Market sale supporters stress value of ag

As Wes McAlpin prepares for this year’s 4-H/FFA Market Livestock Sale on Saturday, he is reminded once again how deep agricultural roots run in Flathead County.

McAlpin, who as a child was a member of 4-H, showing animals in what used to be an outdoor facility at the Flathead County Fairgrounds in 1963 and ’64, has come full-circle here in the Flathead. He now serves on the Fair Board and is overall barn superintendent during the livestock show and sale.

“I get to watch kids learn about raising animals, taking responsibility for a living being, starting lifelong friendships, and being part of a really competitive sale,” he said as he looked back on the reasons for why he devotes hundreds of hours a year to the kids in 4-H/FFA and the Market Livestock Sale.

“The responsibility kids learn in the agriculture world, especially through raising animals, sticks with them forever. It’s neat to see ag kids here grow up to be leaders, taking on top positions in different industries,” McAlpin said. He credits at least a portion of their career success, and his own, to the lessons learned while in 4-H and FFA.

McAlpin and longtime volunteer Pete Woll both have been part of the long agricultural heritage of the Flathead. They’ve seen a strong spike in industry interest from parents and kids who live in the more urban areas of Kalispell, helping spread agricultural roots even further across the community.

“Watching the sale grow in numbers three-fold since I was in the program in the 1960s has been incredible,” Woll said. “The FFA program we have here through the Vo-Ag center is second to none, and it’s been great seeing the kids who don’t come from a traditional farming home get interested in raising animals.”

The FFA program, available to high school students in Kalispell, has become the venue to do just that. The facility, located on FFA Drive, gives students the room to raise their animals while various faculty members are available to provide guidance on how to feed and work lambs, hogs, or cattle in order to be ready for the sale.

The addition of kids from within denser areas of the city getting involved has not only helped bolster interest and attendance in 4-H and FFA programs, but it has garnered more community support than the Market Livestock Sale has seen in years past.

In 2016, the sale drew in more spectators and nearly a dozen new businesses and individual buyers, making it the most profitable sale since organizers can recall, totaling $377,230.

“What makes our sale different than any other one I’ve come across over the past four decades is the community support and how every penny goes back to the students who raised the animals,” McAlpin pointed out.

He went on to explain how most sales have a clerk that takes a percentage of each sale. Here in the Flathead, the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce and a group of other dedicated volunteers, like McAlpin and Woll, all get together to run the weekend, allowing for every penny spent on an animal to go straight to the youth who raised it.

In the month following the sale, each student is required to hand-deliver a photo of themselves with their animal to their buyer.

“It teaches these guys and girls to take pride in their work, be respectful, and be responsible. They have to go meet and have a conversation with their buyer in order to collect what they earned from their animal,” McAlpin said.

Ryan Patzer, owner of Jimmy Johns in Kalispell, also grew up showing stock animals outside Helena and moved his family to the Flathead nearly seven years ago. They purchased their first animal in 2015 through the business. Patzer and his wife Julie they can’t stress enough the value of community support behind the event.

“You’re really investing in the future of the Flathead by supporting these kids. It’s a very real way for them to learn money-management skills,” Patzer said as he shared stories of how he purchased his first motorbike and truck from the money he saved by selling animals through 4-H.

Last year Jimmy Johns purchased two hogs, including the grand champion, splitting the meat between their employees and the Flathead Food Bank. That shows it’s not just the kids in the sale who benefit. Every year thousands of pounds of meat are donated to community organizations across the Flathead, feeding hundreds of people in need.

Businesses, individuals or groups interested in supporting agriculture students are encouraged to stop by the Trade Center Building Tuesday through Thursday this week to see the showmanship classes, and on Saturday between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. for the sale.

Kate Lufkin is a marketing and communications specialist with the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce.