The 2021 South Coast Beef School Steer Spectacular can only be described as "special, spectacular and educational."
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This year was by far the biggest School Steer Spectacular ever, with 15 schools and 400 students attending on the day and more than 1000 students engaged in the raising and preparation of the steers.
Due to COVID restrictions, the normal three-day competition and educational event was compressed into one day of competition in the show ring (the hoof), followed up a few days later by the judging of the carcass as it hangs in the cool-room (the hook).
South Coast Beef's David King said organisers have never seen so many passionate Agricultural students attend the event.
"Even the heavens opening up did not dampen their enthusiasm," he said.
"They had come to compete and the show must go on, regardless of the conditions.
"The students were out there with smiles on their faces as their true competitive nature shone through."
Even as the PA failed due to heavy rain and an electrical fault leading to delays meaning the event ran overtime until it was dark, there were no complaints, only big smiles and happy students.
Due to COVID restrictions and changes in format, there were several new events created, to enhance the educational component for this year.
The first new event, allowed the School Steer Spectacular to accommodate even more led steers, including light, medium and heavy weight cattle.
The Truck and Tractor Open School Challenge had no feed restrictions, the only requirement being all steers needed to be led and judged in the show ring.
The second new event was the live animal assessment, where students were presented with a single pen of cattle, in the same situation as if they were at the cattle sale yards.
They needed to rank the cattle in the order of their liveweight based on their own visual assessment.
Cash prizes were available for those able to estimate correctly, to the commercial reality of purchasing cattle at a sale yard.
The cattle were generously provided by South Coast Beef members in a highly contested event with a large number of students entering.
A fact finder, with a series of 20 questions students needed to find the answers to was also held, designed to challenge their knowledge of cattle rearing and the industry.
With so many students at the event, the junior judging competition had the highest number of entrants ever.
The show ring was completely filled with students, keen to try their hand at judging.
The situation was the same when it came to the parade competition - with so many competitors on the ground more stewards and multiple heats in several divisions were needed.
"With all competitions, it is an important lesson to make sure your cattle are fed correctly to meet the market specifications and then entered in the right category to avoid penalty point," Mr King said.
"In the case of this event, some steers were entered in the wrong weight class and this had an impact on the final results presented in the hook component of the competition."
Led Steer Championships
Section 1: Manildra School Championship - Light and medium weight. Overall champion led steer Karabah High (near Queanbeyan), with an Angus x Speckle Park bred by Chris Englebrecht, from Denman.
Section 2: Truck and Tractor Open School Challenge - Light, medium and heavy weight. Overall champion steer Yass High School, with a Square Meater, bred by Sue McClusky from Cowra (formerly from Berry).
The Bowral Co-op Paraders Championship - Novice, junior, intermediate and senior. Champion parader was Mick Hinds, from Yass High School.
McDonalds Restaurants Shoalhaven Junior Judging - Novice, junior, intermediate and senior. Junior judging champion was Grace Howard, from Chevalier College.
Champion herdsman was won by an unnamed student from Bomaderry High School who officials are still trying to locate his details, as some of the judging documents were so rain soaked they are still trying to work out the details of the individual student.
The report winner, a mandatory requirement for all schools entering the Manildra School Championship and the key educational component of the Manildra School Steer Spectacular, was jointly awarded to Bomaderry High and Braidwood.
Overall winner of the live assessment section was a team effort by the students from Ulladulla High, their team name was "Martins".
Overall winner of the fact finder section was also a team effort, from Chevallier College in the Highlands.
The on the hook results are still pending, with the schools and the breeders to be notified before the results are announced.
"As mentioned earlier and this is key to the educational component of the event, that there were some steers that were placed in the incorrect weight class on the hoof by the schools and this has impacted the overall results of the competition," Mr King said.
"While we have a highest scoring carcass, they missed out on the ribbon and prizemoney that they deserved... an important and expensive lesson for the schools.
"We would like to thank our major sponsors, Manildra, Shoalhaven City Council, Truck and Tractor, NSW Local Land Services and NSW Department of Primary Industry, AgriWest, LandHQ, Bishops, ECM Livestock, McDonalds Shoalhaven, Ray White Berry, Bowral Co Op, Nowra Veterinary Hospital, Flavours Shoalhaven and SoilCo as well as our many supporters.
"Importantly, we would also like to thank both the regional and rural media, who supported us in the call out for additional steers to run the event.
"If it wasn't for their support, plus the generosity of the breeders who provided the cattle as well as the many volunteers we would not be able to run this event."
