Cedara and Weston go head to head in the 2026 student challenge
For agricultural students, the J.R. Brewitt Floating Trophy, or “Student Cup,” is not just another trophy. It is their equivalent of the World Cup.
This hotly contested trophy is awarded for the Best Group of 4 Steers on show. These steers need to be halter-trained, but most importantly the students need to work as a unified team, as one, moving in synchronised unison.
At 10.00am on Wednesday, 7 October, two old Royal Show rivals will meet again in the Hollard Arena, when Cedara and Weston go head to head in the 2026 Student Challenge, judged by Dave Shewin and Douglas Fletcher.
There is an added significance to the occasion: the Student Challenge will be the very first event on the cattle programme at the new Royal Showgrounds at Tweedie.
In a year when foot-and-mouth disease has reduced the field to just two colleges, there could hardly be a more fitting pairing.
Cedara and Weston have both been part of the Royal Show story for well over a century. Cedara’s connection stretches back to the early 1900s, while Weston’s relationship with the Show dates from 1914. Generations of their students have brought livestock to the Royal Show, worked in the livestock sections and tested their skills in the Show ring.
By 1992, the two colleges were competing against one another in a formal Students’ Challenge at the Royal Show, alongside the then University of Natal and University of Zululand.
Now, for the first time, they will do so at Tweedie. The Royal Agricultural Society’s move into the KZN Midlands has brought the Show much closer to both institutions — with Cedara only about 15 km away and Weston about 44 km away. After generations of travelling to Pietermaritzburg, the two colleges now find the Royal Show almost on their doorstep.
The competition has grown and changed over the years. At its largest, six institutions took part — Cedara, Weston, UKZN, Owen Sithole College of Agriculture, Vryheid Agricultural High School and Mtubatuba Mini Farm — with cattle filling the ring. And there are already encouraging signs that the field could expand again in 2027 as foot-and-mouth disease comes under increasing control.
Behind those few minutes in front of the judges lie months of work.
Students learn to feed, prepare and handle their animals; to understand cattle rather than simply lead them; and to present the results of their work under the scrutiny of experienced judges. For many, the Royal Show is where classroom learning becomes something very real.
Both Cedara and Weston have collected wins and honours at the Royal Show over the years, across student, commercial cattle and carcass competitions. There have been periods when one college has been on top and others when the honours have swung the other way — adding plenty of pride to an already fiercely contested challenge.
A name with deep roots in the cattle section
The trophy associated with the competition carries the name of J.R. “John” Brewitt, a man whose own Royal Show record reflects much of what the Student Challenge is about.
Brewitt was a longstanding supporter of the Cattle Section, serving as a steward and judge. He was a highly experienced steward trusted with the important job of screening bulls before cattle sales. In 1974, Brewitt was judging the slaughter oxen when State President Jim Fouché visited the cattle section — and in 1986 he was awarded life membership of the Royal Agricultural Society for his service.
His was a hands-on association with cattle and the Show: knowledge, judgement, practical experience and service freely given over many years.
Those are fitting qualities to sit behind a competition in which young agriculturalists are asked to show what they know — and what they can do.
When Cedara and Weston enter the Hollard Arena this October, there will be college pride on the line, months of preparation behind every animal, and a trophy that means an enormous amount to the students competing for it.
And as the first cattle enter the ring at the new Tweedie Showgrounds, the Student Challenge will also mark the beginning of a new chapter in the Royal Show’s long livestock tradition.
For the Royal Show, that is exactly the point.
For generations it has been a place where young agriculturalists can put their knowledge, stockmanship and hard work to the test — not in a classroom, but in the ring.
Cedara versus Weston. Wednesday, 7 October at 10.00am in the Hollard Arena.
