Harrison County Livestock Sale Sets Record With $82,275 Going to Youth Exhibitors
SHINNSTON, W.Va. — A Harrison County youth livestock program that began four years ago with just five young people selling $17,100 worth of market animal projects reached a new milestone Saturday night, generating a record $82,275 for 23 local 4-H and FFA exhibitors.
The Harrison County Livestock Association announced the record total Tuesday morning following the fifth annual Harrison County 4-H and FFA Livestock Show and Sale, held Aug. 21 and 22 at the former Sunset Ellis Drive-In property near Shinnston.
Among the biggest moments of the auction was the sale of a 169-pound market lamb for $17,000 to Ascent Consulting & Engineering and the Assaro family.
The grand champion market steer, weighing 1,290 pounds, brought another $10,000 from WV Minerals Inc. The steer was raised by a first-year exhibitor.
The Livestock Association said money from the auction goes directly to the young people who raised and exhibited the animals rather than being divided among the organization or its board.
Many participants reinvest their proceeds into animals and supplies for the next year's project, while older exhibitors can use their earnings for college, training or other future expenses.
“Saturday night, Harrison County showed up for its kids,” the association's Board of Directors said in announcing the results.
The record comes as Harrison County's livestock program has grown substantially in only a few years.
The Harrison County Livestock Association was organized as a West Virginia nonprofit voluntary association in 2019, according to records from the West Virginia Secretary of State's Office.
The first Harrison County 4-H and FFA Livestock Show and Sale followed in 2022. Six exhibitors participated that year, with five young people marketing seven animal lots for a combined $17,100.
By the program's third year, 25 youth were exhibiting 40 animal lots. WVU Extension's Jennifer Friend reported that the 2024 sale attracted 35 registered buyers and generated more than $40,000 for participating youth and the livestock barn fund. The program and its efforts to recruit buyers were later highlighted nationally through the National Association of County Agricultural Agents.
This year's two-day event included 24 youth exhibitors and roughly 50 animals, four times the number of young people who participated when the event began.
Students competed with market beef, hogs, lambs and goats along with rabbit and poultry projects. In addition to raising and showing their animals, participants are responsible for learning the financial side of agriculture, including the cost of animals, feed and equipment, record keeping and marketing their projects to prospective buyers.
That buyer participation has become a significant part of the program's growth. Businesses and individuals have increasingly used the auction as a way to directly support Harrison County students while encouraging continued involvement in agriculture.
The Livestock Association said those lessons extend well beyond the auction itself.
“Through these projects, our young exhibitors are learning responsibility, commitment, perseverance, and what it truly means to work hard for something,” the board said.
For a program that started with only a handful of exhibitors, Saturday's record sale offered another indication that both youth participation and community investment in Harrison County agriculture are continuing to grow.
