BROKEN BOW – The Custer County Ag Society convened for its monthly meeting on the evening of June 8 at the Shooting Sports Building on the Custer County Fairgrounds. Board members Popp and Garrelts were absent.
The board’s focus for the evening was to resolve several equestrian contracts before the fall and winter events returned to the fairgrounds.
J.B. Atkins, event promoter and representative of the Cutting Horse Association of Nebraska (CHAN) at the meeting, stood before the board to help tidy up what has been so far the muddiest part of negotiations: stall cleaning. Atkins said that his horse cutters are standing their ground on the ground issue, put lightly.
“As far as cleaning them out, I’ve already talked to my folks about it, and almost got into a fistfight with the first person I talked to. They’re not going to do it.”
Cristi Gaffney, on behalf of the Cornhusker Barrel Racing Futurity and its nearly 700 participants, said that sentiments were similar among her equestrians, telling the board that in many cases, stall cleaning for participants just isn’t feasible.
“I have one girl who uses a whole stall row, brings 20 head, and she only brings 2 girls with her. When it’s time to leave, they’re going to load horses and leave. They don’t have time to clean 20 stalls out all the way to the alley.”
As it stands, the fairgrounds have what they feel to be an undercut price in place to incentivize stall cleaning, which given the sheer number of horses, livestock, and hands that circulate through them during the year, strains an already thin fairgrounds labor force.
One solution proposed at the meeting was the purchase of a vacuum trailer specifically designed to clean stables; unsurprisingly, however, that would come at a cost: the board estimates that the most reasonable model for the fairgrounds’ needs would run at least $17,000.
The chance to purchase the unit was appealing to all parties, and Board President Kent Nelson floated a compromise to the representatives, which down the line might ease the sting of costs and labor when it comes to stall cleaning.
“Is there any wiggle room in our current stall fee? Could we raise it ever so slightly where we could purchase a vacuum, and have it paid off in maybe 5 years?”
That slight increase agreed upon for the duration of Atkins’ 2023 contracts, would amount to $20 per night, with the anticipation that the money from the increase will go to the vacuum’s purchase.
The barrel racing contracts, for the time being, will remain the same, as consensus still needs to be reached between the two parties on ground quality issues. Both policies will be revisited by the board in October, as most event producers need to know prices for the coming year months in advance.
The board addressed a new leak in the Shooting Sports Building and the ongoing headache of switching insurance policies. The Ag Society is currently searching for a new insurance provider, ideally one that specializes in entities such as the fairgrounds.
The meeting adjourned at 9:04 p.m.
