EKKA Extravaganza 2019 Wrap

By Taylah Fellows

THE St Josephs high school agriculture studies team have once again dominated the Queensland EKKA, agricultural show.

Thirteen kids entered nine steers into competitions, taking up the task of preparing and showing the steers.

The team placed 6th in the lightweight class, 8th in mid-weight class and 6th in the heavyweight class.

Lisa Bright, head of agriculture studies at St Joseph’s said the results were extremely good due to the huge class sizes at the event, with more than 400 animals entered and class sizes of 45 animals.

“We got four ribbons and every animal we entered got called up into the front line, so out of those 45 animals they usually pick the best 12 and bring them forward and then they give out eight ribbons, so for all of our animals to get into the final top line, its really amazing,” said Ms Bright.

“One of the girls Sophie got second in junior when there were 140 entrants, which is just outstanding,” she said.

“The quality of our animals on a whole was really strong, basically its one of the best competitions in the country and the overall quality of the animals is just amazing,” said Ms Bright.

Ms Bright said the highlight of the week was definitely the herdsmen result of which St Josephs placed secoond.

“It’s basically an award for the best maintained school team and of all the years we’ve been coming up I think we won last year and we’ve won it maybe six out of the 10 times we’ve been coming so the herdsmen award is one we really like to get,” said Ms Bright.

“You’ve got a group of kids ranging from year 8 all the way through to year 11 so you’ve got a big age difference and all the kids have got to work together, they’ve got to communicate and problem solve and there’s a lot going on… It’s a team effort and a team reward,” she said.

Ms Bright also said she was proud of her team for adapting to new changes at the EKKA showgrounds this year.

“Things are a bit different up here this year because they’ve changed and knocked down a lot of the dairy sheds,” said Ms Bright.

“You’ve got land up here, which is different and you go, ‘Oh jeez this no longer exists so we’ve got to do this we’ve got to do that’ and the kids are pretty adaptive which is really nice,” she said.

Ms Bright commends the local breeders for the quality of animals provided to the team, despite current drought conditions.

“It’s just been so dry but there’s been some really well bred animals coming out of Rouchel and Singleton,” said Ms Bright.

“We’ve been coming to EKKA for 8-10 years, it really suits what we do, especially for this time of year and these kids have a huge amount of skills but they also gain a huge amount of skills from the week away,” she said.

When: August 9th -18th 

Where: Brisbane Showgrounds: 600 Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hill, Qld 4006

Ticket prices: Adult Pass $35, Consession Pass $25, Child Pass $20, Adult & Child Pass $45, Family Pass $80, Twilight Pass (entry after 6pm) $20, 10 Day Pass $100

Tickets at: https://www.ekka.com.au/buy-ticket/#tickets

Contact:07 3253 3900// enquiries@ekka.com.au

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