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Bull sale wraps up
Hundreds of people attend, despite the weather
The snow kept falling, but one hardly noticed the cold in the warm, cozy John Hancock Event Center Saturday.
Even with bad roads and inclement weather, there were still several hundred buyers, sellers, vendors and visitors at the Klamath Bull and Horse Sale, which capped off a week of events at the Klamath County Fairgrounds.
After sifting and grading for the best, 105 bulls and 21 horses were auctioned at the annual event.
Gordon Cook , of Prineville, and Arlene Guerin, of Myrtle Point, car pooled to the event Friday and said the roads weren’t pretty.
“There’s a lot of snow,” Cook said.
Both were look ing to buy. Cook was seeking horses and Guerin, Angus bulls.
Guerin, who’s attended the larger Red Bluff Bull Sale, which happens a week before the local sale, said the Klamath sale was “all right” and that the smaller venue and friendly atmosphere made a big difference.
Cook, who attended the Klamath event for the first time, agreed with Guerin that the people were friendly.
And relaxed, too.
As the sale crew set up the auctioneer’s microphone, cattle panels and stands, Quade Patzke, 16, horsed around with his friends as they took turns roping the head and heels of a practice steer dummy made of plastic and pipe.
FFA support
Kathrine Valladao, 16, hung around the bleachers in her Bonanza FFA jacket, waiting for the sale to begin.
Handfuls of FFA members were present at the sale to help run buyer tickets to the office and staff the gates.
Valladao said the Bonanza students got extra credit for helping with the sale, and though she wasn’t really enthused, she said it’s something that has t o be done and this was her fourth year of helping.
More visitors came to Saturday’s event, which Linda Long-Bourdet, cochair of the sale planning committee, said was pretty typical.
Because of the weather, fewer visitors came.
Thursday was especially quiet, said vendor Ann Secoy, owner of Delta S Designs.
The slow day early in the sale had the firsttime vendor a bit worried, but Friday and Saturday picked up enough that the custom designer, wearing a mid-18th century dress, was feeling upbeat.
“ The bull sale is great,” she said. “The enthusiasm is great.”
Long-Bourdet said that though the numbers were small, she was very pleased with the turnout and expected the sale to end well.
Buyers who were kept from the sale by snow or other reasons were able to call in bids by phone.
Long-Bourdet’s co - chair on planning committee, Bill Kennedy, opened the auction Saturday with a wellreceived anecdote.
“ Someone t old me a long time ago, ‘if you want it to snow in Klamath County, have a bull sale.’ ”
This year, Kennedy’s adage was right.
Glenda Stilwell, of Klamath Falls, calms down
Swagger, her Limousine Bull before auctioning him
off at the 2008 Klamath Bull and Horse Sale
Saturday.