Vernon County Youth Fair preparation begins with weigh-in at the fairgrounds

A steer steps on the scale during a weigh-in last Saturday at the Vernon County fairgrounds in Centennial Park, in preparation for the Vernon County Youth Fair, coming up in July. The weigh-in gives a reference point from which judges will know how much each animal gained between now and the fair.

By Ben Holman

Nevada Daily Mail

Even though it's still five months away, Vernon County 4-H members are already gearing up for the Vernon County Youth Fair.

Saturday was the official weigh-in for steer that are going to be shown at the fair in July.

A multitude of pickups towing trailers loaded with cattle began queuing along the north entrance road of the fairgrounds as early as 7:30 a.m., even though the weigh-in didn't begin until 8 o'clock.

"They were already lined up when I got here," said Ron Peckman, who was helping to load cattle back on to trailers after they had come through the scales. "I would have probably waited until 10 o'clock so that I wouldn't have to wait as long."

The trailers snaked their way through the fairgrounds to the show arena, where the scale is housed, and unloaded their cattle for inspection. The cattle were led into a chute where they had their ears marked and identifying features recorded and then were let through to the next gate where they were weighed. There were 89 cattle that went through the weigh-in process on Saturday, said Vickie Erwin, fair board secretary. That number is about the same as last year's.

After recording their weight, owner's name and identifying markings, the cattle were released into the final fenced-in area where they were loaded back on to trailers and returned to their pastures. Some of the cattle had their nose-prints taken so that they could be differentiated from other, similar-looking cattle.

In July, when the cattle are brought to the fair, they will be weighed again to determine rate-of-gain for the competition. The fair rules require a 152-day period between initial weigh-in and final weigh-in to determine the figure.

Carol Parmenter, Vernon County youth coordinator, said that only beef steer were weighed-in on Saturday, "We used to weigh dairy cattle as well but now we just have them send in a photograph for identification."