FOR the first time since the NSW Beef Spectacular Feedback Trial began 12 years ago, a school entered the competition.
Scots All Saints College, Bathurst, put one team in the 2021 trial, consisting of Charolais/Angus cross and Shorthorn-cross steers.
Well-known for their success in carcase competitions, Scots All Saints College director of agricultural studies Libby Dawes said they nominated a team as a COVID strategy because Upper Hunter Beef Bonanza was cancelled and they had a feedlot full of steers.
"The smaller steers we could roll over to Sydney, but the others wouldn't make it through to then so the other option was into this trial," she said.
The school is thankful to have support from producers that continually supply them with quality steers, and they are also in the process of breeding their own.
"Steers are selected early on as calves. We look at commercial aspects, weight for age, muscling, fat," she said.
Accustomed to receiving carcase data, Ms Dawes said they use the feedback as a decision making aid for future stock selection, and for a farm product study on beef cattle for the senior students.
"We look at eating quality and yield aspects, and what market specifications we fit in and where can we improve," she said.
"We do a lot of Limos and marbling can be an issue. We look at how we can improve that, so we start talking about crossbreeding, EBVs, GeneSTAR."
The school already monitors the feed performance of the steers they prepare for shows, weighing them on a weekly basis and calculating daily and total weight gains over the feed period.
"We then send this data to producers, and can analyse and look at British bred verse Euro, age, genetics, feed efficiencies," she said.
"Cattle can have a similar entry weight and age but they are from different producers (or from different breeds), so with the students we can strip it back and look at why there are differences."
Ms Dawes said the school would like to enter a home bred team of Square Meater/Limousin cross steers for 2022.
"It will also be good to get the senior kids down there (to the feedlot) to see the steers," she said.
"It is a great education tool for schools, and it would be great to have more schools take part which could lead to having a school section."
Unfortunately one of the school's steers died in the trial, which put them out of contentions for a higher placing as they were only accumulating points from four steers instead of five.
The school's next big stop is the 2021 Sydney Royal Show with 26 steers.
