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.

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, Charley Buckley, Zara Buckley, Sophie Constantine, Will Giles, Aiden Mulcahy, Jacob Mulcahy, Isabella Robbins and Rylee Schaefer 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. Zara and Jacob also had the opportunity to gain some experience in parading. 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 are busily preparing for Camden Show which will be over by the time you are reading this article. 

Our alpaca team have been training our 3 show 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.  

Students from years 7 – 11 are assisting with the preparation of our poultry and of our display for this year’s Camden Show and it is pleasing to see the experienced students guiding the new recruits in such a positive manner. As Camden Show is only a few days 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 will be about the importance of Trees on Farms. It will show the various advantages that trees provide for our environment as well as the various products that we obtain from trees.  There were lots of activities for the young spectators who will be guided by our students manning the display throughout the 2 days of the show. We are so lucky to have a large team of dedicated students who have volunteered to help with the display and work with the young visitors, helping them use the interactive parts and carry out related craft activities. It is wonderful to welcome a large number of Year 7 students to the team.

We will also have a team competing in the Young Farmers Challenge which has become quite a tradition for Elderslie students and their very vocal cheer squad. 

Sydney Royal Show

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

Some of our dedicated alpaca enthusiasts have also volunteered to help young visitors to the show lead an alpaca.

We are always so proud of our Agriculture Team and how well they represent Elderslie High School.

Ms Atkinson

Agriculture