A TEAM of 24 Coonamble High School students are preparing to parade their pride and joy at the Sydney Royal Show.
The show team, this year made up of students in Years 8, 9 and 10, will be taking 13 steers to Sydney to compete in the school, open and trade classes.
They will be showing 12 purebred steers representing the Limousin, Angus, Shorthorn and Murray Grey breeds plus a Charolais-cross trade steer.
The school’s primary industries teacher Adam MacRae said his students had been working hard to prepare the steers.
“They’ve been putting in effort to make sure their feed is right. We’ve been finishing the education process with them and we’ve all been doing a bit of coat work too," he said.
Usually Coonamble High’s show team consists of senior agriculture students but that’s not possible this year due to exam timetabling.
“We’ve got a pretty strong leadership structure which allows for succession planning – we’re very happy with our team.”
The team have been receiving the help of recent school graduate Kelsey Shields.
The school has bred some of the steers themselves while others have been provided by long-time donors.
This year’s team will be wearing shirts sporting the ‘Southern Cross Shorthorns’ logo – a nod to the ongoing partnership between Coonamble High and Lonnie and Nic Stone’s Coonabarabran-based Shorthorn stud.