We are just two days away from the first-ever Big Fresno Fair Virtual Jr. Livestock Auction, which kicks-off this Friday, October 9 at 11 a.m. and goes until Monday, October 12 at 11:59 p.m. The Virtual Livestock sale will feature nearly 500 animals from dedicated and hard-working 4-H and FFA members throughout Fresno County.
Leading up to the sale, we’ll be featuring 4-H & FFA exhibitors from participating chapters to highlight their animal project and all their hard work, while also giving buyers and our community a glimpse of animals they can bid on!
Meet Ben Plascencia, a Reedley 4-H student who is a sophomore at Reedley Middle College High School (RMCHS). Here’s what Ben’s 4-H advisor had to say about him:
“Ben has been active in Reedley 4-H for 7 years and RMCHS FFA for 2 years. He is currently president of Reedley 4-H and raising a steer for the Big Fresno Fair.
Ben originally joined 4-H to start a sheep project. He still manages a flock of breeding ewes and sells his lambs to other 4-H and FFA members as show projects. Three years ago Ben began raising steers. This year’s steer is named ‘Que Pasa Calabaza’, but everyone just calls him ‘Q’ for short. Ben bought Q last October and has spent the past 12 months working with him to bring out his full potential. As you can imagine, steers take a huge amount of work to raise. Ben estimates he has spent over 550 hours just brushing and blow drying Q’s hair and coat. And he has used over 8 gallons each of shampoo and conditioner to keep the steer’s hair in top show condition this past year.
Ben says working with steers was the perfect project to keep busy during this year of COVID-19 restrictions. Because steers are so big, it is very easy to maintain 6 feet of social distance even when practicing showmanship in small groups. Everyone is happy to stand back and give the steers and kids plenty of room to move around. Working with livestock has also given Ben and his friends an opportunity to get outside, be active and maintain a healthy level of ‘normal’ that so many youth are missing this year.”
Help out these hard-working students in the community! Participate in the sale as a buyer or place an add-on bid! Every bit helps out these kids who’ve been working all year to get to where they are now. For more information about the Virtual Livestock Auction and how you can participate, click here.