NORTHERN SCHOOL STEERS- BARRABA

QUIRINDI PRIME STOCK

TAMWORTH SHOW

2008

The Northern Schools Competition was held this year at Barraba, hosted by Barraba Central School and Manilla Central School. In total there were 18 boys packed and ready to go with a very competitive group of steers.

After trial and error with a total of 9 steers, finally we selected a group of 5 steers to showcase. ‘Bear’ a Murray Grey cross steer purchased from Tenterfield, ‘Dog’, a Angus steer purchased form Kia-ora Feedlot in Walgett, ‘Nugget’ also an Angus purchased from Kia-ora, ‘Cazza’ a Limousin cross steer purchased from Robert Gill in Merriwa and finally our faithful ‘Blue’ who we have nursed along since he was 8 months old. ‘Blue’ was purchased from Norm Basely at Walcha back in April this year.

After arriving at 10.30am the initial job for the boys was to settle the animals down before the weigh in, like clockwork, each student played their part in what I consider a well oiled team. After much deliberation from Cody and Gympie as to where we were going to sleep the night, the swags were unpacked, cattle fed and watered and weigh in time approached. Unfortunately for us this was the start to what was going to be an eventful day.

Each animal needs to be weighed and re-tagged for class identification, unfortunately ‘Bear’ was on the end of a nasty incident where by his leg became lodged in the race causing him to kick and take a large amount of skin off. Luckily Chad was quick to act and released him before any major damage could be done. The boys then took turns in spraying his leg with water for over two hours to help with the swelling. This did put a dampener on the start of the show however the boys rose to the challenge and were determined to have him ready for the paraders competition. After 20 minutes I finally got a bandage on him to keep the flies away.

Each animal was expertly prepared by the boys as the paraders competition began. It makes my job as a teacher to have such proud and committed students working in a group, well done. The paraders’s classes were broken into age groups of years 7-9 and years 10-12. This year we had the majority of our students in the younger class. This was only a problem when the entire 10 students made the final….. my dilemma…find some more animals and quick.

The Uralla Central School and Walcha Central School were extremely helpful and allowed the students to use their animals, a big thanks to them. That problem sorted, we were madly trying to match steers with students when the second disaster of the day struck. Chad Williamson was struck by a steer in the nose in a freak accident. Chad needed to be taken from the round in a ambulance and stitched up at Barraba Hospital. This was an extremely unsettling accident that highlights in many ways the fact that these animals are not domestic animals and can turn a situation into an uncompromising problem at any given time.

It is when adversity strikes that you really see the essence of any team and these students not only composed their selves but went on to compete in the final. Overall the youngest member of our team Luke Saul went on to win this final becoming Junior Parader and becoming Reserve Parader to a student that was three years his senior, well done Luke. Andrew McLeod placed 4^th in this final, well done Andrew.

With Chad and Jack away at the hospital, our senior paraders were some what depleted however Matt and Lachlan completed extremely well going through to the finals, unfortunately after a gallant effort both boys did not place however they were the youngest members in a very experienced class.

It was very pleasing to see the skill level displayed by all the boys and they must be congratulated on their professionalism and general etiquette that was displayed by themselves. The over judge of the day, commented on the consistency and professionalism of the FMAHS boys in all the classes.

After the commencement of the paraders the boys had to bed the animals down for the night whilst they tried to deal with what had happened to Chad, at one stage I had 3 phones ringing at once, Shorty and Cody became my secretaries as I tried to inform all parties of the incident. Tim Caterer and Kieran and Ryan arrived shortly after and served as a welcome distraction. Tim got straight into preparing tea while I gave the boys a quick debrief before they hit the showers. With tea and a disco on their mind, the boys soon put behind them the disastrous day that was.

Chad and Jack arrived back and there seemed to be an influx of attention form the opposite sex……..much to our amusement. Chad was being pampered by girls in all directions although we all agreed it was a tough way to get some attention!! It wasn’t long after the festivities of the dance that the boys were in their swags bedded down for the night.

