Living High on the Hog : Fair: For some youths, months of work fattening their livestock for the auction block pay off in money for college, another animal or a new car.

Binky, a black and white Holstein, had his hair shampooed and coiffed for the first time Friday. In fact, by the time Missy Gallimore, 17, was through primping her calf, he was ready for the auction block at the Ventura County Fair. Her work was worth it.

Binky, at 379 pounds a reserve grand champion, brought her $2,463.50. But Binky wasn’t the priciest beef on the block.

Don Suestka of the Frazier Mountain 4-H Club sold his 1,182-pound grand champion for $16.50 a pound, or $19,503, to Union Engineering Co. of Ventura and P.W. Gillibrand Co. of Simi Valley.

Friday’s junior livestock auction gave 367 youths from across the county a chance to cash in on months of hard work. Some came away with sales that will go toward purchases of other animals or a college education.

Missy, a senior at Fillmore High School, had spent hours brushing and cleaning Binky before he was sold.

“I blow-dried all his hair . . . Then I put on hairstyling gel,” Missy said. She then topped it all off with hair spray.

The auction marked the high point of the year for many teen-agers, said Marilee Belloumini, a Fillmore High School agriculture teacher and coordinator of the fair’s Future Farmers of America exhibits.

About 1,500 bidders, many sporting cowboy hats and bolo ties, clustered inside sawdust-strewn William P. Clark Pavilion, lured by the fast chatter of the auctioneer.

Angelo Costanzo, 55, of Newbury Park, cast the highest bid for a hog for 227-pound grand champion Livia owned by Santa Paula 15-year-old Janelle Nelson: $13.50 a pound, or $3,064.50.

Costanzo, who works for a tile company, sported a green and white cap given to buyers of grand champions.

“I thought it would be nice to help her further her education,” Costanzo said of Janelle.

Some bidders are farmers who buy fair animals to expand their breeding stock, Belloumini said. However, these pigs are not allowed to be used for breeding because fair authorities fear they may transmit a form of rabies.

Today will be the last day Janelle will spend with Livia, her 5-month-old pig, before the swine is sent to the slaughterhouse. On Sunday, all 147 pigs will be slaughtered before they are delivered to buyers.

“It’s hard. I try to think she’s going to a breeder,” she said.

“She has a lot of muscle to her, a real good build,” she said. “I knew she was a good pig, but I didn’t know she’d do that well.”

Many, like Missy, say giving up the animals is part of the job of raising them. She already has plans for the proceeds of the sale of Binky: a new car.

“I grew up on a farm, and I love animals,” she said. “It’s fun. But you’re also doing it for the money and for the experience.”