4-H Market Project Sale

Absolutely! You are welcome to attend our annual Achievement Day on Sunday, May 11th at the Millarville Racetrack. You will be able to meet the members and preview the Steer and Lamb Sale. This is a family friendly event that showcases the hard work and dedication of our 4-H Members. Please plan to join us as our 4-H families are excited to share this experience with the community.

Millarville Stockland 4-H Sale will be on www.dlms.ca. You can find instructions on how to register to bid in our catalog or by visiting the DLMS Farmgate how to page.

The online auction will open at NOON on Thursday, June 5th. All animals for sale can be viewed on the auction page. The program will send you text and email messages whenever there is activity on your favourite lots or someone challenges your proxy bid and this is why you will be asked for both your current email and cell phone number.

The program allows you to place a proxy bid on any sale lot. This fact protects your interest in any lot for you to a specified dollar value you set, when you may not be able to give 100% attention to the sale. If that lot has a $3.00/lb bid on it and you place a proxy bid of $4.25/lb into the system, the computer will bid $3.25 for you but if someone else bids $3.50, the computer will again bid for you, this time $3.75. The system will look after your interest to a maximum of $4.25/lb. If another bidder in on at $4.25/lb, your proxy will no longer be effective and you will no longer have the winning bid on this lot without once again logging in and bidding again or moving your attention to another animal.

When we get to the close out end time the clock for close extends with any bid placed with less than 5 min on the clock. This type of extended bidding turns the end time to more of a soft time. Extended bidding allows bidders to compete in lots like a real auction and give all bidders the same time to make a decision. Always follow the clock to see how much time remains in the sale you are interested in.

Racehorse style sale close is when the entire sale stays open in extended bidding. This type of sale allows you as the bidder to change to a different lot within the same sale if the bidding has gone in to extended bidding.

You will be notified if you are the winning bidder immediately when the sale closes. If you purchase a steer, you will note your preferred butcher site. All animals have a guaranteed abattoir spot. Steers have booked spots with Red Deer Lake Meats and Pure Country Meats. We will do our best to accommodate first choice. Lamb buyers will be contacted about their preferred lamb processor.

Alternate processing locations must be arranged by buyer. Delivery to alternate processors may be possible with prior arrangement.

DLMS will email you a notification of purchase. At the completion of the auction, each 4-H member will be in contact with the buyer to arrange for payment and issue receipts. Payment must be made within 48 hours of the close of the sale. Payment must be made in full to the 4-H member before the animal can be delivered to the processor.

The purchaser of the animal(s) is responsible for the processing fees.

The 4-H program is designed to foster confidence, competency, and hands-on skill development in youth. The 4-H members must keep detailed records on the feeding & health of their project(s), participate in public speaking & community volunteer initiatives each year.

A Market Steer that weighs 1300 lbs will have an average yield of 62%. After processing and de-boning, approximately 637 pounds of meat will be wrapped for consumption. You will end up with roughly the following: 395 lbs of Roasts and Steaks & 240 lbs of Ground Beef & Stewing Beef.

To go to the grocery store and buy this today, you'll pay:

395 lbs of Roasts & Steaks at an avg price of $19.06/lb = $7,528.70

240 lbs of Ground & Stewing Beef at an avg price of $12.27/lb = $2,944.80

TOTAL COST TO PURCHASE IN STORE $10,473.50

Price of a steer at your local 4-H sale $5.50/lb x 1300lbs $7,150.00

Price of butcher, cutting and wrapping approx. $1,100.00

TOTAL COST OF 4-H STEER $8,250.00

For approximately $2,200.00 less than at the grocery store you can support a young entrepreneur and know EXACTLY where your food is raised and what it was fed. You’d also be supporting a local butcher and have the meat cut to your exact specifications. Once you taste this high-quality beef, there is no going back. Last year our steers were judged in a carcass class. The steers in our club graded AAA and above with higher yield than the average animal.

These prices, weights & averages may vary due to market fluctuations & weather conditions.

The breed of animal can also influence the frame size and cut-ability.

Averages taken in Calgary from Superstore, Save-On, Sobeys, Calgary Co-op & Sunterra Market on April 27, 2025

If over 600lbs of beef is daunting, gather some family, friends or co-workers and split the cost. Each party can fill out their own cut sheet for the butcher.

Sourcing local, fresh lamb is not easy as much is imported from Australia & New Zealand. The prices quoted below are fresh, not frozen Alberta Lamb.

A Market Lamb that weighs 120 lbs will have an average yield of 48%.

After processing and de-boning, approximately 58 pounds of meat will be wrapped for consumption. You will end up with the following:

50 lbs of Roasts & Steaks & 8 lbs of Ground Lamb & Stewing Lamb.

To go to the grocery store and buy this today, you'll pay:

50 lbs of Roasts & Steaks at an avg price of $21.25/lb = $1,062.5

8 lbs of Ground & Stewing Lamb at an avg price of $16.86/lb = $134.88

APPROXIMATE TOTAL COST TO PURCHASE IN STORE $1197.38

Price of a lamb at your local 4-H sale $7.00/lb x 120lbs = $840.00

Price of butcher, cutting and wrapping approximately $100.00

Total Cost of a local 4-H Lamb $940.00

For approximately $250.00 less than at the grocery store you can support a young entrepreneur and know EXACTLY where your food is raised and what it was fed. You’d also be supporting a local butcher and have the meat cut to your exact specifications. Once you taste this high-quality locally grown lamb, there is no going back.

These prices, weights & averages may vary due to market fluctuations & weather conditions. The breed of animal can also influence the frame size and cutability.

Averages taken in Calgary from Calgary Co-op on April 27, 2025