Ryan McPolin – CAFRE Alumni

My name is Ryan McPolin and I am from Cabra. I developed an interest in agriculture from growing up on my family farm. Upon completion of my A-Levels at Abbey Christian Brothers’ Grammar School in Newry, I decided to apply for a degree in Agriculture. I chose to study on the BSc Honours Degree in Agricultural Technology with Professional Studies. It’s a course delivered for two years at CAFRE followed by one year at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB).  

During my first two years of this course, I was based at Greenmount Campus. I learnt a wide range of subjects pertaining to the agricultural industry, including livestock husbandry, health and welfare, grassland management and ruminant nutrition.  

The third year of the degree offered a work placement year option, which I availed of. I travelled to Australia where I worked for the Midfield’s company. I spent six months working on their dairy unit and six months working on their beef unit. This placement allowed me to expand my practical and theoretical knowledge gained both at home and during my studies at CAFRE. It was great to explore how production systems differed on the other side of the world. My work placement year was extremely valuable to me and helped me to prepare for my final year of my degree. The partnership arrangement with Queen’s led me to my final year of study with the School of Biological Science in Belfast. Looking back the course equipped me with a broad knowledge of Northern Ireland farm enterprises, setting me up well to enter the job market. 

I graduated in the summer of 2016 and began working as a temporary Benchmarking Data Collector for DAERA. Later that year I moved to Devenish Nutrition working as a Technical Graduate. It was an office based role working on waste management and ration formulations and labelling. This involved ensuring that the correct ingredients for the ration were listed appropriately, including manufacture and expiry dates. In addition, the Farm Quality Assurance Scheme (FQAS) number must be included with each ration assigned a unique batch number to allow for full traceability of the mix down to each individual ingredient. 

In 2017, an opening on the Ruminant Team came up and after an application and interview process I was successful. I am now a Ruminant Nutritionist for Devenish Nutrition. I travel to farms and feed mills across the island of Ireland. I liaise with farmers and feed mills in order to formulate cost effective rations best suited to the requirements of the animals to promote optimal health and daily live weight gain.  

I really enjoyed my student days whilst studying for the Degree in Agricultural Technology. I highly recommend studying at CAFRE, I gained invaluable skills and experience during my course.