Day two started with an early rise of 5.30am, the boys showered and started preparing the animals while our resident cook Tim took care of breakfast. The animals needed to be prepared before the commencement of Junior Judging at 8.00am, so there was not really a lot of time. Under the direction of Ryan and Kieran the animals again were presented to an extremely high standard, well done.

The Results of the Junior judging saw some very pleasing results with Brad Cronin coming in 2^nd, Adam Shorten in 3^rd ,Luke Saul in ^4th, Luke Cronin in 5^th and the newest member of our team Brent Townsend in 5^th. A special mention needs to go to Brent who had never competed in a junior judging competition before. All the boys spoke clearly and represented themselves and the school exceptionally well.  One of the many reasons why our school stands out is the pride the students take in the appearance, all the boys were impeccably presented, a fantastic effort.

In the senior Judging, Kieran Martin was our only finalist placing a fantastic 3^rd. Kieran spoke with confidence and deserved his place in a very tight final of 8 students. Well done Kieran. The boys replenished on cordial and homemade muffins kindly supplied by Kerry Gympie’s mum before the classes started.

Our first animal ‘CAZZA’ come out in the 2^nd lightweight class and much to our surprise and also admiration Chad lead this animal in (broken nose and all) to win this class. ‘CAZZA’ then went on to be narrowly beaten in the final to be crowned Reserve Lightweight champion steer. Chad needs to be commended on his commitment and pain threshold to compete in this class, great stuff Chad.

Next to be judged was ‘Blue’ and ‘Nugget’, as already mentioned ‘Blue was one of the boy’s favourites and carried the hopes of the kids, especially Phil who had formed a bond with this animal. ‘Blue’ was lead by Luke Saul while ‘Nugget’ was under the guidance of Luke Cronin. The two boys showcased these animals with ‘Blue’ taking out the honours and ‘Nugget’ placing 5^th in a class of 22 animals. ‘Blue’ then went on to take the coveted prize of Champion Middle weight steer.

Next to compete was “Dog’ and ‘Bear’ in the heavy weight class, the calibre of animals in this class was extremely high and upon inspection we knew we were in for a tough fight to place. Unfortunately ‘Dog’ lead by Kieran did not finish in the top 6 however our injured ‘Bear’ placed a fantastic 3^rd under the watchful guidance of Andrew. This was one of the most pleasing results of the show after what was a problematic start for this animal.

In the final competition of the day, ‘Blue’ was competing for Grand Champion Animal against all winners of the classes and to our excitement he successfully beat the 3 other animals to be crowned the Grand Champion, again he was masterfully guided by Luke Saul who was having a fantastic show. This is the second show that they students have prepared an animal that has gone on to win Grand Champion, a fantastic effort.

To their credit the boys prepared these animals in a very short time frame as we had some difficulty finding quality steers for Northern due to the season experienced this year. The animals were all extremely competitive and were a credit not only to the boys but also the producers. It is extremely hard as a student to be able to select animals in their early sages of growth without having an acute appreciation of cattle development and growth. The students in the steer team not only select these animals but regularly with the help of the farm staff, maintain their weight to finish the animals to very tight market specifications, a job a lot harder than it sounds. For this reason I am proud to be associated with this group of boys, their commitment and diligence is astounding.

These extra curricular activities are not run without the help and guidance of many people a Farrer and the steer team need to thank a number of staff. Firstly to all of the Ag staff and our wonderful right hand man Kel, for their patience and support, I think I nearly drove them insane with my worrying at times, on behalf of the boys and myself a huge THANKYOU and finally to the fantastic farm staff we have at Farrer, without these guys this program could not operate, they in essence the heart of it, from us to you THANKYOU.

I personally would like to thank all the parents, producers, staff and steer team kids,  who helped me this year in my first ever experience of showing cattle, your guidance and patience has been greatly appreciated. To my fellow aggies, I SURVIVED!!!

Kylie Dawson

Agriculture Teacher / Steer Coordinator