Hartzler Funeral Homes

Abigail Powell, Elizabeth Johnson and Lane Bollenbacher all showed grand champion animals and reaped big rewards during the 4-H livestock auction last Friday. With large support groups, these sales helped push the 2019 auction total to $145,717.45 on 319 lots. This amount is roughly $11,500 less than last year's auction.Powell, of Bourbon Twp., was a double winner this year, showing the grand champion lamb and the grand champion chickens. The Purdue University-bound exhibitor kept her lamb to show at the state fair but sold her broilers for $575 to King Memorial Home of Mentone, Hartzler Funeral Services of Akron, Pro Tree Service and Stump Removal, and Friends and Family of Abigail Powell.Johnson, of Union Twp., showed the supreme champion doe for the sixth year in a row. In her final year of 4-H, she sold milk from the doe for $1,500 to a support group (see list at end of story). She also sold milk from the reserve champion milking goat for $160 to Dr. Debbie Sanders of the Argos Medical Center.In the auction of dairy cow milk, Bollenbacher, of Green Twp., sold a basket of dairy products from his grand champion Jersey for $1,550. The buyer group included Farm Credit, GreenMark Equipment/Mike Houin, Argos Dairy Service, Jennings Insurance Agency Inc., Loren and Sheila Cripe, Dean Andreas Dairy Consulting, Kirkdorffer Milk Transport, Hoover Feed/Tyler Funk, Ceres Solutions, Belsta Milling, Rochester Ford New Holland, Dairyland Seed/Troy Baer, Kalmbach Feeds/Macy Elevator, Neukomm Trucking, Zehner Excavating and North Central Pallets.In other highlights, auctioneer Kelly Hoffman had the privilege of calling the bids when his niece, Katie Hoffman, entered the show ring to sell her grand champion barrow. The Union Twp. 4-H'er sold the 272-pound hog for $4,100 ($14.71 per pound) to a support group (see list) that included her uncle's auctioneering firm—as well as her father's business, the Rochester Sale Barn. She is the daughter of Vince and Michelle Hoffman.The reserve champion barrow was shown by Owen Verhaeghe of German Twp. The 279-pounder was auctioned for $1,5...