Piper City’s Chelsea Wycoff’s Rabbits net nearly $10,000

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- The "Sale of Champions" at this year's Illinois State Fair was a record-breaker.

Acting Agriculture Director Bob Flider says buyers at Tuesday's sale paid record prices for five animals. The annual auction of prize-winning state fair junior livestock brought in more than $159,000 for the producers and Illinois' 4-H and Future Farmers of America education programs.

The grand champion wether raised by 18-year-old Caleb Whitcomb was auctioned off for $17,200. The sheep's sale broke the previous record by nearly $5,000.

But the auction's big ticket item was the fair's grand champion steer. The crossbred shown by 16-year-old A.J. Line of Seaton sold for $52,000, which topped the previous record by $800.

12-year-old Chelsea Wycoff of Piper City drew a standing ovation from the crowd at the Sale of Champions. Her pen of California Rabbits earned $6,500, which she then donated to Easter Seals. Chelsea’s rabbits were donated and sold again for another $3,400…the total resale amount going to Easter Seals.

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