FLYING the flag for the South Devon breed, Nowra High School has received first place in the lightweight school carcase class as well as a bronze medal in the Sydney Royal Show purebred steer competition.
Scoring 87.5 points from a possible 100, the steer was bred by Mick and Jennifer Hamilton, Foxground near Kiama, had been at the school since the start of January and was fed for 100 days using the DDGS Pellets from Manildra Stockfeeds.
The Kildare Jacinth son placed third in the live judging, and sold for 540 cents a kilogram ($2160) to Harris Farm Market.
It had a hot standard carcase weight of 238.6kg, a dressing percentage of 59.7 per cent, P8 and rib fat depths of 11mm and 5mm, and a rib eye area of 91 square centimetres.
Nowra High agriculture teacher, Peter Ryan, said the lead up to the show was very difficult with all cattle from the school evacuated to a paddock at the saleyards in the final stages of the feeding program due to flooding of the Shoalhaven River.
The steers were off feed for about 10 days which heavily impacted their progress, Mr Ryan said. "He was just running around the back of the saleyards, eating grass, and getting wet so it is amazing what he did really."
One of four exhibited at this year's Royal, Mr Ryan said the school had a lot of past success with the South Devon steers.
"This is either the third or fourth bronze medal we have received with steers from Mick (Hamilton)," he said
"We have never received a first place ribbon in the carcase competition before so it is pretty good."
Breeder, Mick Hamilton, said the school did a magnificent job with the steer under the hard circumstances.
"In the end, he looked very presentable and the results speak for themselves," he said.
Nowra High also has a small Square Meater stud that the students will show at the upcoming Milton Show.
"We try and breed one or two steers out of those each year but we have been getting all heifer calves lately," Mr Ryan said.
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