Madison Borger, 13, and her goat, Charlie, have become buddies since she brought him home from Mill Oak Boer Goats in Hershey to her barn on April 3.

“I washed, fed, brushed him, spent time with him and walked him around on his halter every day,” said Borger, a participant in the West End Fair’s inaugural 4-H Auction held Saturday morning.

This is her fifth year in Down Home Beef 4-H Livestock Club. She has been around animals and worked on the Borger family farm her entire life.

Borger did not want her beloved Charlie to become people’s meals, so she reached out to friends, hoping that someone would take Charlie home to their backyard and give him a happy life.

“I hope he goes to a good family. He is special to me,” she said.

Borger and the other 4-H participants wrote letters about their animals and explained their project to potential buyers.

“He is a full blood Boer goat,” she said in the letter. “Halter breaking Charlie has taken a good bit of time, but all it takes is quality time and effort.”

Borger gave her letter to Bill and Jessica Slawter, and their son Kaleb, who are family friends. The Borgers and Slawters attend the same church.

“We are here to see how the auction works and maybe get some goats to bring home to our horses and other goats. Madison’s little guy will fit right in,” Jessica Slawter said.

Before the auction, the Slawters arrived around 8 a.m. for breakfast, which was donated by Kinsley’s Shop Rite of Brodheadsville. It included donuts, fruit, juice and coffee.

Other auction attendees began to trickle in and find a seat. Behind the scenes, the participants and others were grooming and feeding their livestock, hosing off the stall walls and changing out the hay.

Before the auction began, Borger and her dad, Ross, and the other 4-H participants gathered in the George E. and Mary Lou Kerrick Livestock Arena with their animals.

“We have been talking about doing an auction for several years, and finally decided to do it. This is one of the only fairs around here that did not have a 4-H livestock auction,” said Mindy Seese, a 4-H leader on the livestock sale committee.

The committee invited the supervisors from local municipalities, Pleasant Valley School District and the Monroe County Commissioners, said Jenn Smith, 4-H auction committee member.

The proceeds from each animal will be split three ways, with a percentage going to the participant for their next project; a percentage going to the 4-H Club for activities and field trips; and a percentage going to the fair’s livestock program.

“This is our first livestock auction, and it will be back. It has room to grow,” said Dale “Peanut” Greenzweig Jr., president of the West End Fair Association.

Next year’s auction will be Saturday, Aug. 24.

Purchasers had the buy back option, where they donate the animal to a 4-H member or to the buy-back buyer. Or they can take the animal home. Pigs were the exception. They are terminal and will be sent to Lehigh Valley Meats.

There were nine grand champions and reserve champions in the auction. There was a grand champion rabbit meat pen by Grace Smith and reserve champion rabbit meat pen by Abigail Smith. Isabella Haley had the grand champion lamb and Gideon Smith had the reserve champion market lamb. Haley also had the grand champion market goat.

Charlie, the reserve champion market goat, was the sixth animal in the auction.

Holding up his #3 bidding card, Bill Slawter and a couple other bidders went back and forth until Slawter’s bid won.

Up next was Elizabeth Gouger’s grand champion market steer.

“We love doing 4-H auctions. I don’t usually beg this long for higher bids, but this is for the kids,” said auctioneer Nathan Houser while waiting for a larger bid on the steer.

Nick Storm, of Storm Lumber and Logging, had that highest bid. He and his son, Kaleb, walked into the arena to have their photo taken with Gouger and the steer.

Jayden Smith-Serfass had the reserve champion market steer and Abigail Smith had the grand champion market swine.

There were six remaining market animals up for auction. Gideon Smith and Gouger had rabbit meat pens, Grace Smith had a market lamb, Abigail Smith had a market lamb and a market steer, and Isabella Haley had a market steer.

“We also purchased a little brown and white goat from the auction so that Charlie would have some company,” Jessica Slawter said.

On Sunday, the goats moved to their new pasture at the Slawter’s home on Silver Spring Boulevard in Kunkletown.

4-H exhibits

“We had a great year in terms of entries on display in the exhibit building,” said Erin Greenleaf, interim 4-H Educator. “We had a little bit of everything including posters and projects about baking, sewing, textiles, photos, livestock and bugs.”

On Saturday, she was helping at the auction and announcing the names of the winning bidders.

The 4-H building is by the livestock barns and livestock arena.

“We have volunteers who work shifts and hand out information about 4-H. I have already received emails and phone calls from people who want to join 4-H,” she said.

Abigail Strunk won first place for her miniature barn that demonstrates animal care. Inside the barn are two miniature horses, buckets with feed and water, bales of hay, flowers and bridles.

Celestia Meixsell received a blue ribbon for her poster called “4-H Hatches New Opportunities.” It has chicks hatching from eggs. Each egg is labeled something different that she has learned from 4-H participation. The eggs say education, agriculture, business, community and leadership.

Gavin Conklin loves bugs and is part of the 4-H entomology club “Insects Are Us.”

His wooden box with glass showcase contains various bug specimens. Each is labeled with the type of insect it is, the date he collected it and his name. He received first place for the entry.

Many other projects - with ribbons or without - were on display all week at the 101st annual West End Fair.

Greenzweig said the fair “had excellent attendance all week, except for Thursday when it rained.”