Bidders spent more than a record $10 million \u2014 largely organized by the nonprofit Fort Worth Stock Show Syndicate<\/a> \u2014 on 292 champion steers<\/a>, barrow pigs<\/a>, goats<\/a> and lambs<\/a> shown at last year\u2019s auction. Total bidding has rocketed up in recent years, as more donors come on board and push up prices at the auction, which anchors the stock show.<\/p>\n \u201cI just remember the days of the Syndicate being rallied (to bid) on the last 20 animals because we\u2019re trying to keep the price at $2 (per pound), and now the price is hovering at $10 a pound\u201d for steers, said Eddie Arguijo, the Syndicate chairman and a beer salesman who has the H-E-B team lead for MillerCoors.<\/p>\n \u201cIt says a lot for this community, and it says a lot for our sponsors and our members,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just impressive. It never ceases to amaze me.\u201d<\/p>\n At least six nonprofits raise commitments and money for the auction. Besides the Syndicate, whose members refer to themselves as \u201cBrothers in Beef,\u201d the others are Women Steering Business<\/a>, Band of Barrows<\/a>, Tallest Hog at the Trough<\/a>, Ladies on the Lamb<\/a> and the U Ol\u2019 Goat Committee<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Syndicate and Tallest Hog recruit buyers, but don\u2019t purchase the animals as organizations. Women Steering Business, Band of Barrows, Ladies on the Lamb and U Ol\u2019 Goat Committee raise money and buy the animals. All proceeds from the sale go to the youth exhibitors.<\/p>\n Officers and directors for five of the groups spoke to the Report for this story. Representatives of U Ol\u2019 Goat could not be reached.<\/p>\n The organizations recruit throughout the year and accelerate efforts the last few weeks before the Junior Sale of Champions. However, not all bidders are organized by those groups.<\/p>\n This year, the Syndicate has somewhere \u201cnorth\u201d of 300 commitments so far,\u00a0Arguijo said. Although its members are focused on the steers, they buy other animals in the auction as well.<\/p>\n Even if the nonprofit group leaders sense they\u2019ve raised enough for the sale, they don\u2019t know how much bidders plan to spend, and surprises aren\u2019t unusual.<\/p>\n Last year, for example, Vaden\u2019s Acoustics & Drywall Inc. bought the grand champion steer for $375,000<\/a>, a huge sum, but short of 2023\u2019s record of $440,000<\/a> for the grand champion steer purchased by the Higginbotham insurance brokerage and benefits firm.\u00a0<\/p>\n Longtime Syndicate member Shane Vaden had purchased steers at previous stock show auctions. He told reporters after his winning bid last year that he notified Syndicate leadership of his plan, but Arguijo said nobody knew whether to take him seriously at first.<\/p>\n \u201cHe just looked more serious than normal,\u201d Arguijo said. \u201cSo I knew he was up to something. We were just excited he was getting competitive in the bidding. And when it started getting to a very uncomfortable number, we just kept looking (at him), kind of in shock.\u201d<\/p>\n During last year\u2019s auction, Women Steering Business bid up to as much as $250,000 for the grand champion and reserve grand champion steers (the latter sold for $300,000 to Ed and Sasha Bass). The group then opted to spread its money out among as many exhibitors as possible, said Becky Renfro Borbolla, co-founder of Women Steering Business. Both the grand champion and reserve were shown by young women.<\/p>\n The organization spent $260,000 at last year\u2019s sale, supporting five exhibitors.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve actually gotten to where we like to spread the money out over numerous young ladies,\u201d said Renfro Borbolla, senior vice president of family-owned Renfro Foods. \u201cIf we don\u2019t get the grand champion or reserve, we spread the money out, which is our target. It\u2019s become very expensive to be in that arena, but it\u2019s great for the young people.\u201d<\/p>\n Women Steering Business, founded in 2013, has spent a total $2.6 million at the Junior Sale of Champions, Renfro Borbolla said. It annually has 100-125 members, requiring a minimum $1,000 to become a member.<\/p>\n The group will likely spend about $300,000 this year, including $30,000 during the annual Tarrant County Jr. Livestock Association Show<\/a>, she said. \u201cWe never know what we\u2019re going to buy until we get to the sale.\u201d<\/p>\n The steers dominate the Junior Sale of Champions, which also includes 12 barrows, 10 lambs and six goats annually. Overall, youth entries in the four shows this year total 3,392 steers, 1,963 barrows, 1,582 lambs and 1,131 goats, the Stock Show said. The number of champion animals advancing to the auction remains at about 300 annually.<\/p>\n In the pig arena, Standard Meat Co. and its Syracuse Sausage unit and Double Eagle Energy typically buy the grand and reserve champions<\/a> \u2014 $140,000 and $150,000 last year, respectively \u2014 without being organized by the barrow affinity groups. That allows Band of Barrows and Tallest Hog at the Trough to focus on the 10 remaining barrows.