Student of the Year 2018
FBD Sponsored - 2018 Teagasc Student of the Year Award
The Teagasc/FBD Student of the Year Awards supported by FBD for over 30 years celebrates the achievements of students in Teagasc colleges and centres across the country.
Winner - Student of the Year 2018
Paul Bowden
Paul comes from a dairy/beef farm in Urlingford Co. Kilkenny and attended Kildalton College. He completed the Level 6 Advanced Certificate in Agriculture - Dairy Herd Management. He found this course to be very enjoyable and useful including the placement in New Zealand. He has established a farm partnership with his parents to transition farm ownership. Along with farming he is operating his own woodworking workshop on a part-time basis. His objective is to expand the dairy herd and reduce beef enterprise.
Paul Bowden from a dairy/beef farm in Urlingford Co. Kilkenny is the Teagasc/FBD Student of the Year 2018. He completed the Level 6 Advanced Certificate in Agriculture - Dairy Herd Management at Teagasc, Kildalton. He plans to expand the dairy herd & reduce beef reduce beef enterprise.
First Runner-Up Award
Jennifer Aherne
Jennifer completed the Level 6 Specific Purpose Certificate in Farm Administration at the Ennis centre. Jennifer is from Cappaghmore, Co Limerick and operates a pedigree Simmental herd with her parents. She also has an off farm job. She hopes to expand the Simmental pedigree herd. She found the course at Teagasc Ennis gave her a lot of self-confidence, benefiting from meeting like-minded people, from the practical skills and grass/soil fertility management. She also enjoyed the fundraising Tractor pulling competition as part of the Leadership module.
Second Runner-Up Award
Karl Heaslip
Karl attended Ballyhaise College where he completed the Level 6 Advanced Certificate in Agriculture - Dairy Herd Management. Currently he is participating in the Teagasc Professional Diploma in Dairy Farm Management. He is from Crosserlough, Co. Cavan and his home farm is a dairy farm. He found the Advanced Dairy course at Ballyhaise very beneficial and applied new practices at home. Eventually he would like to return to the home farm but plans to get experience working as a farm manager beforehand.
Other finalists
Mark Staunton
Mark is from Newport, Co. Mayo. He completed the Level 6 Specific Purpose Certificate in Farm Administration in the Ballina Centre. He runs a sheep farm with his mother and works in an oyster farming business. The flock comprises of Mayo mountain sheep, lowland crosses and a Pedigree Texel flock. He was encouraged by his mother and Teagasc Advisor to complete the Green Cert. The course at Teagasc Ballina helped him to stop treating farming as a hobby and look at it as a business with the farming paying for the farming – ‘follow the money’, eProfit Monitor helps.
Jayne Patterson-Roulston
Jayne runs her own livery yard/riding school and is also involved in the operation of family dairy farm of her husband and his brothers. She is from Lifford in Co. Donegal and attended the Letterkenny centre. She also works as a relief milker on other farms. She completed the Level 6 Specific Purpose Certificate in Farm Administration to improve her overall knowledge of farming. It also helped in regard to running the equestrian enterprise. The focus on grass management and being efficient within your circumstances was particularly beneficial.
Frank Molloy
Frank runs a suckler to weanling enterprise with Limousin cross cows and a Charolais sire (AI). He is also an electrician. He is participating in GLAS. Frank is from Tubbercurry, Co Sligo and attended the Ballymote centre. He found the Green Cert programme at Teagasc Ballymote very useful, particularly for the soil fertility, grass management, weanling management and farm safety/risk assessment aspects. He did the course to gain knowledge.
Luke Kenny
Luke is from Navan in Co. Meath and attended Pallaskenry College. He completed the Level 6 Advanced Certificate in Agriculture - Dairy Herd Management. Currently he is participating in the Teagasc Professional Diploma in Dairy Farm Management. On the host farm he has found grass management, cow welfare and day to day decision making valuable. His home farm is a dairy farm and he found the Advanced Dairy course at Salesian Pallaskenry to have ‘hit the nail on the head’. He learned a lot on many areas including grass management and milking quality and from the overseas placement in New Zealand.
