Ventura County Fair : Bidders Shun Bargains to Support 4-H

The Voorheeses of Camarillo nearly always make it to the fairgrounds on the last Friday of every county fair.

That’s when they go shopping for pork.

Bacon, sausage, pork chops, ham hocks, even pepperoni--within a month after the Ventura County Fair ends, their freezer is stocked full of all the edible products their butcher can muster from a 4-H pig.

“I did 4-H 35 years ago, and the buyers came by and supported us then,� Alan Voorhees explained. “So it’s fun to come by and support these kids now.�

Like the hundreds of others who showed up at the fair’s large livestock barn Friday to purchase animals, Alan and Jane Voorhees knew they would pay more than twice the market price for the hog they bought.

But as buyers point out repeatedly during the daylong event, the auction is not about bargains. It’s about supporting the children who participate in 4-H--which stands for Head, Heart, Hands and Health--and Future Farmers of America, and supporting the farming traditions of the groups themselves.

The hundreds of steers, calves, swine, lambs and goats that went on the auction block Friday are the products of months of labor and care by youngsters across the county.

In the end, the child learns how to take responsibility for another creature, the adult group organizers say.

As for the animal itself--well, pampered beasts make for marvelous food, buyers say.

“In this country, most stuff sold as lamb is more mature and older and not fed as well,� said Sol Chooljian, a management consultant from Camarillo who came to the auction to buy the sheep raised by children from his neighborhood. “This meat is lighter tasting and not as gamy.�

Of course, not all the animals land in the slaughterhouse.

“I don’t know that I could do anything with it but put it in my back yard and raise it,� said Jeanne Anderson of Ventura, who planned to bid for her niece’s calf at the auction. “I look ‘em in the eyes and that’s it.�

Jim DeBiasio planned to keep the calf he purchased from Toby Fullington of Small Valley 4-H, adding it to the herd at his ranch in Caliente, Calif. DeBiasio drove down to Ventura especially for the auction at the urging of a friend who was looking for buyers to support 4-H.

He paid $3.50 a pound for Toby’s 200-pound calf--$2.84 more a pound than if he had bought a calf commercially. “It’s more expensive, but it’s for 4-H and all that happy stuff,� he said. “It’s a breeder. It’ll live until it stops producing.�

The children did not shed tears over their animals as the auctioneers parceled them off to bidders Friday.

“Today is more of a happy day because your pig got bid on and you are glad with how much he bought,� said 12-year-old Lacey Walker of Las Posas 4-H, whose 234-pound pig, Roastanne, sold for $3.50 a pound on the auction block.

The reality of the sale “doesn’t sink in until Sunday� when the animals are shipped off to a processing plant and the children have to say goodby, she said.

Lacey rejoiced over the price she got for her pig--Vons supermarkets purchased it--but some calf and steer owners left the auction in tears because prices for their animals were unusually low this year. Auction organizers blamed a poor economy and the fact that the large animals sold first this year, before bidders got into the spirit of the auction and before enough free alcohol was consumed at the auction’s bar.

Eva Reeder, a 14-year-old Future Farmer from Santa Paula, sold her 372-pound calf for only $1 a pound--about a third of what she had hoped to get for the animal. The money will barely recoup what she spent boarding and feeding the animal.

Many of the calf and steer owners, however, barely broke stride to consider how much cash they could have made had the bidding gone higher.

“It’s disappointing but it’s not that bad,� said Heather Hundley, 16, whose grand champion steer sold for $4 a pound--$5 less per pound than last year’s grand champion. “ ‘Cause it’s fun. This is not for the money. I like raising animals and I like taking care of them. It’s like having a big dog.