Blonds do have more fun!
A bovine dubbed Blondie from the Abilene area was named Grand Champion market steer and sold for $130,000 at the State Fair of Texas on Friday afternoon.
Aven Horn, 17, sold the cream-colored 2-year-old to the Big Tex Champion Club at the 74th annual Big Tex Youth Livestock Auction.
“It’s honestly a dream come true,” said Horn, who lives in the West Texas town of Anson and is part of the Jones County 4-H Club.
“Every kid that shows steers, this is their ultimate goal. And to be able to accomplish that and be a role model for those little kids is a great experience.”
Students from the third to 12th grades raise steers, lambs and other animals and compete for a chance to participate in the auction. More than 9,500 youth exhibitors raised animals this year in hopes of nabbing one of the 435 slots in the auction.
Participants receive a previously determined maximum payment for the animals, with excess proceeds donated to a scholarship program for students who have competed in youth livestock events at the fair or attend high schools in the Fair Park area.
Buyers, donors and committee members on behalf of the buyers, bid on the animals to benefit the youth, said Daryl Real, senior vice president of agriculture and livestock for the fair.
Madden Wise of the Brown County 4-H had both the champion lamb and goat. He sold the lamb for $30,000 and the goat for $27,000.
Camryn Clift of the Randall County 4-H, sold her champion barrow — a male pig — for $63,000, and Wesley May of the Tom Green County 4-H sold champion broiler chickens for $16,000.
The total proceeds of this 2022 auction had not been finalized Friday evening. Last year, the auction raised a little more than $1.5 million, and 119 livestock scholarships were awarded.
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