Twenty years ago- the idea was kicked around to establish a sales venue for the top gilts that were being shown at the Oklahoma Youth Expo. That venue has matured and grown over the years as buyers from many states outside have traveled to Oklahoma City to bid in those early days to now where the bids can come from those in the seats in Barn 8- or can be hundreds or thousands of miles away watching and buying via CCI Live.
Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays talked on Tuesday ahead of the Wednesday night 2023 Night of Stars Gilt Sale with Blake Kennedy of Kennedy Ventures. Kennedy says that the depth of quality of the gilts in the sale is better than he has seen in the last four or five years that he has been a part of the process. Click on the Listen Bar below to hear their conversation.
The 2023 sale will originate in Barn 8 at the OKC Fairgrounds at 6 PM, Wednesday March 15th and and will also be broadcast over the internet on CCI Live– where buyers can watch from anywhere and bid online. This will be the fifth year that Night of Stars will be taking bids live and on line as well.- starting the online option in 2018.
The past two years have been historic for the Sale, with the Night of Stars hitting the million dollar mark in 2021 and setting a record high price for a gilt of $60,000 for not just one- but two of the best gilts in the sale. Those that hit the record included the Supreme Commercial Gilt and the Reserve Supreme Purebred Gilt that year. (pictured below is the 2021 Champion Poland that was the second best Purebred of that 2021 show- owned by Bray Wright of Waukomis 4-H)
The 2022 sale ended up with the second highest total sale total- $880,000 with 130 gilts selling for an average of $6769 per gilt.
There is a video preview of the gilts for the 2023 sale- click here for the Facebook video that has been made.
Kennedy says the sale lineup has been set- click here to take a look– and that his phone has been ringing off the hook since the end of the gilt show this past Saturday asking about the strong points of many of the gilts that have been selected. The first gilt to sell will be the Supreme Champion Purebred- the Champion Chester White shown by Jadyn Gwartney (shown below) with the Champion Spotted Poland China that captured the Reserve Supreme Purebred Gilt honors as the second gilt that will sell.
Click here for the full schedule for the 2023 OYE. The Oklahoma Farm Report team will be snapping pictures from start to finish- and you can see them as we add them to our Flickr album for 2023- available here. If you want to look back to the 2022 OYE- click here for our pictures from last year’s event.
Our coverage of the 2023 Oklahoma Youth Expo is sponsored by Hilliary Communications- who deliver the latest cutting-edge communications services supporting tens of thousands of customers across 22 counties throughout Oklahoma, Texas and Iowa. The company offers internet, voice and HilliaryTV. Hilliary Communications continuously researches the marketplace for innovations and strives to improve underserved areas, offering services that exceed customer expectations. Click here to learn more about Hilliary Communications.