UPDATED: Livestock sale grosses more than $62,800 for 4-H members; benefit sale/raffles raise nearly $4,420

4-H Beef livestock exhibitor Randi Faulk, of rural Worthington. (Photo by Nick Schneider)

A total of $62,850 was bid -- falling just short of the 2005 sale when $63,580 was bid for 145 animals put on the auction block.

The sale averaged $487.21 over market value -- second best in the history of the event -- topped only by last year's record setting amount of $496.48 over market.

The 2004 sale averaged $438.48 per animal.

"It was a good sale with the economy and all," Greene County Cooperative Extension Service Educator John Beach said.

The auction featured beef cattle, swine, sheep, rabbits, poultry and meat goats.

Tops bids received by 4-H members among the six species were: beef-Cody Faulk, $2,550; swine-Tristan Flynn, $1,300; sheep-Jake White, $1,400; meat goat- Mackenna Davidson, $400; rabbit - Jacob Phegley, $500; and poultry - Amber Crowe, $525.

Macallister Equipment, of Washington, finished the auction with the largest amount paid out to 4-Hers at $5.450.

Griffin Industies/Old Canal Farms, of Newberry, was second with $4,850 followed by Farm Bureau Inc. at $2,975.

Other included: Sam Lehman Group of Bloomfield $2,500; Reese Booher Farms/Beck Hybrids $1,875; Boot City $1,800; and Citizen Gas Company $1,725.

An added feature of this year's sale was several benefits that were staged for a rural Worthington 4-H club member -- Jordan Murdock, who was seriously hurt in a farm tractor/semi wreck a couple weeks before the fair.

Murdock is progressing with his recovery and is a patient at Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis. He was able to attend the 4-H Meat Goat Show on Monday, but was re-admitted to the hospital later in the week, according to his grandmother, Carolyn Murdock.

About $4,420 was raised through a variety of raffle, silent auctions and the donation of a hog by a fellow 4-H member to help with medical expenses that family is incurring since the wreck.

Members of the 4-H Clubs of Greene County staged a raffle for a whole processed hog and several special cut meat boxes that raised $1,835.

A 4-H Swine Club member Ryan O'Neall donated the proceeds from the sale of his hog, which sold twice for $850 and $275 to the Murdock family.

The 2008 Miss Greene County Fair Queen Amanda Arthur and members of her court put on a baked good raffle that raised another $1,200. Taylor Creations (Lori Brown) conducted a silent auction during fair week that raised about $400 and Air Evac Ambulance Service donated $65.

Sam Myers, Route 2, Bloomfield was the winner of the whole hog donated by Tim Egnew that was part of the week-long raffle. The meat was processed by Bloomfield Processing Company.