We caught up over the summer with one of the successful teams currently participating in our finalist programme from Enniskillen Royal Grammar. Here’s how they are getting on:

Home Economics teacher, Heather Kettyle, is quick to praise the scope and unique feature of the ABP Angus Youth Challenge. She believes that the competition has had a unique impact with all the students attending the school and the community at large throughout Co Fermanagh.

She said:

“Our school has a very rural catchment area. Yet very few of our pupils come from active farming families. To find that link, there is a requirement to go back a generation.
“However, the success of our team in reaching the final stage of the competition has succeeded in re-kindling an awareness of just how important farming and food is to this part of the world.
“The entire school is delighted that the four-strong team directly involved has succeeded in qualifying for an 18-month skills development programme with ABP. Everyone is working hard to ensure that we feature prominently when the finalists are judged later this year.”

Heather has direct experience of knowing what it is like to be directly involved in beef production. Her husband James runs a very successful suckler beef enterprise on the outskirts of Enniskillen.

The team co-ordinating the Enniskillen Royal Grammar ‘assault’ on the ABP Group Angus Challenge comprises Aaron Flanagan, from Lisnaskea; his sister Anna, Thomas Kerr, from Ballinamallard and James Ritchie, another native of Lisnaskea. Both Thomas and James come from working farms.

The competition is organised in association with the Northern Irish Angus Producer Group. It provides the finalist teams with two key challenges. The first is to manage five weanling Angus steers and a heifer through to finishing weights in the most efficient way possible over an 18-month period. The calves were awarded by ABP to the first set of finalists just over a year ago at the Balmoral Show. They will profit from their sale to ABP at finishing in the Autumn.

The second challenge is to research innovative ways of enhancing the beef supply chain across Northern Ireland. This latter project will be adjudicated on, courtesy of a final presentation made by each of the finalists in 2020. So, it’s a long-term commitment on the part of both the schools and ABP over which time the participants mature and develop a range of skills.

After the weanling calves were presented to the ERG team it was agreed that they would be maintained on the Ritchie family farm.

“Everyone on the team has had a full and equal say regarding the management decisions that have been taken,” he said.
“The cattle wintered well and have really come into their own since getting out to grass earlier in the year. They will be put on their finishing ration in a few weeks’ time.
“But priority number one is to keep them at grass for as long as possible.”

Anna reflected on just how popular the animals have been with all the pupils at the school.

“First-off we named them. The roll of honour is Arthur, Angus, Betsy, Polly and Rosie: two steers and three heifers.
“They really have been the centre of attention at the school. Many pupils attended the weigh-in of the calves after they came off grass last year.
“Their presence at the school also encouraged the hosting on a non-uniform day, which helped raise over £2,000 for the Northern Ireland Air Ambulance.
“The calf named Angus also made a guest appearance at our 2018 School Sports’ Day. The event was re-named the Lakeland Games, given the focus that was placed on several competitions that would feature at the Highland Games in Scotland.

But, in addition to the photo opportunities, the members of the Enniskillen Royal team, have put some very serious thought into the work they will include within their final report – upon which they will be assessed later this year.

James takes up the story:

“Our intention is to highlight how relevant the Angus breed can be to the beef industry in Co Fermanagh.
“Up to this point, the cattle would not feature that prominently within suckler herd in this area.
“We feel this is an issue which should be actively addressed by farmers, many of whom keep their herds on heavy ground.”

He continued:

“There is a bonus available for Angus cattle, given the quality of the meat they produce. In addition, breeding bulls produce relatively small calves, which make them very suited to the conditions which prevail right across Co Fermanagh.
“The relatively short gestation period of the Angus breed also makes it very suited to spring calving suckler herds, where producing a calf every 12 months is critical to the success of the entire operation.
“Angus cattle tend to be more docile, making them easier and safer to work with, from the farmer’s point of view.”

To back up their assertions on Angus beef quality, the Enniskillen Royal Grammar team carried out meat sensory and taste tests last year.

“This work confirmed the benefits of Angus beef in this regard,” said Thomas.
“We have concluded that the Angus really does have something positive to offer farmers in Co Fermanagh.”

But the team members now want to build on this, as Aaron pointed out.

“Our plan is to get out over the coming months and discuss these matters with farmers on the ground across Fermanagh,” he said.
“We will be including the responses they give us in our final presentation.”

Meanwhile, ABP is delighted with the impact the Angus Youth Challenge is having right across Northern Ireland.

“Encouraging young people into our industry is something ABP is committed to. There are opportunities right across the entire scope of the beef sector, from primary production through to processing and marketing,” commented ABP’s Head of Supply Chain Development, Liam McCarthy.
“The ABP Angus Youth Challenge was conceived as a means of encouraging teenagers to consider working within our sector and to put their skills to best use across the industry as a whole.”

He continued:

“Critically, the ABP Angus Youth Challenge not only has a strong focus on how best to manage cattle on farm but it is offering participants a well-rounded skills development opportunity in preparation for the world of work.
“As part of their development programme, we have taken the finalists on a farm to fork study tour to ABP in Great Britain. We have also helped them develop their digital communications and presentation skills through a training academy hosted by a leading media company.
“All of this is CV-enhancing and will stand them in good stead for when they leave full time education and are seeking job opportunities in agri-food.
“The feedback from teachers is extremely positive. They have cited the impact the competition is having on their pupils’ engagement with education and learning. They have told us it is offering those who may not be interested in the traditional extra-curricular activities of sport or music a way to gain recognition and excel at something they are passionate about.”

