PHOTO: The Coonamble High School BAC Team, Paul Blattman, Nicole Fester, Dakota Jackson, Oscar Macrae, Adam Macrae (front), Aaron Hegarty, Natalie Gallen, Emily Gallen, Angus Johnson, Brock Sternbeck, Alex Hegarty, Claire Hopkins with the winning cattle in Glen Innes over the weekend
In their final outing the Coonamble High School BAC team have taken the top gong at the Colin Day & Co Beef Extravaganza winning Grand Champion.
Held in Glen Innes over the course of Saturday 9 September and Sunday 10 of September, the extravaganza was a fitting end to this chapter in the book of Coonamble Show Cattle.
Coonamble High came home with a grand champions ribbon, along with champion middleweight steer, champion heavyweight steer, and reserve champion heifer.
The team also says goodbye to both Nicole Fester and Adam Macrae who hung up their pink shirts after the weekend’s events.
“It couldn’t have gone much better,” said Adam.
“Both Nic and I are finishing up with the team and it was a bit of a last hurrah.
“Having a homebred grand champion is a great way to go out.”
For Adam Macrae especially it proved to be a special last event with it being held in his hometown.
“Growing up in Glen Innes and being on my home turf, that was a cool way to finish,” said Adam.
“Ozzy (Oscar Macrae) led the grand champion steer around as well.”
“I have nothing to do with that, the team chooses who leads, and it just so happened to be Oscar.”
For Nicole Fester it’s the end of thirteen years with the BAC team.
“You could not have written it any better, it was just an amazing weekend,” said Nicole.
“We had a really strong team of cattle and an awesome group of students who did amazing.”
Reflecting on her time with the show cattle team, Nicole says it has been one of the most rewarding jobs to have.
“As a teacher I got to work with these children who might not necessarily perform in the traditional academic sense, but get them outside of the classroom and they thrive,” said Nicole.
“Being able to be the person working with them and supporting them to do their best in their little niche has been so rewarding.”
“But good things do come to an end, and I’d much rather go out this way on a high after a strong performance.”
As for the future of the BAC team, it remains uncertain.
Coonamble High School is yet to replace either Adam or Nicole and the cattle are now off to be sold.
However, they go out as grand champions after many years of hard work.