Investing in a grand champion

A grand champion market steer isn’t something that happens overnight, nor is it something which happens without sacrifice. Just ask Shelby Knotwell.

Shelby, who graduated from Saratoga Middle/High School earlier this year, has had three grand champions with the most recent being at the 2023 Carbon County Fair. She also won in 2019 and 2021. This year, however, was even more memorable for Knotwell as her steer sold for $45 per pound to Steven Perkins, owner of Perkins Oil Company. At 1,219 pounds, that came to $54,855 for Shelby.

“I remember thinking ‘Oh my gosh, this is not happening.’ Then, at $30 per pound, I started crying in the show ring,” said Shelby. “A couple times, I thought ‘Oh my gosh, it’s going to stop at this amount’ and then it just kept going. I’m just super grateful.”

It didn’t stop there, though. Going from the county fair to the Wyoming State Fair in Douglas, Shelby went on to win the Champion of Champions. This event is composed of grand champions from all the county fairs in Wyoming who compete against each other. To be clear, this isn’t the same as winning grand champion market steer at the Wyoming State Fair but is an entirely different event.

This year, the Champion of Champions was judged by Ryan Rash, a world renowned livestock fair judge. A signature mark of Rash is the glitter slap, where he slaps glitter on the designated champion. Shelby’s grand champion market steer, Dewey, was the recipient of this slap while she received a large belt reminiscent of title belts seen in professional wrestling.

None of this, of course, has come without hard work and sacrifice on Shelby’s part.

“A beef project is year round. We ended last August and she had her calves in September and, since then, countless hours in the barn. Even before graduation and school got out, hours in the barn. Once school got out, it was probably a minimum of seven to eight hours a day spent in that barn,” said Shelby’s mother, Amanda. “She wouldn’t come in until 11 p.m. most nights.”

That year-round work paid off for Shelby, quite literally, as Steve Perkins continued a tradition of buying the grand champion market steer.

“Our sister company, Valley Oil, had started the process then my Uncle Bob picked it up. We’d go to the 4-H Auction and sometimes we’d buy the grand champion if it was a good price, sometimes we didn’t. We’d buy a customer’s kid’s animal,” said Perkins. “I can’t remember when it was, a few years back, the grand champion looked like it was going to go for a reasonable price so I bought it. That was kind of nice, we got some recognition off of that. Then, the next year, same kind of thing. It was a little higher that next year. It’s been several years in a row now the grand champion’s been at a mostly reasonable price.”

Like Shelby, Perkins was a little surprised at how the price of the grand champion market steer kept going up. Especially compared to 2020, when a lot of the bidding was so low that Perkins bought two steers.

“This year, I was a bit shocked,” said Perkins. “It kept going but I thought ‘You know what, I’m in it this deep. There’s no backing out now.’”

Despite what some people may see as a huge payout for Shelby, there are some debts that need to be settled. Along with the grand champion market steer, Shelby also had a grand champion market heifer and two other steers.

“I really didn’t make that much. I’ve got to pay back for a couple calves and then I have my feed bill. Not to mention a couple of other things I bought to put into them, like supplements and electrolytes,” said Shelby. “I spent a lot on shavings.”

According to Amanda, the family bought approximately 13 tons of feed to prepare their animals for the Carbon County Fair. While they didn’t share an exact number, it can be assumed that the net profit will be considerably less than the gross profit. And despite the payout, there’s also the emotions that go with taking the animals to a processor.

In fact, both Shelby and Amanda can’t talk about taking the steers to the processor without tears in their eyes. Though, according to Shelby, the emotions can vary.

“It depends on their personality. I’m not going to miss my heifer very much because she kicks a lot,” said Shelby. “The rest of them I’m going to miss a lot but that’s just how it goes.”

With summer at an end and school back in session, the cycle of preparing for the county fair begins again. Chances are, the tradition of Perkins Oil Company buying the grand champion market steer will continue as well.

“It’s for the good of the kids, it’s for the good of the program and it’s good for us,” said Perkins. “We have some history in buying grand champions. It’s something I enjoy. When that bidding starts, your heart starts pounding a little bit.”