Faithful bidders turn out for annual Junior Livestock Sale Buyers Dinner

While Country fiddle and bluegrass tunes filled the room, it was another kick-off event for the agriculture youth of Shasta County, but this time something was missing.

Looking around Fusaro Hall during the Shasta District Fair 2009 Junior Livestock Buyer’s Dinner, the upbeat crowd was a thin comparison to previous years, said Linda Pritchett of Cottonwood, who has been a buyer in past years.

Fortunately, some of the key bidders in the fair’s annual livestock auction were hanging true to the cause.

Jim McAuliffe, a Cottonwood livestock transport contractor, said he thinks the sale may be affected by the decline in the overall economy, but is planning to bid anyway, hoping others will do the same for the sake of the event.

“I’ll be buying lambs and pigs,” McAuliffe said.

Paul Gurrola, who resides on the Tehama County side of Cottonwood, said he’s been buying livestock from the youth at the Shasta District and Tehama County fairs for the past 53 years.

“I hope we can hang in there,” he said. “We just hope for the best.”

Gurrola noted that much of the support for the event, however, is from the timber and construction business.

Among those in attendance at the dinner was George Herrick, Shingletown, who for many years has supported the livestock auction and the youth from FFA and 4-H groups.

“We worried about (the sale) for 30 years and every year always hoping for the best,” Herrick said. “I think there will be more realistic prices this year. When you can’t buy a lamb for $5 a pound, it has to come down.”

Herrick said he thinks there are still people spending money in the community.

One of the sale’s top buyers, Alan Shufelberger, said he plans to be in the bleachers this year bidding on livestock, including the champions, as always.

“I think (the economy) will affect the Red Bluff sale worse than Shasta County’s,” he said, noting that some of the big supporters like Sierra Pacific Industries won’t be participating this time.

West Valley High School agriculture advisor Tom Vasquez said that participation in the livestock exhibits is down about 30 students this year.

“I told the kids if they are showing livestock this year, it should be for the joy of it or don’t show,” he said after an FFA Awards night event at West Valley the same night as the dinner. “All we want to do is at least break even. Anything else is gravy.”

Chris Workman, chief executive officer for the Shasta District Fair, said 200 buyers attended the event, about the same as in recent years passed. However, since the room was set up with tables more closely spaced on one side to allow for serving lines and conversation, attendance may have appeared to have been fewer.