Crawford County Livestock Committee meeting, 09/09/2015
Officer Reports: There are 21 members present, 4 Sr. fair members present, Jr Fair Advisor, and Extension Educator present. No corrections to minutes, stand as read. There is $ in the treasury(after deposit is made). A list of items paid was read. We are still expecting some bills including Brechbueler, the vet bill, brooms, and the inside of the building. All checks are out to exhibitors that have turned in their thank yous. There are 13 exhibitors that have not turned in their thank yous. We did not announce/advertise it this year nor is it in writing anywhere. Allison announced that it was published on the website, but we are unsure if all kids read the website. The names of the exhibitors were read. If these kids turn in their thank yous, we will mail out their checks. There are four kids that did not receive their checks, even though their siblings did. Chirstene received a bill from Westside Feed addressed to the Sr. Fairboard. Tom told this committee that he paid it already and it could be thrown out. Todd Kennedy moved to stop payment on the checks to the exhibitors that did not receive them and reissue payment. Mike Leonhardt seconded it. MP. Mike Leonhardt and Phil Feik moved and seconded to accept Treasurer's report. MP. Phil suggested setting up a thank you station at the sale so that the kids can do it then and there and get it turned in. It was discussed to set it up and encourage them to do it, but not mandate it. Mike asked when the money comes in, in order to pay the kids. Christene explained that over 300,000 this year was paid the day of the sale and that the majority of the invoices she mails out are 500 or less. Mike Leonhardt made a motion to put a 30 day limit on when thank yous need to be in or the exhibitors forfeit their premium and a thank you station with postage and thank you card supplies provided will be set up on sale day so that kids can complete thank yous then.(amendment pending jr fair assistance) Dave Wurm seconded it. It was suggested that Jr. Fair could help with this also.
Extension Educator: We need a new livestock liaison to inform the livestock committee at their meetings the first Tuesday of every month. Tim Flock and Duane Shawk volunteered to cover the meetings between the two of them to inform the advisory committee of anything relevant.
Sr. Fair Update: Tom asked Christene if she had the stuff from the grant and that he needed it. All gates are in the building, but if you would like them to be cable-locked, then we need to do it ourselves. Dave Wurm reported that he would call Jeff Schiefer and take care of it.
Extension Update: nothing
Jr. Fair Update: Champion pictures that are in the sale arena in the case are 12-13 years old. The Jr. Fair has some memorial money coming in and would like to improve the wall and would like to continue to update the pictures. They would be needing an extra set of pictures when champion pictures are taken each year. Leah is asking for us to cover the cost for this extra set of photos. This will be discussed at a later meeting once Jr. Fair starts to meet again. She is also asking for anyone who has past champion photos to get a copy to her.
Old Business:
Office Building: Tom Scheibley and Mitch Alt deserve a huge thank you from this committee to do the work they did to get the building done when it was. Drawings needed to be updated to illustrate the building as it is. We also need to submit a picture of the ramp completed along with the drawings to get final occupancy. We need to start working on the inside. We need to insulate it, and AC. It was suggested to start with a 2500 budget. Kurt is going to bring back estimates.
New Business:
Showman of Showmen: It was well received having showman of showmen on Friday night and awarding Outstanding Exhibitor award. It was suggested to put in a rule that prohibits a winner from going in and winning with another species. Another suggestion was to advertise it more that kids CAN win from multiple barns so that people understand.
Thank Yous for Livestock Committee help(Auctioneers, sales clerks): We should send thank yous to those who helped us out. Does anyone have any other suggested individuals that should receive thank yous. It was discussed to either send them gift cards for gas or maybe a local business. The amount was discussed. 25.00 and 50.00 was both suggested. Christene Johnson moved to send thank yous and 50.00 gift cards to all auctioneers, John Albert, Susan Skaggs, Jenny Link and others for a total of 15 individuals, for a total of 750.00. Todd Kennedy seconded. Motion passed. Kurt Weaver will head up this project.
Buy-back Auction: Duane thinks that this went extremely well, but suggested just having a teleconference next year. Duane reports that compared to other fairs, we got better market prices. Mike Leonhardt reported that Beef Market prices went very well as well.
Sale: Packets went around with statistics for the sale. It was suggested again that sale of champions should be highlighted in some way. It was also reported that two kids sold two steers and got the same amount of money as the kids that sold one. The average premium was 938 for a steer as opposed to 1016 to last year. The premium sale was roughly 25,000 less than last year, but there was also a decrease in animal. 24,000 was the commission for this year, 26,000 for 2014, 296,000 was 2013, and it was 296,000 in 2015. This tells us that we did not suffer a real decrease in premium bid and regardless of how we do it, the buyers are going to spend it. It comes down to how much money are the kids getting. Poultry got hit, with a 86.00 average. Would this have been different if they were towards the front of the sale, or did the no live bird show affect them. It was noted that that this was their third year last or next to last. It was suggested that maybe they didn’t buy because of a scare. It was reported that several of our larger buyers spent as much as double as they usually do, meaning we are losing buyers. It is less buyers spending more money. It was discussed how to limit the buyers groups and their larger bids for select kids. Don Frombaugh reminded us that it is hard for kids/parents to expect buyers to support them when they do not support local business. Christene reported that she mails out tickets to 300+. She reported that it is a handful of buyers that spend over 10,000 and carry the sale. Kurt reported that other fairs buy those plastic signs to put in buyers yards to show who supports the fair. Mike reported that it is hard to get buyers from Galion or Crestline because we are considered the "Bucyrus Fair". Parents were upset because we would not give them sales flyers. It does no good if we run out of flyers giving them to parents and then have none to give to buyers. We could also print less this way. We would like to post it online where they can access it. We could save roughly 1000.00 by not giving flyers to the parents. Committees need to be considering pens, champion sale, sale limits per kid. It was reported that the time ended up to be about the same. Mike Leonhardt moves to change the sale to mimic 2014's sale in format but to include sale of champions as a group, sometime during the sale. Ray Williams seconded it. Committees to discuss when to have sale of champions. Lunch went great. Beef ran out quickly.
ByLaws: Kurt Weaver moved to change by paper ballot to role call vote, seconded by Todd Kennedy.
Other: Dates were read for next year. Don Frombaugh told us what the utilities were this year and told us that the water bill was 3 times as much as the year before and asked if we knew why the water was so high.
Dairy and Beef barns are joining together to get a manure pit. This will eliminate some of the spreaders. We would like to keep 15,000 in the bank to help carry the fair before buyers pay their checks. Committees need to start to consider projects. It was discussed that uniform signs over each barn would be nice. Is Christene going to continue to do the sale? This is something she needs to start thinking about.
Officer Elections: Nominations for President: Nick Kocher nominated and Mike Leonhardt seconded the nomination Duane for President. Melissa Christman closed, seconded by Dave to close nominations. Nominations for Vice-President: Dave Wurm nominates Tim Flock, Jodi Wagner seconded. Mike Leonhardt and Kurt Weaver moved and seconded to close nominations. Nominations for Treasurer: Mike Leonhardt and Dave Wurm moved and seconded to keep Christene as Treasurer. Jodi Wagner moved to close nominations, Nick Kocher seconded. Mike Leonhardt, seconded by Tim Flock, to nominate Kristine Waldock-Rutledge as Secretary. Carl Copeland and Dave Wurm moved and seconded to close nominations.
Adjourn: Nick Kocher moved to adjourn the meeting, and Todd Kennedy seconded it.

Respectfully Submitted:

Kristine Waldock-Rutledge