Butler County well-represented at state farm show in Harrisburg
Amy Metrick has attended the Pennsylvania Farm Show every year of her life, continuing a long-standing tradition set by her father, Ken Metrick, who hasn’t missed the annual agricultural event for more than four decades.
The Metricks are among a sizable contingent from Butler County, who are gathered in Harrisburg through Saturday, Jan. 11 with other agricultural professionals from all corners of the state.
“It’s a showcase of the agriculture that is in Pennsylvania and the different sectors of it, and it gives the public a chance to see everything that Pennsylvania agriculture has to offer,” Amy Metrick said.
The event predates Ken Metrick’s first trip to the show when he was in his high school’s Future Farmers of America organization. It is now the largest indoor agricultural expo in the nation with nearly 4,000 animals, more than 12,000 entries and 3,000 competitors.
Ken Metrick a group of 4-H members from Butler County are headed to the event this year to show off their prizewinning baked goods after winning top honors for them at the Butler Farm Show this past summer.
Those going include Kristin Leith for her apple pie, Kayle Stroup for her chocolate cake, Yogi Samuel for her angel food cake and Dylan Thurber for his cookies.
Meanwhile, Amy Metrick is managing a group of young farmers who are exhibiting animals at the show.
“I do know that there are at least six kiddos out here with market animals, and then there are also some that are bringing breeding animals,” Amy Metrick said.
Amy Metrick arrived in Harrisburg on Thursday, Jan. 2, and her main priority for the week is assisting in the running of the farm show’s junior livestock auction, which takes place on Tuesday.
According to Amy, simply bringing a market animal to the farm show is no guarantee that it will have a place in the auction, as there only is space for a certain amount of animals.
The rules for the auction state that only 120 lambs, 80 goats and 160 pigs will sell; and no cattle below 1,000 pounds are allowed.
“They only take so many sheep and so many pigs,” Amy said. “There is a chance that you could come out here to sell your sheep or your market lamb and you don’t get to sell it because, say, there’s 15 in a class, and they’ll only take the top seven to the sale.”
The Pennsylvania Farm Show kicks off on Saturday, Jan. 4, and lasts through Saturday, Jan. 11.
“The size of it is incredible,” Amy said. “It showcases all the different parts of Pennsylvania: the Christmas tree grower industry, the hardwood industry, the general ag industry, all those different kinds of things that are found throughout Pennsylvania that people may not know about.”
