After months of hard work, Red Bend Catholic College's cattle team are ready to take on the 2025 Sydney Royal Easter Show.
The team, consisting of 12 students will be taking 11 steers to the Sydney Royal, which includes nine pure bred Limousin steers, and two trade steers.
They will be heading down on Monday 7 April to Sunday, 13 April.
Red Bend cattle team coordinator Susan Earl said five of the steers they will be taking down to Sydney were bred at the school's stud, which was very special.
Of the steers not bred at the school stud, the cattle team got three from L and C Kirk, a steer from Brentvale Limousins, a steer from Rightime Farms, and a steer from Berdihold Limousins - which has been entered as the school steer.
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The students have been working with the steers for eight months
Mrs Earl said they decided to take 11 steers this year, despite usually taking 10.
There will also be two students and recently graduated competing in the State Finals for the Parading, which include Claire Moore and Lachlan Haynes.
Red Bend's Ruby Arnott will be in the state finals for the Beef Cattle Junior Judging, and Kourosh Bavafa has qualified for the Grain Judging.
On choosing which steers to enter, Mrs Earl said the five steers they bred, they felt they would grow into something good enough, which they have.
Mrs Earl said on the other steers they bought, they have had a long standing connection with the breeders and they've always produced animals they like to buy and are competitive when they buy them.
"I'm really happy with all the steers," she said. "To me they're competitive enough."
With all of the steers being entered in the hoof and hook categories, Mrs Earl said it can provide some good results, even if steers look ordinary in the live categories.
"That's exactly what's happened in the past, we've forgotten about a steer live wise, and then it's the one that gets the ribbon for the carcase.
"I love that there's two parts to the competition," Mrs Earl said.
With the Sydney Royal taking place a little later this year than previous years, the cattle team have had a little bit longer to work with the steers, and get more up to date scans on how they are coming along.
Mrs Earl said this year, the cattle team have quite a few newer members this year who will be going to the Sydney Royal for the first time this year.
However with practice, a workshop, webinars on how to show the animals and working with the steers for several months, Mrs Earl said they are trying to give them some more reasons to be confident.
Mrs Earl said that they as a team will be at Sydney before the Show begins, which gives them a chance to practice walking the animals.
As they will be getting there on the Monday, the cattle team will have until Thursday to get used to where everything is and the animals exercised.
The first day of the Sydney Royal will kick off the first day of judging.
For Mrs Earl, this will be her last Sydney Royal show as part of the Red Bend cattle team with plans to retire at the end of the year.
Mrs Earl said they would like to thank the businesses and community members, including Evolution Mines, who have supported them to head to the Sydney Royal this year.
Along with sponsorship from community groups and businesses, students from the school also ran fundraiser BBQs.
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