How a generous livestock auction keeps Hayden’s agricultural roots alive
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HAYDEN, Colo. — Morgan Yeiser wrapped her hands around her turkey, and asked him to smile for a photo opp. The turkey fought her grip and yelped, but Yeiser finally got him to turn half of his face towards the camera.
“Good job, buddy,” she said, closing the coop gate on the 20-pound turkey.
Yeiser was one of nearly 100 students participating in the 120-year-old tradition of showing animals in the Routt County Fair, held in Hayden every August.
Yeiser graduated from Steamboat Springs High School in the spring and currently studies biomedicine at Colorado State University. While some 4H students live on ranches where they keep their animals, Yeiser’s family uses a nearby ranch, as they do not have the space for all of her birds.
Yeiser is used to wrangling animals. She started showing horses in the Routt County 4H program when she was 8 years old. When she was 10, she switched to chickens and has spent the last eight years focusing on fowl — chickens, turkeys and ducks.
“The birds are generally easier,” Yeiser said. “Whereas with larger animals, there’s so much more work involved.”
Much of the fair — including the junior livestock auction that concludes the festivities each year — is hosted by Routt County 4H, a national program that teaches kids ages 8 to 18 life skills such as ranching, cooking, sciences and homemaking. Colorado State University oversees the Colorado branch of the program.
Though the program is more than just ranching, it is most well known for teaching kids how to raise, show and sell livestock.
“A lot of the kids showing livestock this week come from families where several generations before them participated in the tradition,” said Millie Delaney, Routt County’s 4H coordinator. “The agricultural roots go really deep here in Routt County.”
Routt County, in northwest Colorado just one county over from the Utah border, is widely known for housing Steamboat Resort, which attracts thousands of visitors each winter.
But before the county was a famous outdoor destination, it was known primarily for its fertile soil and ranching possibilities. Ranchers in town helped build the ski resort in 1963, and the Steamboat Chamber still describes the town as “ranching first, skiing second.”
As Steamboat Springs’ population has boomed and housing costs have escalated, the surrounding towns of Hayden and Oak Creek — once known more as quiet ranching towns than Steamboat Springs bedroom communities — have experienced their own forms of population explosion. The change has resulted in housing shortages and luxurious condos popping up where open fields used to be. Home prices in Hayden average $431,300, 27.6% more expensive than the national average.
Matthew Mendisco, the town manager of Hayden, said the county fair’s placement in Hayden keeps the town grounded in its ranching roots.
“Hayden is lots of things,” Mendisco said. “We are a growing town, but the core of our town has always been in agriculture and the county fair is a reminder of that.”
The fair is a week-long celebration, with food trucks, live music, bull riding and GoKart races.
While fair-goers entertain themselves on the 100-yard plot of dirt and shaded barn in Hayden, the Bedell siblings are among dozens of children prepping and pampering their animals to be shown off and sold at the junior livestock auction.
“You want to keep them fat and happy,” said Jessica Bedell, a 16-year-old Soroco High School student. Bedell watched as her steer, Puerco, chomped on hay inside its makeshift pen at the fair barn.
“To a cow, fat and happy are the same thing.”
Bedell has been raising steers since she was little. As she prepared to auction off Puerco, she reflected on the animal’s circle of life. Livestock buyers either butcher the animal themselves or take it to a professional before consuming the beef.
“When I was younger, saying goodbye was a little bittersweet. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that these cattle and these pigs have the best life most animals will ever know,” Bedell said. “We treat them like kings.”
The cattle, Bedell said, alternate between an indoor barn and outdoor pen. They’re fed twice a day, brushed multiple times a day and even play with toys.
“These guys are spoiled rotten,” she said.
Tim Bedell, Jessica’s 18-year-old brother, said Routt County buyers are “known to be very generous,” during the livestock auction.
He and Jessica’s steers both sold for $12,500. A report from the Colorado Weekly Cattle Auction Summary shows an average steer costs around $500. The Bedell siblings suspect Routt County’s steer sell for such generous prices because buyers want local animals and enjoy supporting local students, but the county is also the seventh-richest county in Colorado.
“We are very fortunate to be in a place where people both want to support so generously and have the means to do so,” Tim Bedell said.
The teens and children auctioning the animals keep all of their proceeds. Most put it towards a college fund or use it to reimburse themselves for the expenses of raising an animal.
“The whole community just really likes to support,” Tim Bedell said. “4H teaches you business skills like going out and networking and meeting people and I think it’s one of the best parts of this community.”