Croke Park appearance for St Finian's fledgling farmers
Fast becoming experts on the quirks and characteristics of the Irish Angus breed are four Transition Year student from St Finian's College in Mullingar, Lauren Kavanagh, John Glennon, Niamh Farrell and Grace Downes.
The friends qualified two weeks ago for the next round of the Certified Irish Angus Competition, and this Friday at Croke Park, they face their next challenge.
Below they recount their experience in the competition to date:
Our Certified Irish Angus challenge
Our journey with the Certified Irish Angus Competition began when we first learned about it in our TY Ag-science class at St Finian's College, Mullingar.
As the four of us have a background in farming so the decision on whether or not we wanted to take part one that didn’t take much thinking about.
Despite the tight deadline, we wasted no time and dove straight into creating our entry — a five-minute video focusing on sustainable feeding and breeding. We submitted the video and were delighted when we heard we had got through to the interview round of the competition.
The interview went well, although some questions caught us off guard. Two weeks later, during class, an email arrived confirming our progression to the next stage and we were thrilled with the news.
Now, alongside 42 other schools, we're gearing up for the next round at Croke Park on March 1. We are focusing on a sustainable feeding and breeding programme for our stand in Croke Park.
Simultaneously, we're hard at work developing a website tailored for farmers nationwide, offering valuable insights into genetics and feeding advice aimed at fostering sustainability within the Irish farming community.
Certified Irish Angus, ABP and Kepak, run the Certified Irish Angus Schools Competition which aims to encourage second-level students to gain an understanding about the care and attention that is required to produce and market the highest quality Irish Angus beef for consumers.
The initiative challenges groups of students to rear five Certified Irish Angus calves for 18 months and carry out research on a chosen topic.
The five schools who demonstrate the best understanding of the project will be announced as finalists and will be presented with their calves at the National Ploughing Championships in September 2024.