Agriculture

Term 1 is always a busy time of the year for our Agriculture students and it has been wonderful to welcome so many of our Year 7 students up to the farm to monitor their chickens while they get to know each other. The female chickens will be available for sale at the end of the term.

Show Teams

Many of our students have been working enthusiastically with both alpacas and poultry, developing their skills and knowledge in preparation for the show season starting with Camden Show and then, of course, Sydney Royal Easter Show.

Cattle Show Team

Although our cattle don’t arrive until next term, some of the Cattle Show Team, Aiden Mulcahy, Isabella Robbins, Alicia Balmer, Ruby Keys, Sybella Williams and Caitlin Jones got some early practice in by entering the Young Beef Cattle Judges Competition at Castle Hill Show. Students were required to judge cattle and the finalists were then required to give an oral presentation explaining why they had placed the animals in the order they had chosen. Aiden did a fantastic job and was placed 3rd in the Under 15’s class.

Work for the team will begin in earnest early next term when our 2 calves for Penrith Show and our steer for the Greater Sydney Schools Cattle Competition arrive. 

Camden Show

Many of our students have been involved in preparing for Camden Show which involved our display in the Schools’ Tent, training our alpacas to work through a series of obstacles that they may be faced with in a farm situation as well as developing their parading skills, and preparing our poultry.

The Alpaca Team, Aiden, Jacob, Milla, Sybella, Emily, Chloe, Jack and Cassidy excelled with Jacob, Aiden and Sybella all receiving Championship ribbons in their classes.

It has been pleasing to see the experienced students guiding the new recruits in such a positive manner. As Camden Show is only a short time before we need to take our poultry into Sydney Royal, we only enter a small team in the school’s section at Camden. 

This year Our Paddock to Plate Display in the School’s Tent was about Corn Production, showing the various steps involved as well as the traditional and alternate uses of corn including making paper and bioplastic. There were lots of activities for the young spectators who were guided by our students manning the display throughout the 2 days of the show. It was wonderful to welcome a large number of year 7 students to the team. These students excelled in working with the visitors to the show and we received many positive comments about the team. 

Some of our Year 7 students even arranged to have our special Valais Black Nose Sheep shorn while we were there. 

Unfortunately the Young Farmers Challenge, which has become quite a tradition for Elderslie students, was cancelled due to the late storm on Saturday. 

Sydney Royal Show

Students have been preparing for a range of events at the Royal and will compete in Poultry Showmanship,  Alpaca Showmanship/Stockmanship and Alpaca Young Judges competitions. As well as the students being judged, we have also entered 22 chickens and ducks.

We are always so proud of our Agriculture Team and how well they represent Elderslie High School. We look forward to a couple of exciting weeks at Sydney Royal Show.

Ms Atkinson

Agriculture