A market steer sold for $227,000 at this year's Big Tex Youth Livestock Auction, a State Fair of Texas record, and the auction and its companion scholarship programs raised more than $2.7 million for Texas students, the fair said in a release Thursday.
The auction, held each year on the second Friday of the fair, opened Oct. 2 at the Briscoe Carpenter Livestock Center in Fair Park with the sale of the Grand Champion Market Steer. Longtime fair donor Frank Deel and family, together with the Big Tex Champion Club, made the winning bid.
The steer, shown by a 16-year-old Wise County 4-H member, won its title over 442 steers entered in the youth market steer show, the fair said.
How the money works
More than 2,400 entries from across the state competed for 604 places in the sale. Exhibitors who make the auction sell their animals to the highest bidder but receive a set maximum payment, or premium, according to the fair.
Money bid above that goes to other students through the Big Tex Youth Livestock Auction and Scholarship Programs, which serve young people who compete in the fair's livestock events as well as students at high schools near Fair Park.
The fair says it has handed out more than $25.3 million in auction awards and scholarships since 2018.
