Agriculture students look to cash in as Santa Barbara County Fair begins two-day livestock auction

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - With the Junior Livestock Show at the Santa Barbara County Fair now winding down, agriculture students are hoping to cash in and earn some big bucks during the two-day live auction.

"This is the ultimate final destination to go to the auction," said Santa Maria Fairpark board member Randy Jones. "Hopefully they'll get a lot of community support and that's something we rely on here at the Santa Barbara County Fair."

On Friday, the fair will hold the auction for small animals beginning at noon. Rabbits and poultry will be sold in the Auction Barn, near the Gate 5 entrance at the corner of Stowell and Depot streets.

Large animals, including beef, swine, goats, sheep and agriculture mechanics projects will be auctioned off beginning at 8 a.m.

For students in local FFA, 4-H, Grange and other independent organizations, the auction culminates several months of hard work while they have been raising and caring for their animal projects.

"This has been a lot of time and effort and money investment that have gone into these projects by the students and it all comes down to this to sell their animal here today and tomorrow," said Pioneer Valley FFA advisor Marcie Guerra. "They are feeding their animal twice, if not more each day. They are out there working with them, washing and brushing. They are cleaning pens. They are practicing showmanship, exercising their animal, so there is a lot of time involved in this project."

On the line for the students is a significant cash reward for their work, which in some cases may rise into the hundreds or even thousands of dollars, all depending on the animal species and the buyer.

"Someone actually buys your animal and you get money out of in," said Pioneer Valley FFA student Frankie Velazquez. "it shows how much hard work you have put on it because they like your animal and they want to buy itl. It gets you going. It makes you very excited because you don't know how much you're going to get from showing your animal, so it's very surprising how much money you can get from your buyer."

While money earned will help finance costs associated with purchasing and raising the animal, for many of the students, additional profits will also go towards financial costs for college or other educational needs.

"I am very nervous.," said Santa Maria FFA student Victoria Sanchez. "I am very nervous, but also very excited to see how well my chickens do and how well I present them. I'm very excited. My money that I'll make will either go towards future FFA projects or college too."

Last year, the combined total raised at the auction was an impressive $1.9 million, which was close to the $2.2 million raised in 2019, the last year the Junior Livestock Show was held in-person.

The number of animals at this year's fair exceeds the amount last year by more than 300, so it's highly likely the final amount raised at the auction will exceed the 2022 total.

"Our fair is right up there with the top ones," said Jones. "We are lucky in that regard that we have such community support and hopefully we'll have that once again this year. It is really community. It's the business owners that showed when they were kids. They are out here buying animals because they know how important it is for the children, for the kids, for the young adults and their future and hopefully that cycle repeats itself."

For those who would like more information about the Junior Livestock Auction, click here.