Four students from Holy Rosary College (HRC ), Mountbellew, have beaten some 600 competitors to be announced as winners of the 2023 Certified Irish Angus Schools’ Competition in Croke Park on March 31.
The four leaving certificate students; Peter O’Neill, Amy Higgins, Oisín Colleran and Cormac Delaney and supported by agricultural science teacher, Catherine Kelly, entered the competition more than 18 months ago and have spent the last year and a half rearing five Irish Angus Cross calves until they are slaughtered.
The initiative which challenges students to raise the calves, aids their leaving certificate agricultural science curriculum as well promoting the certified Irish Angus beef brand while communicating and learning the care and attention required to produce quality beef. Some 600 participants across 170 groups take part annually with the final five groups invited to Croke Park to crown the winner.
Teacher Catherine Kelly said that the win hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but it is a monumentous achievement for the determined crew.
“It was such a shock to have won, in fairness to the five groups there was some amount of work done but we are absolutely delighted to win. It is a great achievement for the students themselves and it’s been brilliant to see them grow over the last few years from development, to communication and presentation and leadership skills. These are all skills they will be bringing to college and the workforce in the future.”
Three of the four participants come from farming backgrounds already, which helped them to recognise the commitment and level-headedness required to take care of the calves, but one of the four does not come from a farming family, meaning that most of the process was new to him, something he overcame with ease.
The winning team investigated ‘Improving Quality of Beef for Consumers’ and conducted a local survey of what consumers were looking for when buying beef. The results of the study showed that consumers prioritised the quality and origins of the beef they purchased resulting in the group researching complex Teagasc documentation, face to face meetings with farmers and farming experts. Kelly said that the help of two local men, Keith Fahy who is a business and technology advisor in drystock for Teagasc and Oranmore based dairy farmer, Henry Walsh were a fantastic aid to the children helping to explain animal husbandry and grassland management. She also said that sponsors, Offaly based agri-trading company, J Grennan and Sons, also supplied a great deal of support to the team.
When announcing the winners, General Manager of Certified Irish Angus, Charles Smith said, “Holy Rosary College are very deserving winners of this years competition. Driven by their deep-rooted interest of agriculture and food production, the students successfully communicated the benefits of good farming practices with their classmates and local community.
“They helped their community to understand the huge farming effort that results in producing the best quality food. The growth of the competition entries has been exceptional, we have increased our exhibiting numbers because of the standard met by the enthusiastic TY students.”
