Kim Johnson Construction, Nathan Jones, Jerry & Kelly Jungwirth, Kent’s Meat Market, Kinyon & Rust, Knauf, Knorr Management, Lamb Unlimited & All American Emergency, Lassen Hay & Eller Harvesting, Lassen Hay, J K Leathercrafts, Grant & Meghan Leininger, Lepage Inc., Les Schwab Red Bluff & Corning, Lindeman Engineering, Loucks Landscaping, Long & Long Orchards, Sutter Long, J D Machado, Gary & Teresa May, K P Cattle & Fence, Steve Manning Construction, Martinez Ranch Management, Mesa Productions, McClellan Air, Mike & Kendra McCluskey, Mt. Lassen Trout Farm, Charles Mueller Trucking, Ray & Lori Mueller, Muse Trucking, North Valley Ag Services, Dennis & Tammy Nolan, Jared Norton, One Up Front, Bert Owens, Pacific Farms, Park Legacy Queens, Clay & Lily Parker, Prouty Livestock Transportation, Puentes Family Farm, Quality Timber Falling, Ramos Gen. Construction, Ramos General Construction & Stroing Ranch, Kent & Nonie Randell, Kevin & Bailey Randel.
Red Bluff Bull & Gelding Sale, Red Bluff Veterinary Clinic, Red Bluff Veterinary Clinic & Willows Vet Clinic, Justin & Danielle Reid, Roberson & Sons Insurance & Stroing Livestock, Roeloffs Family Farm, Rulon Ranch, Samantha’s Day Care, Schene Enterprises, Serene Puppy LLC, Sharpesville Inc., Scheder & Grant, Sefpoint Refrigeration, Shasta Farm & Equipment & Tom Bengard, Shasta Livestock, Slater &Son, Staley Livestock, Shuffleberger Construction, Dave & Cindy Stroing, Stromer Realty & Ellis Cattle, Studio 5 Learning & Development, Surrey Enterprises, T X Bar Grass Fed, Doug & Erin Thomas, The Embroidery Shop, The Pretty Thistle Boutique, Tremont Café, Tri R Gas & Wright Brothers, Tri County Bank, Trip Jacks Construction, Vestra Resources, Vesta Resources & Tulla’s Construction, Inc., Garret & Lori Wallis, Water & Land Solutions, Stanley & LaTricia Weiss, Western Crop Insurance, Willows Vet. Clinic, Steve & Peggy Zane, Zelma’s & Flare Dance.
It was an amazing Jr. Livestock Auction.
