WAYNE COUNTY, PA — Each year, members of 4-H Clubs and the Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapters of Wayne County enroll in Market Animal Programs.

Their leaders, parents and the personnel of the Wayne County Penn State Extension Office guide and educate them to carefully raise their market steers, hogs, sheep, goats and rabbits.  

The projects are complete only when they turn in all the required paperwork and they exhibit their animals in various competitions at the Wayne County Fair.

Before there was a livestock auction, members took their animals home. They might have been added to breeding stock; the animals might have been slaughtered; or, in an attempt to recoup the monies they spent raising the animals, private buyers were found. 

But in 1998, a few long-time supporters of the program created an auction. The Wayne County sale has become highly successful, frequently being the second- or third-highest-grossing sale in Pennsylvania, next to the Harrisburg sale.  

The first auction began with about 10 animals; this year, at 10 a.m. on Saturday, August 10, 420 animals will be auctioned.  

In 1998 the sale committee began a scholarship program to assist graduating senior 4-H and FFA members with the costs of higher education and careers.  The fund’s name, the Nebzydoski-White Memorial Jr. Livestock Scholarship Fund, honors two of the program’s ardent supporters—Dr. David J. Nebzydoski and James D. White. 

Scholarship funds are raised by direct donation, often in memory of a loved one, and by the “buy back” feature of the livestock sale. Those who purchase an animal at the auction can donate the animal back to be sold again. The proceeds from the resale go to the scholarship fund or any other charity of the second purchaser’s choice.  The buy-back method benefits 4-H or FFA twice: once when the initial sale proceeds are paid to the individual who raised the animal, and again for a future senior member, assisting them in their plans.

At the close of the 2024 sale, the committee will have donated 412 scholarships totaling $571,433. This year, 16 senior FFA or 4-H members will each receive $2,300.