STUDENTS at Beenleigh State High School are becoming champions of agriculture through a unique on-farm learning scheme.
One of the largest secondary agricultural departments in Queensland has battled through ongoing drought and is continuing to encourage students to pursue a career in the industry.
Beenleigh’s Robert Nowlan began working with students at the school in 2011 before becoming head of the department, and says he loves the opportunity to teach children something they may never have otherwise had the opportunity to learn, even in the hard times.
“It’s tough at the moment – really tough – and it makes it difficult when you’re trying to run an educational program and you’re struggling to break even with it,” Mr Nowlan said.
“We realise that many cattle breeders are in dire straits through this drought and we, too, have been affected.
“We had to sell half of our herd. I just didn’t have any feed and the bulls were starting to go backwards, so we ended up selling five cows and five bulls.”
Mr Nowlan said the Beenleigh show team faced the challenges head-on by maintaining the remaining herd and cleaning up the competition on the local circuit.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t afford to get the ‘Show Team’ to Ekka for the past couple of years but we did exceptionally well at the local shows.
“The kids absolutely loved the experience, and we got champion with our bulls and cows at Ipswich, Mudgeeraba and Beenleigh shows.”
‘Show Team’ is an ongoing program which has split farms across 5 hectares at the school and a further 20ha up the road near Yatala, with Mr Nowlan overseeing preparation and maintenance of the show cattle.
“We run Show Team alongside the other agri-programs, and it’s especially for kids who are lacking in confidence,” Mr Nowlan said.
“It’s great for building their confidence and public-speaking ability, and our end goal is to get them into the agricultural industry.
“We’re trying to get them confident enough to pursue that and hopefully they’ll head out to UQ Gatton when they finish here.”
He said the students were always excited to be involved, with many choosing to take part in Show Team instead of weekly sporting activities.
“The senior students are in charge of the Droughtmaster cattle and they all have a beast to look after throughout the year.
“They’ll spend time with it every day – leading it and feeding and cleaning it down, and making sure it’s fine and ready for the show ring.”
Continuing to create a sustainable and viable program for current and future students is at the heart of Mr Nowlan’s efforts. It is the most important thing.
“We have to work out how we’re feeding the cattle and make sure it’s done properly and can get them into proper show condition.
“The cost of things is becoming greater and greater, and as we go more towards an urban environment, we’re getting more and more city people who don’t know a lot about it, so it’s harder to get support.”
Beenleigh bulls are beef 2015 bound
ROBERT Nowlan has been feeding the cattle on hay and a TNT grain mix, after beginning a new artificial breeding program.
“We selected two donor cows, which were artificially inseminated on October 22 and 31, with our 10 recipients
implanted with fertilised embryos, with the newborn calves due in September 2015.
“We’ve bred to make sure we’ve got all our conformity issues out of the road, especially with embryo transfer, and once they drop they’ll be added into our BHQ Droughtmaster Beef Stud.”
Mr Nowlan said he had chosen high-quality Cedar View donor bulls to produce the embryos, half of which were inseminated, with the rest placed in storage.
“Hopefully they’ll be born when the kids are here and not on holidays so they can have that experience.”
Mr Nowlan said the next step for the students was to prepare the Beenleigh bulls for Beef 2015.
“We’ve got three lovely looking bulls that we’re hoping to take up to Rockhampton next year, and everyone’s looking forward to that.
“It’s a great job but we’re always busy.”