<\/p>\n \u201cWe try to help the 10 other pigs, because the purchase price falls off substantially after the grand and reserve,\u201d said Whitney Cardwell, an attorney for Happy State Bank in Fort Worth and co-founder of Band of Barrows. \u201cAnd so, last year, we purchased four of the 10 other pigs and spent $87,500.\u201d<\/p>\n Band of Barrows is the youngest of the six bidding groups, having formed in 2019 by founders who recognized the barrows sold for far less than the steers, Cardwell said.<\/p>\n Through last year, Band of Barrows spent $296,000 to buy 16 barrows at the Junior Sale of Champions and a total of $319,000 at the auction, including money spent on other animals, Cardwell said.<\/p>\n Band of Barrows raised $50,000 of its spend right before last year\u2019s auction. Now the group is rallying again after postponing a summer fundraiser in the wake of the deadly Central Texas flooding.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just felt it wasn\u2019t appropriate at the time\u201d to fundraise, Cardwell said.<\/p>\n The nonprofit is working on getting the word out about Band of Barrows, including donating to the stock show\u2019s premium fund for youth exhibitors who don\u2019t advance to the Junior Sale of Champions.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are still learning who we are, so we\u2019re kind of just trying to really develop,\u201d Cardwell said.<\/p>\n Gary Ray, owner of the MODCO \u2014 \u201cMy Own Damn Company\u201d \u2014 Insurance Agency in Fort Worth, said he hopes the barrows in this year\u2019s auction bring more than $500,000, which would be a substantial increase from last year\u2019s $425,000.<\/p>\n Ray and Realtor Bobby Norris co-founded Tallest Hog at the Trough 16 years ago after another pig affinity group shut down. Tallest Hog recruits bidders for the Junior Sale of Champions, but doesn\u2019t raise money.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we do is get people to come out and spend their money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n So far, everything looks good for this year\u2019s sale, Ray said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe still need some more buyers,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got six or seven committed. We\u2019ve got some good buyers coming in to buy pigs that have never bought (before).\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Ladies on the Lamb spent about $220,000 at last year\u2019s auction, including buying the grand champion for $100,000 and the reserve champion for $85,000, teaming with Andrews Distributing to buy the second animal.<\/p>\n For this year\u2019s sale \u201cas far as commitments from our members, money is streaming in right now,\u201d group president Kim Johnson said. \u201cIt really is well what our goals are individually.\u201d<\/p>\n At last year\u2019s auction, the 26-year-old organization purchased six lambs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe only bought two lambs (that first year),\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThat just gives you some perspective on how things have changed.\u201d<\/p>\n Disclosure: Higginbotham has been a financial supporter of the Fort Worth Report.\u00a0<\/p>\n Scott Nishimura is senior editor for local government accountability at the Fort Worth Report. Reach him at scott.nishimura@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/01\/25\/bidders-poised-to-buy-animals-from-youth-at-fort-worth-stock-shows-junior-sale-of-champions\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&quality=80&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n <img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/?republication-pixel=true&post=380096&ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/01\/25\/bidders-poised-to-buy-animals-from-youth-at-fort-worth-stock-shows-junior-sale-of-champions\/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } <\/script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/fortworthreport.org\/p.js”><\/script>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/DSC_7364-Enhanced-NR-1024x683.jpg\")
Alley Cat, a heavyweight American crossbred steer shown by high school sophomore Mattison Koepp of La Vernia in South Texas, won grand champion steer and sold for $375,000 in the Fort Worth Stock Show\u2019s 2025 Junior Sale of Champions. (Billy Banks | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/WSB-2-1024x899.jpg\")
Becky Renfro Borbolla, center, and members of Women Steering Business at the 2024 Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. (Courtesy photo | Women Steering Business) <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/JuniorPigReserve-1024x683.jpg\")
Cambrey Wilson of Midland, with Howard, which won reserve grand champion barrow at the 2025 Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. Howard sold for $150,000 in the Junior Sale of Champions. (Scott Nishimura | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-24-at-2.51.28-PM-2-1024x837.png\")
The Ladies on the Lamb group spent $220,000 to buy the grand champion, reserve champion and four other champion lambs in the 2025 Junior Sale of Champions at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. (Courtesy photo | Ladies on the Lamb)<\/p>\n