Email sent to all Market Livestock Students on June 1, 2025
Part of selling market animals is to write letters and invite potential buyers to come to the sale. As a Tyrone Area FFA member, you are required to send a minimum of one letter to a potential sponsor, of course, I encourage 3-5 buyers to cause a bidding war to drive your price up. Before any letters are sent, I need to approve your letter to ensure you have all the necessary information and that you are not sending them to the same buyers.
Once again this is a skill building as part of your project to market you and your animals.
Please see the 2 examples, after the initial information I have below. YOU MAY TYPE one draft, but I need to have a list of buyers with their names and mailing addresses included. I will be more than happy to print and mail them for you by July 1, 2025. ALL LETTERS ARE DUE JUNE 15, 2025 via a Google doc shared with me.
AT NO POINT should you ever ask for your animal back from the buyer. If you want your animal, then you purchase it back at the fair or at the Huntingdon County Fair you can pay for your animal on weigh-in day. As long as it is not Grand or Reserve, then you will receive it back for the set amount they announce prior to fair - it's by the pound and based on market value. These buyers are there to support many students and asking for your animal back is considered rude. I know over the past few years working the check-out at the sale; we have received several complaints of students approaching buyers about getting their animals back. Some buyers decided to take their funds to another fair and several others have cut back on the number of animals they would purchase.
NOTE: Those at the Huntingdon County Fair should include the following: The Huntington County Fair Junior Livestock Committee partnered with the Central PA Food Bank! Buy an animal and donate the entire animal to one of the non-profit organizations through the Central PA Food Bank. Funds through the Bid-Buy-Donate program will pay all hauling and processing costs - you just pay for the animal and tell the auctioneer that it is for the Bid-Buy-Donate program! Help feed Huntington County!
Check with your Fair if they have the BId-Buy-Donate program.
Questions, please see me.
Mrs. Hoy
TYRONE AREA FFA BUYERS LETTER PACKET
Dear Parents and Students,
Congratulations on choosing to raise a market animal for your designated fair! Your hard work is commended! Now that you have gotten started on raising your project animal for the fair it is time to start thinking about WHO is going to buy this animal and how you are going to make your project potentially profitable for you.
Now is the time to start thinking about buyers – NOT the week before the fair. Take advantage of community contacts you may have, parents’ coworkers or colleagues, coaches, family friends, family doctors, local businesses, people you do business with, relatives, teachers, neighbors, and many others. Remember that the more contacts you make and the more letters you hand deliver in person the more you could potentially make on your project. Please also keep in mind that there is no “guarantee” that you will make money from this project. However, securing a buyer prior to the fair and agreeing on a price per head that will ensure you make a profit is a perfect way of making sure you DO make money from your project.
The following packet contains suggestions and ideas to help you get started writing letters to potential auction buyers for the Huntingdon County Fair. This packet also contains a sample buyer letter for the fair. Feel free to use it to help get you started on your letters! Good luck in your quest to find a buyer. Remember…the tools have been given to you to successfully find a buyer…now it’s up to it’s what you choose to do with it 
! Don’t forget it is also important to send a Thank You letter to your buyer after the sale.
Please make a copy of your buyers’ letters and thank you notes – these will be scanned and added to your AET Record books (checks will only be released after your copies have been added to your AET online book). Books must be up to date by the end of July, so please schedule a time to work on your online books prior to August (check the contract for specific dates).
REQUIREMENTS:
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Buyer Letter draft must be sent to Mrs. Hoy by June 15 for approval.
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Members with Market Animal Project must send a minimum of one approved buyer letter by July 1, 2025
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Copies of all final buyer letters must be scanned and placed in the AET record by July 15th. You should also have a journal or two for the time you worked on the letters and delivered or mailed them. Hand delivery, wear an FFA polo or FFA official dress really makes an impression. If you are in need of an FFA Show polo, please let Mrs. Hoy know the size. You are to wear these on show day, unless your fair does not allow any writing on your shirts.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Tiffany Hoy
Tyrone FFA Advisor
1001 Clay Avenue June 1, 2024
Tyrone PA, 16686
Mr. David Herrick
Tyrone Milling
194 Ironville Rd,
Tyrone, PA 16686
Dear Mr. David Herrick,
My name is Frances Weaver and I am a sophomore at Tyrone Area School District. I have enjoyed being part of the Tyrone Area High School Agricultural Education Program for the last two years and have taken advantage of the program activities offered through the FFA and Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs). Our chapter consists of about 70 members with approximately 25 members who carry a livestock project. This is my second year conducting a livestock SAE project, my eighth year of raising and showing two goats, and my first raising and showing a Market Steer and a Breeding Heifer for the Centre County Grange Encampment and Fair.
