Cattle committee chair of the Royal Agricultural Society NSW, Greg Watson, visited St Mary’s College on Wednesday to present framed gold ribbons from the Royal Easter Show.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Agriculture teacher Lachlan James and Year 12 agriculture student Ashlee van Os accepted the gold ribbon awarded to the school for a Murray Grey cross steer.
The carcase scored 91.3 points and was the only carcase to receive a gold medal in that class. The carcase was also named Champion Trade Carcase out of 42 entries.
“In total, the competition has been running for 10 years with approximately 500 steers/carcases exhibited over that period,” Mr James said.
“Historically, four gold medals have been awarded in the history of the competition with St Mary's College being awarded two of them (2013 and 2016). The score of 91.3 is the third highest in the history of the competition.”
Mr James enjoyed personal success at the Easter Show with a steer bred by Heath Birchall of Duri.
Owner of Wallawong Murray Greys, Mr James prepared the steer and jointly exhibited it with Mr Birchall, winning Reserve Champion Middleweight Carcase with 91 points, and receiving the only gold medal in the Purebred Open Middleweight competition.
“Of the 218 purebred entries there were four gold medals awarded, with Wallawong collecting one. This is on the back of 2015 where a Wallawong bred and exhibited steer was the Grand Champion Purebred Carcase and gold medal recipient,” Mr James said.
Mr James said Wallawong Murray Greys and St Mary's were proud to have been exhibiting steers at the Sydney Royal Easter Show for a combined total of 22 years.
“Sydney Royal ranks as one of the most prestigious steer and carcase competitions in Australia and to have been awarded two of the five gold medals presented at this year's competition is a tremendous honour,” he said.
“The Agriculture students of St Mary's College are to be congratulated for their outstanding achievements, created by their hours of dedication to the selection, feeding and presentation of the school’s cattle.”
Mr Watson said the gold medals were awarded on a standard, with the steers achieving “above and beyond”.
“It’s a good effort to get a gold medal on top of what they won in the rest of it,” he said.
“It’s fairly significant.”
Mr Watson said schools were becoming more and more involved in the Royal Easter Show cattle competitions every year.
