Makenzie Mathie with the winner in the Hereford Heifer class. Photos: Supplied.
Narooma High School’s show team won championships at both the Royal Canberra Show and the Sydney Royal Easter Show this year. Whether it is against other schools or professional breeders, the school is highly competitive.
The teacher behind the school’s outstanding agricultural program is Kylie Maher.
She grew up on a property in Braidwood and attended a school that had a show team and an agricultural program. When she joined Narooma High School in 2008, she thought something similar would benefit its students.
They sold raffle tickets to raise funds. That, together with a donation from Ben Bate Real Estate enabled them to buy two heifers from Raystein Limousins stud in Albion Park.
“They were the foundation of our school stud Marida Limousin herd,” Ms Maher said. “At the beginning, we had six key kids who were the driving force. That has now grown to more than 30 in the show team.”
From day one, Ms Maher and her students have received tremendous support from the school and broader community.
Kia Ora Limousins stud in Crookwell donates animals to the school each year, while breeders in Bemboka and Braidwood have been the backbone of building the herd. The students also fundraise and sell cattle to pay for the food, veterinary care and other costs associated with a championship stud. They are fundraising now to enter a show in Dubbo in August.
“It is like a mini business where we have to manage our funds,” Ms Maher said.
Summer White, Reagan Stubbs and Makenzie Mathie with the winning breeders group.
One animal was donated after they looked after six cattle from a Cooma stud for 10 days in Sydney and showed them at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
They also won a steer in a herdsman competition last year. Over four days, the 10 students from Years 7 to 12 were judged on how they looked after the animals, how tidy their yard was, how they interacted with the public and how they conducted themselves in the show ring.
The school now has 10 breeding Limousin females, plus six merino wethers, a recent program addition.
It is a big commitment by the students as local agricultural shows are held on weekends. Students with weekend jobs forgo that work to show the cattle.
Year 11 student Grace said it also meant playing a lot of catch-up. “We were at the Sydney show for 10 days,” she said. “At the shows we sit and do our schoolwork together.”
Grace joined the show team in Year 8 and selected agriculture as a subject in Year 9. She moved to Narooma from Canberra and does not have an agricultural background, but relatives in the dairy and cattle industries told her joining a show team and studying agriculture was an opportunity not to miss.
Fellow Year 11 student Asha started studying agriculture this year. “I like it because it is so inclusive,” she said. “It is a good experience to have and learn what to do.”
Paige Maher with the animal that came second in the paraders class.
The students do everything from the breeding, feeding, and breaking in, to all the preparation that showing cattle entails.
“It takes a special kind of kid to get up at 4 am to pick up cow poo,” Ms Maher said.
While many private schools and large agricultural colleges enter shows, Narooma High School is one of the very few public schools to do so.
Ms Maher is proud to have such a strong agricultural program in a non-farming community. Given so many students are not from farms, they would otherwise not get that experience. Showing cattle has also seen students visit places such as Sydney and Melbourne for the first time.
The school has had some notable HSC achievements in Agricultural Studies. “Three years ago, we had a student who came third in the state, and another came sixth in the state,” Ms Maher said.
This year they took 20 head of cattle to the Sydney Show, its largest ever. Local transport company QB Mathie donated its time and a truck and used the Moruya Rodeo Trailer to get the cattle to Sydney.
At Sydney they won the school best carcase championship and the breeders carcase group for the best three steer carcases. “That was against farmers and professionals,” Ms Maher said. “It just shows our breeding is on track with genetic selection and feeding.”
The school is very well known for showing cattle and being highly competitive. “The kids are very professional and well-known for the work they put in.”
