22 May 2009

Students from across Northern Ireland recently took part in a dairy stock judging competition as part of their NVQ Level 2 in Livestock Production. This course, offered by Greenmount Campus, CAFRE, allows them to work on farm and attend class one day per week. Students on the course, must be able to assess dairy cows and during the past year they have received instruction in this traditional skill at local farms in Fermanagh, Down, Antrim and Mid Ulster.

To test how much they had learned and to add a little bit of extra interest, the different groups combined to take part in a stock judging competition on the farm of William Henderson, an Ayrshire breeder in Tobermore. Farmrite of Portadown kindly donated a Border Fine Arts piece as a prize.

Each competitor had to discuss and justify where and why they placed the cows in their selected order.  In a keenly contested final, James Stewart from Rathfriland who attends the Banbridge centre was declared the overall winner.

Instructor Steven Girvan holding a cow as Daryl Gillespie (Omagh, Co.Tyrone) and Robert Kee (Newtownstewart, Co.Tyrone) make their assessment.

James Stewart from Rathfriland receiving his prize from Neill Acheson of Farmrite, Portadown.