Keystone International Livestock Expo Beef Cattle Online Entry
Livestock breeders and showmen have been adapting to event cancellations and transformations for months.
The latest domino fell Aug. 19 when state officials announced that January's massive Pennsylvania Farm Show would go virtual for 2021, and youths would not be required to buy an animal to participate.
But that doesn't mean the winter show season will be over before it begins.
A handful of breeders have joined forces to host a Pennsylvania Youth Livestock Expo Dec. 18-21 at the Lebanon Valley Exposition Center and Fairgrounds.
It's being touted in the show stock community as a replacement for the Farm Show.
"We would call Pennsylvania Farm Show our state fair," said Troy Longenecker, owner of Longenecker Show Stock in Annville, adding that the new event is a "state fair replacement show."
Though the expo will help breeders sell a few more animals, the reason for hosting it is all for the kids, Longenecker said.
He sells market sheep and goats, about 100 animals in a normal year.
Longenecker does the bulk of his business in March, so much of his stock was sold before coronavirus shutdowns were put into place. For this show season, Longenecker sold between 60-80 animals.
However, he said many families reduced their budgets this year, and some decided not to buy because of the uncertainty.
"There was just so much confusion about showing in the summer and fall," he said.
Along with the December expo, Longenecker has sponsored a handful of other replacement events to help keep youths showing.
"That's just what we did this year," he said. "It's different. There's less structure but definitely more opportunities."
Even with alternative events being planned, the lack of fairs and the Farm Show is affecting breeders and youths alike.
For Becca Lehman, a virtual Farm Show may complicate her efforts to launch a market goat business.
The Central Columbia High School sophomore attended the Farm Show's market goat show last year, but she was planning to compete in it for the first time in January.
The show would have offered networking opportunities, as well as auction earnings to reinvest in animals and feed.
"It's pretty devastating just not knowing if you'll be able to sell your animals this year, or to get the same experience out of it that you would get other years," she said.
Lehman will have a chance in the Bloomsburg Fair's online livestock sale, where she will be selling a dairy beef steer and two market goats.
The sale will be managed by Kim's Auction Service of Bloomsburg. Photo viewing will start Sept. 27, and bidding will end Oct. 3.
Lehman intended to buy pigs for the fair as well, but by the time she would have made the purchases in late April or early May, the pandemic had already made the fair a big question mark.
"I didn't want to have too much on hand with the fair being up in the air," she said.
Matt Hetrick of Lebanon owns M3K Boer Goats and sells about 20 goats every year, both as market and breeding goats.
Though Hetrick and his wife, Kelly, both have day jobs, they are still feeling the financial hit of canceled shows.
The Hetricks had planned to hold a market goat sale on their farm for 4-H and FFA youths, but they decided to cancel due to safety concerns with COVID-19.
Without the on-farm sale, Hetrick resorted to selling privately, mainly through Facebook.
Hetrick said he sold fewer goats than usual this year, and he's pretty sure he made less money through Facebook than they would have with an in-person sale.
Because of the decrease in sales, he had to take some goats to New Holland Sales Stables. He's also planning to keep more breeding goats than usual.
Despite the challenges of 2020, Hetrick plans to continue his breeding program like normal. If he scales back, he might not have enough goats to sell in 2021.
"I don't know what next year is going to bring," he said.
Hetrick is disappointed to see the Farm Show shift to a virtual event. A few of his goats have done well at past shows, which has increased interest in the farm. Having winning livestock draws interest from other buyers and helps build his name recognition.
"It's good public relations," said Curry Wagner, a beef breeder from Hummelstown.
Every spring, Wagner sells a beef club calf to a local livestock youth for $900 to $1,000. But this year, he didn't have any buyers for his Simmentals.
Wagner said the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus during March and April made many of his customers hesitant to purchase animals for the 2021 show season.
Instead he had to sell his club calves as feeder steers, a potentially less valuable market.
Pig breeders have a somewhat different challenge. Fast-growing swine are bought much closer to a fair than steers, so instead of guessing how the pandemic might unfold, potential customers have had months to weigh news of show cancellations before making a decision.
Longtime breeder James Parlett of Airville is somewhat insulated from the Farm Show's shift because he focuses on the event's bred gilt show and sale, which is for breeding animals, not market hogs.
As it is, Parlett didn't keep back as many pigs as he normally would this year. He saw fairs canceling and figured the Farm Show would be in jeopardy too.
He will miss out on some income, but the pigs are only part of the farm business. He and his son also raise grain and hay.
Of course, breeders don't need a formal show to sell pigs privately, and there's talk of organizing a bred gilt sale in place of the Farm Show this year, Parlett said.
"It's not the end of the world, put it that way. But you know, like I say, it's a tradition, been going on for years and years and years," said Parlett, who has been attending for over 60 years.
For some beef breeders, the cancellation of October's Keystone International Livestock Exposition in Harrisburg means a lost opportunity to attend their breed's national point show and network with new customers.
In Manchester, Maryland, Hereford and Angus breeder Kyle Lemmon of KLemmon Cattle Co. usually attends KILE, the Ohio State Fair and the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado.
A member of the American Hereford Association, Lemmon said that KILE is considered a regional national show for the breed, and the cancellation limits his chances of earning points toward premier breeder status.
Many breeders like Lemmon have been holding online sales for a while, but COVID-19 has increased online sales, which has strengthened the market for show cattle.
Lemmon has three virtual sales scheduled this fall and said there has been high interest and traffic on his farm's website.
He also said that breeders and organizations, like Show Cattle Connection, have designed virtual sales for youths to sell their club calves, which has kept the market going.
Overall, Lemmon feels the coronavirus has "brought the industry together more," he said.
Source: https://www.lancasterfarming.com/news/main_edition/the-show-will-go-on-breeders-seek-alternatives-to-canceled-expos/article_d176985d-7f95-50aa-b400-9eb6a41ac53f.html
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