School’s in at Finley – in the paddock

Most successful Poll Dorset exhibitor.

John Crilly Memorial Trophy for the Highest Scoring Shorthorn Steer or Heifer.

Champion Heavy Domestic Steer (bred and prepared by FHS)

Highest School or College Bred and Prepared Steer or Heifer award.

Grand Champion Shorthorn Female who placed equal 4th of 14 in the Senior Cow Interbreed Class.

Shorthorn sire’s progeny class – first place.

Reserve Champion Senior Shorthorn Female and Reserve Senior Shorthorn Bull.

Is it Yanco? Is it Longerenong? Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

No, it’s Finley High.

While there’s no leaping tall buildings in a single bound, or being faster than a speeding bullet, Finley High School – and it’s not even a formal agricultural campus – does have its own Superman and Superwoman.

Teachers Robyn O’Leary and Gary Webb have dedicated a combined 52 years to helping mould the region’s future farmers – and counting.

In a town like Finley, it comes as no surprise to learn about half the students in the local high school come off farms.

But in a school of barely 300, from Years 7 through to 12, it is something of a surprise that as many as 45 of them are members of the Show Team, part of Finley High’s commitment to its agricultural courses and the region’s future farmers.

Agricultural courses which start in Year 8 and culminate in the double subjects of primary industry and agriculture for Year 12 students.

Robyn O’Leary joined Finley High in 1987 – back then the school had 800 students – and has been a cornerstone of its ag opportunities ever since.

Her ovine/bovine buddy Gary Webb is a mere scholastic stripling by comparison, with just a lazy 16 years on the job and with an emphasis on the jumbucks.

“Agriculture was already an established subject when I arrived at FHS. In the early ’90s we started working with John Hawkins from Springfield Angus. John lives about 5km out the road and we’d take kids out on sports days to work with the cattle,” Robyn says.

“Then the program came into the school, and in those days our emphasis had been very commercially focused, with the carcase competitions our primary goals,” Robyn recalls.

“And we were pretty good at it, but I remember after one year, as soon as the truck headed off with one of our steers on it, a girl in the team broke down and cried for three hours,” she added.

“I remember thinking to myself ‘we can’t go through this every time we send an animal off for processing’, so the following year we borrowed two heifers and a bull from Graeme Knight of Grawenjobar Shorthorns so we could continue to engage the students by working with the cattle post Melbourne Show.”

In 2002 the ag enthusiasts founded Finley High School Poll Dorset stud and in 2005 the Shorthorn stud followed, based on heifer provided by Graeme Knight.

“When it came to the cattle, our priority was docility. We would have young kids around animals significantly bigger than a Poll Dorset, and we also had several youngsters with disabilities in the program, so we rang Graeme and asked him for the heifer the children had dubbed Mildred,” she added.

“Graeme didn’t want to rush into it, Mildred was a year older than when she had been part of the school but when he was in a paddock, he says she came up for a scratch, and he agreed she hadn’t changed her gentle nature.

“Graeme generously donated Mildred to us, and we were away. I think he thought we were a bit ambitious, but I had the answers to all his questions. Dream big and work towards achieving your dreams.

“The worst thing someone can say to you when you ask for something is no.”

“Our first outing was the National Beef Show in Bendigo, with four students and Mildred.

“While we were there, people were so impressed by the attitude and enthusiasm of our students we were approached by a former school principal, Knox Durrant, who was now a farmer, and he donated another heifer.

“We had a long and successful association with Knox and his family. Someone repeated the donation of a heifer else at the next show.”

The stud was on a roll, and then its genetic profile started getting into rarified air.

Peter Falls and family, Malton Shorthorns, Blighty, who earlier this year had purchased the Australian record-priced Shorthorn bull Ronelle Park Slurpie S29, from Ronelle Park Shorthorns, Lyndhurst, gave the school 10 straws of semen (in an AuctionsPlus sale in September, two straws from the same bull realised $340).

Gerald Spry and family, Spry’s Shorthorns, Wagga Wagga, has also been a strong supporter of the school, and contributed a lot of semen over the years.

Last week the school was approached by Te Mania Angus, the most dominant gene pool in the Australasian Angus industry, with twice the number of trait leaders than any other stud in the breed and given a package of straws. The Show Team also has Speckle Park semen from Jackungah Speckle Park and Limousin semen from Macorna Limousins. These breeds are used in a crossbreeding program at the school and hits home to students the potential impact of hybrid vigour.

Robyn says as Show Team membership and the number of animals has grown, logistics has become a major challenge.

She says there simply isn’t enough room for them all at the school – animals, not students – so they also have some land leased from the local Catholic church as well as two paddocks of crown land, and still we hand-feed stock every day.

“At this year’s Melbourne Royal, students participated in three major sections – sheep, beef carcase and beef cattle,” Robyn explains.

“During the sheep and carcase competitions, we had 31 students from Years 7-11 competing, and as well as parading livestock, they also took part in the school and college paraders competition. Then another eight students from Years 9-11 represented the school for the stud beef cattle week. The school was there for the whole show, from Wednesday, September 20 and getting home on Monday, October 3.

“Our next outing will be the two-day Yea Show on November 24 and 25, when we will be taking eight students and cattle, but no sheep.”

Students and their families pick up the bulk of the accommodation expenses for all the shows, although the school has some loyal supporters who donate money regularly to help out.

Because of their limited grazing options, all livestock are handfed daily, which demands a lot of hay and grain – and expense.

“We are very fortunate to get fantastic assistance from our farming friends with the donation of hay and straw. We never have an issue. We make the phone call, and before you know it, we have a delivery. This happens because they see the value of our program”.

But there’s never a shortage of helping hands in the husbandry department, with many, if not most, of the students keen to devote their lunchtimes, after-hours and weekends to work with the sheep and cattle.

Nor is there ever a shortage of animals with which to work and compete. Just for Melbourne’s carcase competition this year, the school used eight of its own cattle as well as steers donated by Peter Falls, Jack Nelson, Michael Tooke, John and Maree Doyle, Paul and Tanya Bauer and Andrew and Kirstie Chesworth – and Lochie Falls transported them to Melbourne.

“And none of this would happen without the staff and parents who give up their time to attend as support staff and chaperones,” Robyn adds.

“Our principal, Jeff Ward, is super supportive, and this year, we had our general assistant, Braian O’Hora, and, for the second year, our hospitality teacher, Tessa McNamara, with us.

“Brian drove the bus and Tessa organised the food. Jeff spent three days with us chipping in with all tasks and really gaining an appreciation for what goes on at an event like the Melbourne Royal.”

So, what drives a teacher to be as excited and pumped about their first contact with the school 36 years ago and the Show Team’s most recent success barely 36 days ago?

For Robyn, who grew up on a mixed farm at Wagga, it’s all about the smiles on the faces of the students when they are handed a broad ribbon, about watching them grow and mature as those future farmers, agronomists, vets etc., and to see others, often the town-based kids, develop their confidence around livestock weighing hundreds of kilos.

“Seeing many of our Show Team graduates go on to careers in agriculture is also incredibly rewarding for Gary and me, after all, that’s what we are here to try and deliver,” she says.

“The program has come so far; we now have other schools wanting to visit and see how we run the whole operation – and that makes our students feel they have also achieved something.

“But you create your own luck with hard work, and as you can see, Finley High School’s Show Team is very ‘lucky’.”