At Saturday’s Park County Livestock Show and Sale, one young salesman’s hog was nearly forgotten about in the rush during the five and a half hours of selling at one of the Park County Fair’s final events. 

When the final bid wound up being well below what most of the swine thus far had sold for, and when the buyer realized that, recalled sale manager Joe Bridges, the buyer told Bridges to raise the bid to more along the lines of what others had sold for. 

It was that kind of sale, featuring another high level of community support, and it was enough to set a new record. 

“Everybody was in it to make sure that the kids were taken care of as best that they could,” Bridges said. “And we got lots of help. Had lots of return buyers. Had some new buyers, and you know, it just really kind of panned out at the end for everybody to really do a great job for the kids when it’s all said and done.”

At the end, buyers had spent a total of $669,066, up from last year’s record total of $662,584. 

That occurred in spite of all but one animal having a lower average than last year and a slightly smaller amount of youth selling. It shows just how much steers go for, as steer prices were up nearly 50 cents at an average of $5.82 per pound (last year $5.39) to account for the overall increase. 

It was a steady sale too, Bridges said, different from past years with dips and rises.

“Typically we’ll see some swings throughout the sale. Whether it starts off strong, we’ll usually have a lull somewhere in the middle somewhere, and then it’ll finish strong,” he said. “Last year … it was the first time I’d ever seen it start weak and end strong. You know, it just kept getting stronger as the selling went on. This one, was super steady, and right out of the gate, they had a kind of a price that everybody was paying, and we just stayed that price all the way through the sale.”

Bridges said the increase in steers is helpful for the kids, as raising steers, already a costly endeavor, has only gotten more expensive. 

“Those kids have had those steers since September, October last year, they’ve been working with them and have a huge feed bill attached to them,” he said. “Cattle prices right now are at an all-time high, just in the normal pricing of things, and so those kids have had to put a lot of money out up front. And so you kind of need prices like this so they come out of this with a little bit of money left in their pocket after they pay all the bills that they’ve got to go through.”

Hadley Cooper and Aubrey Kraft both sold a steer for a high of $9 a pound to Riverton Tire and Oil and Two Dot Ranch, respectively. 

Hogs went for $8.67 per pound on average, down from $9.06 last year, with Jase Bales selling the most expensive hog at $20 per pound to the TE Ranch. 

Lambs went for $13.89 per pound, down from $16.74 last year, with Lainey Martin the high seller at $26 per pound to Curtis Farms. 

Goats went for $17.02 a pound, down from $19.16, with Dolly Clark the high seller at $39 per pound to Park County Title. 

Rabbits went for an average of $632, down from $744, with the high seller Clayton Protsman at $900 to Yellowstone Pet Cremations.