Four students from Holy Rosary College, Mountbellew were announced as the overall winners of the 2023 ABP sponsored Certified Irish Angus School’s Competition at an awards ceremony in Croke Park. Students, Peter O’Neill, Amy Higgins, Oisín Colleran and Cormac Delaney secured the win after impressing the judges with their approach to the prestigious cattle-rearing competition, now celebrating its ninth year.
The winning group from County Galway undertook a research project focussed on “Improving Quality of Beef for Consumers”. They conducted a survey which gave the students an in-depth knowledge of the beef purchasing habits of the consumer. The students’ discovered what consumers prioritise when they buy Certified Irish Angus beef, and their research covered an impressive range of topics from animal husbandry to grassland management. To engage their classmates, the group shared their findings and invited guest speakers’ including local dairy farmer, Henry Walsh, and a member of the Galway Grasslands Association, Keith Fahy to their agricultural science class.
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 standard met by the enthusiastic TY students.”