“While efforts continue apace to develop a Land Mobility Programme in Northern Ireland – one which will serve to encourage increasing number of young people into the production agriculture – the good news is that the ABP Food Group has succeeded, courtesy of its own vison, in pushing forward the boundaries of this crucial debate in a more than meaningful way.

Courtesy of its ‘Angus Youth Challenge’ initiative, developed with the Northern Irish Angus Producer Group, the company is demonstrating the role which young people can play at the very heart of the beef industry.

There is a £1,000 cash prize on offer for the overall winning school or club. The initiative will see an accurate record kept of all the costings involved in rearing Angus cross cattle awarded by ABP to finalist teams. In addition, the finalists can specifically avail of the advice available from the ABP Blade Farming team.

But more than this, the competition has also succeeded in attracting young people – with no farming background whatsoever – to look more actively at careers in agri food.

A case in point is the team of five students from Belfast Royal Academy (B.R.A.), who were selected as finalists for the competition phase kick started in the autumn of 2017.

For the past 17 months the team at the North Belfast school have been managing a group of 5 Angus-cross steers and heifers awarded to them compliments of ABP’s Blade Farming system. The students in question are: Lorcan Convery, Rachel Duff, Hannah Hill, Charlotte Storey, and Laura Meek. All have recently completed their ‘AS’ studies at B.R.A.

Not living on a farm isn’t a barrier to entry for the competition. Not one of the five members of the B.R.A team has a farming background: their ability to manage the cattle came about courtesy of the involvement of Andrew Bell, who heads up the Biology department at B.R.A. He commented:

“The school, which is the oldest in Belfast City, was delighted to have been selected on to the finalist programme. I run a beef unit at home on the outskirts of Stewartstown in Co Tyrone. So, it was the obvious option for me to propose that the five Angus calves should be brought to my own family farm if we made it through as finalists.”
“But everyone within the team has been equally involved in making the various management decisions, where the cattle are concerned.
“I am delighted to confirm that all the animals have reached their growth targets up to this point.”

Andrew continued:

“The competition has caught the interest of everyone at B.R.A. In a very direct way, it has served to raise the profile of farming at the school and the important role the industry plays at the very heart of the local economy.
“For their part, the five team members have really embraced the ‘Challenge’. It has forced them think outside the box while also helping them to improve a range of work-life skills.”
“I am delighted to confirm that all the animals have reached their growth targets up to this point. They’ll be finished by the early Autumn and the pupils will then pocket the profit from their sale to ABP.”

But managing the cattle is only a small part of the challenge confronting the B.R.A. team. Their success will also be assessed on an assignment they have been working on during the past year detailing how new thinking can be brought to bear within the beef sector. Lorcan Convery who is interested in pursuing a career in business takes up the story:

“We are looking at the prospects of farmers working with outside investors in ways that will allow both parties to generate a return on the investment they have made.
“We are using the opportunity of rearing the calves through to finishing to see if it is feasible to attract outside money to be targeted at production agriculture.
“This means taking all the costs and weighing them up against the final value of the cattle and the subsidies that are available.
“At the end of the day, there has to be a return on investment for those involved. We believe that our results will show this is possible. There is very much an onus on the farmer to meet the highest management standards.”

Meanwhile the cattle – three steers and two heifers - have become firm favourites with all the pupils at B.R.A. They made a ‘guest appearance’ at the school’s open-air production of The Sound of Music in July 2018.

Rachel, who is hoping to become a vet, confirmed that the cattle have also been named after the various Houses at the school: Cairns (heifer) Pottinger (heifer) Currie (steer) and Shaw. That leaves the steer Crombie, who was named after the main building at B.R.A.

Such has been the impact of the competition at the school that it has also encouraged the establishment of a new after-school club within the school - christened ‘The Grass Roots’ Society’ to create a focal point for those pupils who are interested in agriculture and rural pursuits.

“In the last academic year when it was set up it comprises a membership of 31,” confirmed Andrew.
“This may well grow once the new school year progresses. All of this is highly significant as it is giving young people with no background in farming an opportunity to hear, at first hand, about the significance of the industry to the economy of Northern Ireland.”
The five Angus cattle were bred on local dairy farms. They are all at grass and weigh in the region of 560kgs. The plan is to put them on a finishing ration over the coming weeks,” said Andrew. “They should reach their finishing weights later in the autumn.”

Meanwhile, ABP is delighted with the impact the Angus Youth Challenge is having right across Northern Ireland.

“There is now a strong awareness that the average age of farmers in Northern Ireland is high. Therefore, encouraging young people into the industry is something ABP is committed to.
“There are opportunities right across the entire scope of the beef sector with ABP, from primary production through to processing and marketing,” commented ABP’s Head of Supply Chain Development, Liam McCarthy.

“The ABP Angus Youth Challenge was conceived as a means of encouraging teenagers to consider developing careers within the beef sector and to put their skills to best use across the industry. It’s also helping to bring a balanced perspective about locally produced beef to younger consumers.”

He continued:

“Critically, the ABP Angus Youth Challenge has a strong focus on how best to manage cattle on farm. It also provides a mechanism by which those participating can improve their communication, teamwork and employability skills whilst gaining hands-on experience of the beef industry.”

Source: Farming Life, September 2019