Royal Easter Show

At the end of Term 1, nine students, one parent, 11 head of cattle and Ms Lamph packed up and headed to the big smoke to be part of the Speckle Park Feature Show at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.

Day 1- Monday 3rd April

An early start with a 4 am departure saw the team depart Glen Innes bound for Kellyville and Homebush. It was a long day of travel, unpacking at the Air BnB and at the showground as well as setting up the stalls.

The cattle arrived in the late afternoon with Ivan Chard and Bev Winter on board. Students quickly fed, watered and bedded the cattle down for the night after their long trip. Thank you to Mr Miller for loading the cattle and Ivan for his safe passage for the cattle both to and from the Show.

Students also began the judging process for the Speckle Park International Youth Herdsman Competition. The students had to submit a written testimony prior to the show and then were observed working with the cattle as well as their parading and junior judging abilities.

Day 2- Tuesday 4th April

The team spent the day washing, drying and clipping the 11 head of cattle. They also had to get the steers weighed and scanned for their hoof judging. Storm (Hokey’s Calf) and Thunder (Regina’s Calf) were bred by the school and weighed 526kg and 489kg respectively while TK (Doctor’s Creek Tarakan) bred by Rhonda King at Bingara weighed 403kg. The steers were also ultrasound scanned for Rib and P8 Fat.

Day 3- Wednesday 5th of April

A busy day, beginning with Suzie Lockwood parading TK in the School Paraders competition, and Will Wright parading Winter Tiara in the State Final of the NSW Ag Shows Paraders competition. Will qualified for this final at the Armidale Show. Both students did an excellent job and looked very professional out in the ring.

Following these competitions, Speckle Park International Youth Committee ran a youth show for all young people working with Speckle Parks at the show. There were over 100 entrants in this competition. The team participated in junior judging and finished with a paraders competition. In the Junior Judging, Danika Elliott, Suzie Lockwood and Ilyssa Newbury made the final and were asked to speak on their judgements. In the Paraders Competition, Lily Cooke placed 4th, Lloyd Newbury placed 5th and Danika Elliott received Highly Commended in their respective heats. Following the Youth Competition, the 3 Steers were judged in their Speckle Park Classes. While they were unplaced in these classes, the students did a great job of presenting and parading the boys.

Day 4- Thursday 6th April

The show opened to the public for the first time. Day 4 was all about the purebred steers. TK was shown in his school lightweight steer class in the morning and then auctioned in the afternoon in front of a live audience by the winner of the Young Auctioneers competition. Ruben Jolly paraded him in the morning while Suzie paraded him for the Auction. Meanwhile, the rest of the team was busy washing and prepping the rest of the team for Friday’s judging.

Day 5- Friday 7th April

The day began with the trade steer judging at 8:30 am. Both Storm and Thunder were presented in a class of 70 steers. While they were unplaced they held their own in a very strong heat. Jack Floyd paraded Thunder while Sidney O’Brien paraded Storm. Both boys did an excellent job.

At 10 am, the Speckle Park judging commenced and we paraded Winter Tiara and Winter Tutu in the 1st class of the intermediate females, with Suzie and Lloyd on the halters and then Winter Sass’n’Shimmer was shown in the last class of the intermediate females by Danika.

The two cows and calves followed in the senior female section with Winter Rylee and her calf Winter Theo being paraded by Ilyssa and Lily and Winter Ruby Soraya and her calf Winter Truestar being led by Will and Ruben. This left Winter Stryker to compete in the intermediate bull section. While we were unlucky and did not receive a ribbon, the students and cattle looked fabulous in the ring.

This was believed to be the largest gathering of Speckle Park cattle ever in the world and to have the opportunity to compete alongside the best of the best in the most prestigious show in Australia was truly an honour.

The team also caught up with Lyn Cregan, Peter Barratt and the team of workers at the Northern District Exhibit and were amazed at the time and effort that goes into the display.

The announcement for the herdsman competition was also made and Will Wright received a highly commended and high praise from the judge.

Day 6- Saturday 8th April

Students had a quieter day and spent time spot-washing and preparing heifers for the heifer fitting challenge. The students had a chance to check out the Easter Show and speak to the people from the city and explain what they were doing with cattle. It was amazing to see our students communicating so well about beef production to complete strangers.

Lily, Will and Ilyssa had the opportunity to compete in the heifer fitting challenge that night. They had five minutes to remove the sawdust and water that had been applied to the heifers as well as spray them with presentation spray, change their halter and nose lead into the leather show halters, add a neck card to the animal, collect their show cane and make it into the ring. It was a hectic five minutes and the three students all made it into the show ring for judging. All three students received highly commended ribbons for their efforts.

Day 7- Sunday 9th April

A quieter day for the students and cattle. The team took the day to hang out with the cattle, talk to the many visitors fascinated by the students working closely with the cattle and experience different aspects of the show.

Day 8- Monday 10th April

Students participated in the RAS Youth Show. This involved both Junior Judging and Paraders competition. Seven of the nine students competed and Will Wright placed 1st in his heat and went on to compete in the final with students aged from 10 right through to over 18’s. Ilyssa Newbury and Ruben Jolly receive 3rd ribbons in their respective heats.

Steers were also loaded out for the abattoirs for the hook part of the competition.

This was also pack-up day. We loaded up the bus, trailer and cattle and headed back to Singleton for the night before finishing the journey on Tuesday morning.

Carcase results:

In the trade section, Storm and Thunder stood midfield and made MSA Grading. In the Purebred Section, TK received 88 points and a Silver medal. Thank you to Rhonda King for allowing us to present TK at the Royal Easter show.

Thank You

I would like to take the opportunity to thank Bev and John Winter from Winter Speckle Park for allowing us the opportunity to compete at the Royal Easter Show. It was an amazing opportunity for our students to experience the show and compete on such a grand stage. We truly appreciate the partnership with the Winter Family and the opportunities it provides for our school and Show Team.

Thank you to Rhonda King from Doctors Creek Speckle Park for the opportunity to present a purebred steer for the Sydney Show. This was a fantastic experience for the students.

Thank you also to Johnny Lockwood for his driving and assistance over the week. This trip would not have been possible without you.

To the Show Team, consisting of: Lily Cooke, Ruben Jolly, Sidney O’Brien, Ilyssa Newbury, Suzie Lockwood, William Wright, Jack Floyd, Lloyd Newbury and Danika Elliott, thank you so much for your tireless efforts and incredible work over the week. You are truly a great bunch of young adults. I am so grateful for the time I got to spend with you all.

Thanks must also go to the GIHS P&C for their support of the show team and for making it possible for us to get there. Thank you also for the team shirts - many compliments were received over the week.

Thank you also to Mr Forrester, Jo Ashton, Jim Core, Scott Miller and the school for supporting the show team and allowing us this opportunity.

It was an amazing week - we are so lucky to have been a part of it.

Ms Lamph