A quartet of students from North Galway were announced as winners of the 2023 Certified Irish Angus Schools’ Competition at an awards ceremony in Croke Park.

Holy Rosary College, Mountbellew, students Peter O’Neill, Amy Higgins, Oisín Colleran and Cormac Delaney attended the prestigious grand final in the Hogan Suite after successfully completing their project and rearing five Angus calves for 18 months.

The Certified Irish Angus Schools’ Competition is an initiative that challenges students to rear five Irish Angus Cross calves for 18 months until their slaughter which aids their Leaving Certificate Agricultural Science curriculum.

It aims to promote the Certified Irish Angus Beef brand while communicating the care and attention required to produce quality beef for consumers.

The Mountbellew quartet investigated “Improving Quality of Beef for Consumers” and conducted a local survey of what consumers looked for when buying beef. The results showed that consumers are prioritising the quality and origins of the beef they purchase.

They gained a deep understanding of the farming effort that results in producing the best food through complex Teagasc documentation, face to face meetings with farmers and farming experts.

And with this new-found knowledge the students helped their community understand topics from animal husbandry to grassland management in a manner that engaged consumers.

Announcing the winners, General Manager of Certified Irish Angus, Charles Smith, described the HRC team as ‘very deserving winners’.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

Over 170 groups – and close to 600 students – took part in the competition with 23 counties represented from all provinces.