108th Annual Phillips County Fair Livestock Show and Sale

Opening day of the Phillips County Fair! The same jitters and last minute rush that was felt in 1915 were once again surfacing and making the rounds. The crunch for time, juggling schedules, vehicles, drivers and hot baked goods out of the oven was there...just a different generation.

August started to grasp onto Father Time and the fair was here before one knew it, another year older. There is little that has been done to the fairgrounds, other than readjusting, compromising and getting creative to make the best use of what still remains.

Thursday was entry day at the fair, all livestock projects were weighed in by 2 PM, and the FFA, 4-H youth and parents were bustling to prepare market swine entries for the big parade before the judge. The weather was warm, shade tents were up for comfort of the spectators and at 4 PM Judge Mark King, Extension Agent from Big Timber, had a full agenda for two days. He judged the market swine showmanship, including Senior, Advanced Junior and Beginning Junior categories. He also judged the Friday entries of goat and beef.

The swine entries were the largest category this year, with 61 entries. The afternoon saw the three levels of youth divided into several smaller groups from which two were selected to come back and compete with the others selected from each division.

In the Senior Division, Kennedy Koss won Grand place, with Lauren Tuss winning Reserve honors. There were 10 youth vying for the honors.

There were three heats of Advanced Juniors competing, with Regan Stuart winning Grand and Kayla Ottinger winning Reserve. The Judge selected Sadie Lamoreau as the third place showman. There were 22 youth in this competition.

The largest group were those in Beginning Showmanship with 28 working their pig and getting the attention of the judge with their projects end. Calvin Squires, Aidree Math and Tanner Wiederrick were selected for Grand, Reserve and third place, respectively.

As the various heats of swine were judged and then narrowed down, Kayla Ottinger had the Grand Champion market swine for the 2023 Phillips County Fair and Kasen Boardman was the proud owner of the Reserve Champion.

Following the afternoon judging King shared his thoughts on the swine competition. "I think the fair is going good, except it's too blasted hot! I think the market hogs are typical of what we would see in Montana...some really good quality hogs and some that will surprise people once they are on the rail."

Friday morning the competitors, audience, and 4-H and FFA gathered at the large arena as Senior Showmanship started off the day's events with 28 youth entered. Grand Champion showman selected was Dawson Hammond, and Macie Blunt won Reserve honors. Six youth competed in the Advanced Junior category, and Renzey Raymond won Grand Champion and Courtney Merriman was the Reserve Showman for 2023; Steeler Blunt was awarded a third place ribbon.

Renzey Raymond was the only entry in the Breeding Beef category and won the Grand Champion trophy.

Judge King said of the beef judging, "I thought the beef show was really good, lots of high quality cattle; kids did a tremendous job getting them fed."

He offered some words for the kids in the future, "...just keep showing! Take today with a grain of salt...it's one person's opinion. Keep showing!"

Asked if he had enjoyed the day, he replied, "I always have fun when I'm with kids...I always have fun! They're a good group!"

Reserve Champion beef owner, Carson Ottinger shared his thoughts, speaking of his 1315 pound beef following the beef judging, "He behaved very well compared to last night...because last night he wasn't!" His words to those thinking about a project, "...you have to have time and dedication to it." Carson was pleased with his beef, which came right off the Ottinger ranch.

After tending to her beef following judging Grand Champion winner Jayda Wyse said, "I got through today with confidence and how my steer walked with me." Her beef weighed in at 1410 pounds and brought $9 per pound at the sale on Saturday. Her beef project came from the herd of her grandparents, Scott and Tammy Wyse. The young lady is an eighth grader.

The afternoon action moved back to the livestock arena behind barns as the sheep judging kicked off the action. Senior Showman winner was Alex Oshio; Advanced Junior winner was Gabe Oshio. Emmitt Skubinna won Grand Champion Showmanship with his sheep and Izzy Oshio won a red ribbon.

When the goats made their entry to the ring, aside from being a bit of mayhem, things all worked out. There were dwarf goats, families of goats and younger and older goats. Karlie LaBrie was selected as the Grand Champion Showman; Kenzie LaBrie placed as Reserve Grand Champion; third place was Alex Oshio.

Later, the Round Robin was held for Senior and Advanced Junior Youth. Senior Kennedy Koss closed out her 4-H career garnishing the trophy with all four livestock characters on it, horse, beef, swine and sheep. The Advanced Junior winner of the Round Robin was Renzey Raymond.

Cooler weather prevailed for the livestock sale on Saturday morning. The starting time was delayed first to allow the extension service to run more copies of the sales list, and then by a wait for the train tracks to clear and allow traffic to cross. Apparently, several potential buyers were caught on the wrong side of the track.

With the delay, the Extension office took the opportunity to present several plaques of recognition. Troy and LaRae Blunt were acknowledged for their years of dedication to 4-H and the years they devoted to making the sale day a success. LaRae clerked and Troy was a ring man and bid taker for the auction each year, for many years. Kent Wasson was then recognized for his contribution over the years as a ring man as well. Retired (and thoroughly enjoying it) county agent Marko Manoukian was recognized as well, and cupcakes were served at the 4-H booth in his honor.

The livestock sale of 2023 began as Denvyr Tuss started things out bringing her 234 pound market swine into the ring. The first sale of the day went for $10.50 a pound; the market prices varied from $8 to a high of $25 a pound. The average sale price was $11.64 per pound and came to $3,187 average price.

The sales were conducted at the ring and the auction was also on-line. At any given time there were 10-30 bidders on-line taking in the sale. Several sales were completed this way, offering buyers a chance to be part of the sale without making the trip to the fair.

The sole sheep sold for $18 a pound, and was owned by Emmett Skubinna, for a total of $2,304.

As the market beef were ready to sell, Samme Gibbs brought her 1105 pound beef through, kicking off the final 4-H and FFA activities for 2023. The critter sold for $6 per pound; the market varied through the auction action and got weaker as the day went on and buyers started leaving. Beef went from $2.50 a pound to $9 a pound, which was for the Grand Champion market beef owned by Jayda Wyse. The 2023 average price was $4.93 per pound, averaging $6,152.32.

A beef purchased by First State Bank of Malta was donated back and resold with money going to the Grandstand Fund for help rebuilding the grandstand.

One beef was purchased by a group of individuals and donated to Amber (Tremblay) Bessman and family. Her son, Dirk, has been hospitalized in Billings since a recent accident.

As Cliff Rustad would close things out with a tune, "...turn out the lights, the party's over..." and Phillips County Fair #108 started to wind down quietly. See you next year at the 109th!