John Kelly
John attended the Roscommon centre where he completed the Level 6 Specific Purpose Certificate in Farm Administration. He is from Mullingar Co. Westmeath and operates a spring suckler to weanling enterprise with his father. He is also working full-time off the farm. He is participating in the GLAS Scheme. The plan is for John to continue to work full-time and to farm. He found the Green Cert at Teagasc Roscommon very effective in highlighting soil fertility, importance of growing and utilising grass and reducing costs.
Thomas Murphy
Thomas from Turloughmore, Co. Galway attended the Athenry centre. He completed the Level 6 Specific Purpose Certificate in Farm Administration. He operates a sheep farm with his father and also works full-time off the farm. They are exploring a farm partnership arrangement on the family farm. He learnt a lot from the Green Cert course at Teagasc Athenry particularly health and safety and better grass management. He also learnt a lot from fellow learners. He very much took on board Profit Monitor and farm business management and carefully analyses his own flock’s performance.
Aedan James
Aedan from Bantry attended Clonakilty College where he completed the Level 6 Advanced Certificate in Agriculture - Dairy Herd Management. He is currently participating in the Teagasc Professional Diploma in Dairy Farm Management. His family has no connection with farming – but he was attracted to farming as a career. He found the course at Clonakilty very beneficial, in particular the college discussion group. His time on host farms during the practical learning periods including his time in New Zealand was useful. Aedan’s goal is to develop his own dairy enterprise through a partnership route
Colin Hannan
Colin attended the Level 6 Specific Purpose Certificate in Farm Administration in the Fermoy centre. He is from Mallow and found Green Cert at Teagasc Fermoy to be a very good course. The farm safety, practical skills, grass management, ICBF reports and succession planning were very helpful. Colin operates his own equestrian centre and now has about 70 ponies with 150 students attending weekly. He has competed in showjumping at a national level and still show jumps weekly. In recent years Colin developed a finishing weanling to beef and store to beef enterprise.
Barry Gillespie
Barry is from Cloughjordan in Co. Tipperary. He attended Gurteen College where he completed the Level 6 Advanced Certificate in Agriculture - Dairy Herd Management. He found the Advanced Dairy course at Gurteen very beneficial in particular the grass and financial modules and the weekly farm visits. His home farm is dairy and tillage and he plans to return home to farm in partnership with his parents. He is currently participating in the Teagasc Professional Diploma in Dairy Farm Management.
Niall Gaffney
Niall attended the Manorhamilton centre where he completed the Level 6 Specific Purpose Certificate in Farm Administration. Niall is from Co. Leitrim and runs a mid-season sheep farm with his father and brother. The 100 ewe flock includes Cheviot crosses. He also works full-time off the farm. He found the Green Cert at Teagasc Manorhamilton to be very informative on grass management, soil fertility, the benefits of pregnancy scanning and of flock performance records. He remains in contact on farming matters with some Green Cert colleagues through a WhatsApp group.
Cathal Gaughran
Cathal completed the Level 6 Specific Purpose Certificate in Farm Administration at the Meath/Grange Centre. He is from Collon in Co. Louth and farms with his uncles. Currently he also works off farm but would like to farm full time eventually. He found the Green Cert course at Teagasc Grange to be very informative across many topics including soil fertility, grass management and farm planning.
Darragh Cunniffe
Darragh is from Tuam, Co. Galway and attended Mountbellew College where he completed the Level 6 Advanced Certificate in Agricultural - Dairy Herd Management. He is currently enrolled on an Agribusiness degree course at GMIT. His home farm has a suckler enterprise and a pedigree sheep flock. He is actively involved in the home farm and manages the sheep flock. He works part-time on a local farm and also as a soil sampler. He found the Advanced course at Mountbellew very beneficial particularly for husbandry and grass management.
Kevin Buttimer
Kevin completed the Level 6 Specific Purpose Certificate in Farm Administration at the Skibbereen Centre. Currently he is working on the home farm and also has an off farm job. His home farm is spring calving, suckler to weanling using Charolais cross cows with a Charolais bull breeding his own replacements. There is also a tillage enterprise. Kevin found the Green Cert programme at Teagasc Skibbereen very useful, particularly for farm planning and grass management.
The Teagasc/FBD Student of the Year Awards celebrates the achievements of students in Teagasc colleges and centres across the country. Hear why these awards are so important to our agri food industry.