Teagasc Trainees Undertake Special Programme in Denmark

Professor Gerry Boyle, director of Teagasc, presented certificates to students on the successful completion of a programme which recognises students with special needs. The ceremony was held at Teagasc Head Office on Thursday, 18 December and was attended by the students, their parents, members of the Teagasc Education and Training Directorate and also by Bernard O Farrell, Teagasc special needs coordinator and facilitator of the programme.

The project was funded by LEARGAS under the mobility programme from LEONARDO da VINCI for students with special needs and organised in partnership with Landbruggsskole Nordyillands, an agricultural college in Northern Jutland, situated approx. 30 kilometres from Aalborg. The college facilitates 130 students, providing residential accommodation and training in livestock and machinery and leads to the qualification of trained farmers and farm managers. Much of the skills training takes place on selected host farms in the vicinity of the college and students are prepared for their period of placement while at the college.

The Irish students were based at the college for an introductory two days. During these two days they met Danish students and familiarised with the culture and farm practices of the country. They were then placed with Danish host farms and returned to the college at weekends.

One of the key highlights of the programme was a farm visit to view the highly efficient robotic milking machine in action. One of the host farmers had a three-unit robotic plant. Cows were milked by robots, with no human input required except in the case of a machine breakdown. Milking took place over a 23-hour period; the cows were allowed in for milking after a certain length of time had passed and were controlled entering the milking area by a computer device on their neckband. The computer identified the cows not coming forward for milking and these were subsequently manually guided through. This was, according to the farmer, an infrequent occurrence. Cows were housed at all times and food in the form of maize and silage and meals provided in the slatted area. There is a high degree of dependence on computers for monitoring and recording purposes.

One of the students completed placement on a horse unit where the owner used Icelandic ponies in the equestrian centre. These are very small animals, extremely sturdy and trot in a special way using all four legs. Another student was placed on a farm which is in the process of converting from dairy farming to pig production. Students also visited an organic pig farm where all the piglets are born outdoors in little huts and electric fencing is used to keep out foxes

The Irish trainees saw at first hand the highly efficient methods used on Danish farms and returned home with new enthusiasm and looking forward to working on their respective home farms.

During their period in Jutland, the Teagasc students introduced hurling to the Danish college and demonstrated the skills involved in handing the camans and sliotar.