DENVER—Grand champions at the Junior Livestock Auction at the National Western Stock Show this year fetched prices that in some cases were less than half the prices paid last year.
The Grand Champion steer, Chavez, sold for $50,000 Friday. The champion steer last year sold for $110,000.
Eighteen-year-old Ky Stierwalt, who raised Chavez, wasn’t complaining.
“This is the big one for me,” he said while holding the nose ring of the 1,295-pound, year-and-a-half old steer. “The economy is down so it’s OK. We’ll do it all again.”
Stierwalt, of Leedey, Okla., hopes to go to Oklahoma State University with the money he earned.
His 15-year-old sister, Kyra Stierwalt, raised the Grand Champion lamb, which she sold for $25,000. Last year the grand champion lamb brought in $51,000.
