Teams from Banbridge Academy; Cookstown High; Newtownhamilton College and St. Catherine’s College, Armagh have been selected as 2021 Winter finalists in the ABP Angus Youth Challenge. They were presented with their mini-herds of Angus cross calves in November 2021 as part of their reward for becoming finalists. They have also been assigned special projects to research that relate to sustainable Angus beef production.

The team at Banbridge Academy has been given the research theme of ‘Positioning Northern Ireland as a Global Leader in Sustainable Beef Production.’ Cookstown High School will be researching the ‘Features of the Northern Ireland Beef Farmer of the Future.’ Meanwhile Newtownhamilton College have been asked to look at the Younger Consumer and the Factors that Influence their Choices in Eating Beef. The pupils from St Catherine’s College will be looking at the connectivity between animals, people, plants and the environment in a project entitled ‘One Health.’

To reach the ‘final four’, they had to compete against 18 other teams which included taking part in an exhibition, judged by an independent panel of industry and education experts.

They join four other schools, who are already in the finalist programme. This group received their calves back in the summer of 2021. They are St. Kevin’s Lisnaskea; Dalriada School Ballymoney; Cookstown High School and Friends’ School, Lisburn.

The Summer and Winter teams will now compete in their own cohorts but complete their finalist programmes concurrently at the end of 2022.