The grand champion steer at the 40th Governor’s Blue Ribbon Livestock Auction at the Wisconsin State Fiar sold for $25,000. The 1,315-pound animal exhibited by Brock May, 14, of Iowa County was purchased by Metcalfe Sentry Foods.

The auction kicked off promptly at 6:30 p.m. in the Coliseum at the Fair Park and was emceed by Auctioneer Bob Johnson of Milton with Gov. Jim Doyle on and off stage encouraging bidders to top the last bid.

May broke into tears when his crossbred steer was selected as grand champion for the second year running.

In total, 26 junior market steers, barrows and lambs were auctioned off raising a grand total of $126,700. The award structure is a sliding percentage scale based on the amount of the auction sale price. The remaining percentage is applied to youth scholarships, grants and auction expenses. May will receive 72% of the auction sale price of his steer.

The judges who selected the champion animals for the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Livestock Auction were:

? Willard LeMaster – Junior Market Steer
? Ryan Watje – Junior Market Barrows
? Justin Jonas – Junior Market Lambs

The other grand champions were:
? Grand Champion Barrow (Breed: Crossbred) exhibited by R. Trip Downing of Rock County; Winning Bid of $11,000 by Metcalfe Sentry Foods
? Grand Champion Market Lamb (Breed: Hampshire) exhibited by Tierney Reilly of Lafayette County; Winning Bid of $8,500 by Saz’s, Leff’s Lucky Town, Zimmerman Design Group, Spectrum Development, Rowbottom Partners, Bunzel’s Meat Market, All City Motors, and the Milwaukee Admirals