EAST LANSING, Mich. — Buyers broke records at the fifth annual Michigan Livestock Expo Sale-Abration, in the Livestock Pavilion on the campus of Michigan State University July 16.

Through the suffocating heat and humidity, buyers and sellers gathered to celebrate agriculture through the youth of Michigan. Beef, sheep, swine and goat champions were selected from the Michigan Livestock Expo a few days earlier, along with the dairy champions from the Michigan Dairy Expo 4-H show earlier that day.

At the end of the evening, sales resulted in $197,000 for the state’s youth exhibitors, an increase of more than $25,000 from last year’s total.

Gov. Rick Snyder welcomed the crowd and touted the success of one of Michigan’s biggest industries – agriculture. “It’s great to see so many young people here showing animals and being a part of this event,” he said.

Snyder went on to talk about agriculture and achieving goals. “Let’s not stop. The way I view it is, as soon as you achieve a goal, what’s the right thing to do? You raise the bar higher and you go for it again.”

He said while the rest of the industries in the state have forgotten how to raise the bar, agriculture has continued to perform with the mindset of “good isn’t good enough; we want to be great.”

While Snyder settled into his seat for the evening, sale coordinator Ernie Birchmeier and auctioneer Bill Sheridan stepped in the box and began to sell off champion livestock. With a clear focus on supporting youth in agriculture, Meijer, Inc. purchased the Champion Steer exhibited by Daniel Stutzman of Morenci for $24,000; the Champion Market Hog exhibited by Morgan Kennedy of Perry for $15,000; the Champion Market Lamb exhibited by Sarah Kennedy of Saranac for $12,000; and the gift basket representing the Supreme Champion Dairy Cow exhibited by Parker Hardy of Tipton for $8,000.

If that show of support wasn’t exciting enough, a strong contingent of the dairy industry purchased the gift basket representing the Supreme Champion Dairy Heifer exhibited by Lucas Moser of Dansville, with a record-breaking bid of $25,000. The buyers were Michigan Milk Producers Assoc., The Kroger Co. of Michigan, CoBank, Caledonia Farmers Elevator, NorthStar Cooperative, Dairy Farmers of America, Zeeland Farm Services, Calder Dairy, Foster, Swift, Collins and Smith, PC, Vita Plus, Roberts Dairy Service, Class Construction, Hardys Holsteins and UDIM.

Kailey Sweers was the Supreme Champion Dairy Showperson at 4-H Dairy Days and her gift basket sold for $5,000 to Kalmbach Feeds. The Champion Market Goat exhibited by Reanna Sloan of Quincy was purchased by Greenstone for $5,000.

Altogether, 36 individual lots were sold: eight steers, eight hogs, eight lambs, five goats, four dairy entries and three non-livestock lots. According to Birchmeier, traditionally youth apply their earnings to college expenses or invest it into their next livestock project.

Proceeds above a sales cap support the Michigan Youth Livestock Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships and educational awards to kids involved in livestock exhibition.

More than $70,000 from this year’s sale will go toward the fund and educational awards.