Inside the Farm Show’s Sale of Champions

The Grand Champion Junior Beef Steer fetched $10,500 at the Farm Show’s annual Sale of Champions.  Lindsay Upperman of Franklin County raised the two year old steer since birth.  She first noticed something special in ‘Stetson’ when he was just six months old.  “I just saw that he might actually have a little bit more, and just a little bit something different than what some of the other steers had.”  The winning bid on ‘Stetson’ came from Hoss’s Steak and Sea House, a long time supporter of the Farm Show’s Junior Livestock Sale. 

Lindsay Upperman will doubly benefit from this auction because she’s also a 2012 Farm Show Scholarship winner, and some of the auction proceeds are used to help fund the scholarship program.  Lindsay will be attending college in Kansas next year, and has her sights set on an advanced degree in genetics. 

26 Farm Show scholarships were awarded this year.  To date the Farm Show Scholarship Foundation has awarded $977,000 dollars in scholarships, and it’s expected to break the million dollar mark next year.  “All of these applicants are excellent scholars, are involved in their communities and are involved here participating in the Farm Show on an annual basis,” says Lori Connelly, a member of the Farm Show Scholarship Foundation selection committee. 

Another student on the receiving end of a $3,500 scholarship was Jacob Diamond of Fayette County.   “I’ve come to the Farm Show my whole live, ever since I was a baby,” Diamond tells us.  He’s currently attending Penn State Fayette and hopes to become a large animal veterinarian.  Diamond also showed the Farm Show’s Grand Champion Junior Market Goat, which went for $2,400 at Tuesday’s Sale of Champions.   

Agriculture Secretary George Greig tells us he’s impressed with both the quality of the youth coming out of the state’s FFA and 4-H programs.  “Without the youth, and the next generation coming on, agriculture would be out of business pretty quick.”