I take pride in raising my animals to be wholesome food products for our local
communities. This year my three Smart goals were to demonstrate management techniques that ensure animal welfare, analyze the nutritional needs of animals, and select and train animals for specific purposes and maximum performance based on anatomy and physiology.
As a potential buyer, I would like to inform you that the sale date is Friday, August 23,
2024. In the Livestock Judging Arena beginning at 9:30 AM. This sale features Centre County 4-H members and FFA members’ market animals. There are steers, lambs, goats, hogs, rabbits, and dairy beef.
Our community has a strong tradition of supporting the agricultural youth! I would like
to thank you for taking the time to read this letter as I know that your time is valuable. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at (Phone number) or my FFA advisor, Mrs. TiffanyHoy at 814-684-4240 or tmhoy@tyrone.k12.pa.us.
Again thank you for your support and I hope to see you at the fair!
Sincerely,
Frances Weaver
Tyrone Area FFA Member
EXAMPLE #2 - HUNTINGDON CO. Fair
1234 Pennington Road
Tyrone, PA 16686
May 30, 2024
Mr. Clark Stapelfeld
New Pig Corp
1 Pork Ave
Tipton, PA 16684
Dear Mr. Stapelfeld:
My name is John Eaken and I will be a sophomore at Tyrone Area School District in the Fall of 2024. This past school year was my first year in the FFA chapter and I have enjoyed being part of the chapter and I have taken advantage of the program activities offered through the FFA and Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs). Our chapter consists of 70 members with approximately 25 members who carry livestock projects.
This is my first year of conducting a livestock SAE project and my 7th year of raising and showing dairy beef for the Huntington County Fair. I am the 3rd generation in my family to exhibit animals at the Huntingdon County Fair. My grandfather, James Clark and my mother, Kelly Eaken also raised and showed livestock at the Huntingdon County Fair. My dairy beef is a Holstein breed and his name is Spencer. I’m also taking a market goat through my local 4-H club. This is my first year exhibiting a market goat. She is a Boer breed and her name is Daisy. I take pride in knowing that my livestock projects are a wholesome food product that could potentially help my surrounding local communities. I have three main goals: 1) to learn more of what goes into my feed and how the feed is processed before it is purchased by the consumer like myself, 2) to raise my animal to be considered the top grade rating for meat products, 3) to learn more about the Agricultural Industry and the impacts that it has on businesses.
Over the past 7 years, I have learned some valuable life skills that I continue to improve on year after year. I have learned time management skills through balancing school academics, participating in sports, and raising livestock projects. My abilities of keeping valuable records, including budgets tracking all income and expenses has improved my final evaluation of my projects, along with helping me to make herd management changes to improve future projects. Assisted with multiple FFA committees this year. I plan to continue to improve on these skills through my FFA experiences and take those skills into the workforce.
I have enclosed two passes for you to receive free admission to attend the sale on August 9th 2024, with the sale starting promptly at 9:00 am. Please reference the back of the form for the options of purchasing livestock. New in 2023 - the Huntington County Fair Junior Livestock Committee partnered with the Central PA Food Bank! Buy an animal and donate the entire animal to one of the non-profit organizations through the Central PA Food Bank. Funds through the Bid-Buy-Donate program will pay all hauling and processing costs - you just pay for the animal and tell the auctioneer that it is for the Bid-Buy-Donate program! Help feed Huntington County!
I know that our community has a strong tradition of supporting the agriculture youth! I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this letter as I know that your time is valuable. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 814-404-5232 or my FFA advisor, Mrs. Tiffany Hoy at 814-684-4240 or tmhoy@tyrone.k12.pa.us.
Again thank you for your support and I hope to see you at the fair!
Sincerely,
John Eaken V
Tyrone Area FFA Member