By Andrew Walsh
awalsh@wbcowqel.com

The old saying goes that the cream always rises to the top and it did Tuesday night at the Crawford County Fair – even if it was “Dirty.”

The steer of that name owned and shown by Adam Widman at the Junior
Fair Steer Show was named Grand Champion for overall market beef. The reserve champion was Lori Millenbaugh.

The fans were blowing away with everything they had but there was simply no beating the heat on a night like this. Despite the warmth, the fair faithful made a good showing and there was a healthy crowd before which the kids could put the cattle through their paces.

Widman attends Colonel Crawford Schools, and is a member of the Sulphur Springs “Star Farmers”. He has been showing cattle for five years, but this is his first championship. “Dirty,” a name that Adam was only able to offer up after a wide grin, weighed in at 1325 pounds. Dirty and Adam had been hitting the show circuit via the Ohio Best Program, and Adam proudly stated that he was the Champion Simmental Steer all winter.

“It was fun,” Widman said of his and Dirty’s performance in the ring.

On the night, grand and reserve champions were named in four categories: the aforementioned market beef, beef feeder, carlot, and born bred and raised.

The carlot category is an interesting program where the calves are assigned by lottery. The children interested in participating in the program throw their names into a hat and a drawing is held. This year, each participating child was given a candy bar as a sort of lottery marker. There is a mirror set of candy bars from which the lottery is conducted, and when a child’s candy bar is drawn, he or she gets to select a calf from the available pool. There is a financing program available that can be paid off up front or at the end of the program. This year the carlot grand champion was Morgan Scheffler and the reserve champion was Lydia Dwight.

Rounding out the night were Bryce Christy, beef feeder grand champion, Max Hackman, beef feeder reserve champion, Aaron Walter, born bred and raised grand champion, and Morgan Scheffler, born bred and raised reserve champion.

See more photos from the 2013 Crawford County Fair on our Photos page.