CONNOQUENESSING TWP — This year's junior livestock auction at the Butler Farm Show had a few changes from a year ago, including the return of live poultry and somewhat lower auction prices.

This year's event, the 39th annual, on Thursday featured more than 250 cattle, hogs, goats, lambs, rabbits and chickens raised by members of a Butler County 4-H Club or the National FFA Organization, according to Donna Zang, 4-H educator with the county Penn State Extension.

Returning this year were the live presentations for the poultry pens, which were suspended last year by state mandate to prevent the spread of avian flu. Last year, youths who raised poultry had to show off their animals using posters instead of actually showing the chicken pens, according to Hunter Lefever, 18, of Butler.

This year, Lefever sold two pens of four chickens each, but he thinks the poster sales were easier than showing live animals even if it did feel weird.

In some ways, raising chickens is more difficult than raising other farm animals.

“They're more fragile,” he said.

For instance, the chickens he sold Thursday night were only two months old. If they're kept much longer, they can develop health problems and start to die.

Of the 35 chickens Lefever started out with in June, three have died, he said.

While Lefever was hoping for roughly $500 for each of his two pens, he received $400 and $450.

He wasn't the only person receiving lower prices for his animals.

According to Dave Cox, the representative for the farm show on the Livestock Sale Committee, the market is down, leading to lower prices than what the 4-H and FFA students typically get.

Matt Powers, 18, of Jefferson Township said it's typical to see bids much higher than the true market value at the junior livestock auction.

“This is like a benefit for the 4-H kids,” he said. “So (the buyers) try to get us above the market price.”

But that wasn't the case this year.

Powers estimated that the market value for beef is about $1.25 per pound, but he said that in certain years, the price per pound paid at the auction can be as high as $16 per pound. In fact, Powers got roughly that amount in 2013, when he sold the grand champion steer.

This year, Powers' grand champion, weighing in at 1,302 pounds, sold for $4 per pound to the Butler Eagle. Powers said he will use that money for his college education.

This fall, he will attend Kansas State University to major in animal science, planning to become an embryologist and help improve the genetics of the Hereford breed.

By comparison, last year's grand champion steer at 1,379 pounds sold for $9 per pound, making the animal worth more than $12,000.

However, spending so much money per pound, especially on an animal that weighs over a half ton, can be a “very large investment” for the buyer, Powers said.

Because many of the buyers at the auction are affiliated with companies in the coal and energy industries, the auction prices also may be lower due to lower prices for energy in the past number of months, Cox said.

“They're not spending as much because they're not making as much,” he said.

Many of the steers sold for prices of $1.25 to $1.75 per pound.

But the auction is not only about the amount of money the junior handlers make. It's about the experience, such as for 10-year-old Bailee Magill of Butler.

This year was her first year raising steers since she raised and sold pigs and lambs last year.

While Bailee said she wanted to try something new this year, she didn't realize she would become so attached to her steer, named Shadow.

Weighing in at 1,336 pounds, Shadow was taller than Bailee as she showed the steer around the auction arena. Bailee received $1.70 per pound for Shadow, and she said she will use the money for next year's project.

But despite the emotional turmoil after parting with Shadow since the two were united in November 2015, Bailee said she “definitely” plans to raise steer next year as well.

When it came to the hogs, prices were a little higher per pound, likely because hogs don't weigh nearly the same as steer, Cox said.

The grand champion hog, raised by Grace Swopes, 13, of Mars, sold for $5.75 per pound with a total weight of 265 pounds.

However, in previous years, Grace said she sold pigs for nearly $10 per pound. Any money Grace makes from the sale goes toward next year's project, she said.

But Grace was happy to know that her effort paid off, especially by having one of her two hogs be named the grand champion.

“Hard work does pay off at the end, but you do have to work for it,” she said.