MCS Irish Angus Team Progress To Croke Park Exhibition

The MCS Irish Angus Team, who are now through to the national finals of the Irish Angus Beef Schools Competition, have been working hard at promoting Irish Angus both as a breed and as a product. The group consist of Sarah Murray, Lorna Eagney, Christopher Kerrigan and Conor O’Brien. In the last week the group have made a lot of progress towards (hopefully) bringing home 5 calves later this year.

On Monday last, 4th February, Colin Duffy, an Irish Angus breeder from Kilgarvin Angus, visited the school to talk to 5th year Agricultural Science students about the benefits of Irish Angus. He explained why Irish Angus is the way forward, both in the beef and dairy sectors. He touched on the breed’s remarkably easy calving, their docility, how easy the animals flesh, and most importantly to the consumer, the superb taste. The class were very impressed by what they learned about Irish Angus, and some of the students who were at the talk have since remarked on the taste of certified Irish Angus beef, which they bought following the talk. The reason the meat tastes so good is because it has delicious natural marbling, which seeps down into the meat when it is being cooked.

On Saturday the 9th February the students attended Carrick-On-Shannon mart, where there was an Irish Angus show and sales. The group spoke to Irish Angus breeders and the auctioneer, where we learned that the popularity of the Irish Angus breed is improving, particularly in the dairy herd due to their ease of calving, with only 1-2% calving difficulty. While in Carrick-On-Shannon, the students put up promotional posters, and distributed Irish Angus Producer Group membership packs to farmers, so the farmer can join the Producer Group without the hassle of downloading and printing forms online.