Investing In Hard-Working Kids' Futures at the May Fair Livestock Auction.

Joe Gates, certified auctioneer, has a fast but never loose way with words. Each word he speaks -- in speedy stream blurring, almost into gibberish -- has a precise meaning.

Two auction assistants stand below the auctioneer's podium, and, with hand gestures, help make sense of price numbers flying by. These hawk-eyed gentlemen also point out the latest high bidders.

Occasionally, the auction action gets so intense, Gates stops, looks to his assistants watching the audience.

“Whoa, where was I? Did I get caught speeding?” Gates asks himself over the public address system. This generally happens only when two bids come too close to each other. And then the auctioneer's patter plunges on.

“Wait a minute...all in?” Gates finally intones clearly with a showman's sense of drama. “All done? Sold right here,” he announces and then identifies the winning bidder.

Actually, the seemingly cut-throat drama is mainly for show; most of the high bids having been pre-arranged.

Beginning each January on farms and in middle and high schools across Yolo and Solano counties, members of 4-H and Future Farmers of America chapters meet the young animals which will be their responsibility during several months of hard work.

Fifteen-year-old Shelby Burchell remembers Daphne, a month-old Yorkshire cross-bred piglet last January, didn't make much of a first impression on her.

“She was only about 80 pounds soaking wet back then,” Burchell says. “Pretty scrawny really.” 

But Burchell stuck with Daphne's exercise and feeding over the next five months. Because Daphne puts away, on a good day, 50 pounds of corn/soybean feed, exercise is important.

Out in Vacaville High's exercise arena, Daphne quickly learned commands Burchell communicated by lightly prodding the fast-growing pig with a “show stick,” a yard long wand. Daphne even learned to sit; Burchell awarded her each time she did with an unpeeled banana that disappeared in one gulp.

By auction day, Daphne had grown to 250 pounds of prime pork on the hoof. At the Livestock Auction, with light, deft touches of the show stick, Burchell guided her through narrow chutes leading from holding pens in the livestock barn to the fenced stage in front of Gates' podium.

The bids for Daphne rose higher and higher, far above and beyond anything heard of during this auction. Gates' patter slowed; he began enunciating very clearly. He finally closed bids out at the astronomical price of $30 per pound.

Burchell's stepdad Joe Chechourka rose and acknowledged the audience's cheers and warm applause. With Daphne weighing in at 250 pounds, he'd just contributed $7500 toward Burchell's college education. 

Actually, as the afternoon wore on, dozens of winning bidders, both individuals and local companies, contributed significantly to helping young Future Farmers and 4-H'ers.

With swine currently priced by local harvesters at 68 cents a pound, even average bids starting at $3 a pound and ranging on up also comprised big financial boosts to kids who'd spent many hours working with their pigs since January.

“In these hard economic times, members of the tight-knit farming community around here know which families are struggling. They really step up and extend a helping hand at auction time,” explained Carrie Peterson, Dixon May Fair Livestock Superintendent.