Revved and ready for the royal

“Obviously we are very happy with how we performed,” Mrs O’Leary said.

“You are always very proud of your own cattle, but you don’t really know until you get out there.

“I walked through the shed and was pretty pleased with how ours looked compared to others, but you never really know until the judge judges.”

The school’s six-month-old Shorthorn heifer, Uno, won first place in her class and Reserve Junior Champion.

“We named her Uno because she was the first newborn this year,” Mrs O’Leary said.

A key win was for the school’s bull, Thor, who took home the Senior Champion Bull ribbon.

Sixteen steers were entered, with four first places from four classes, four second places, three thirds and three fourths.

“We did super-well with our prime beef competition champion crossbred steer,” Mrs O’Leary said.

“We have been pretty excited about him his entire life and he delivered the goods and came home with the win.”

Four students competed in the junior judging event, where they were required to judge four heifers in a given amount of time. Year 11 student Erin Chesworth won the event.

The school also exhibited Poll Dorset sheep bred from the school’s agriculture courses that see 41 students from Years 7 to 12 develop skills in animal husbandry.

“We run a big program, so we really needed a hit-out before we travel down the road to the Melbourne Royal,” Mrs O’Leary said.

“We will be showing both sheep and cattle.”

Colleague Gary Webb has been instrumental in allowing the program to continue after a significant health issue caused Mrs O’Leary’s husband to leave the school.

“Garry helped it go ahead and did an extra load of work,” Mrs O’Leary said.

Gratitude from the students has also been extended to the philanthropic input from commercial operations.

“We’ve been going from strength to strength,” Mrs O’Leary said.

“We are grateful for help — we get genetics from some of the best studs in Australia, and we’ve got semen in the tank which we are about to use.

“We have had a wonderful 11-year relationship with the Frost family for that, and we had a donation of a heifer Shorthorn from Graeme Knight from Finley.

“These people just want to invest in the future of our kids.

“And with some of the children that we have in the program, to see the smiles on their face when they get a ribbon is a real driving force for us to grow and develop their senses of responsibility and confidence as well as their communication skills.

“It’s more than learning about cattle — it’s more about learning life skills.”

The Melbourne Royal Show will be held from Thursday, September 21 to Sunday, October 1.