John Molloy and Áine Butler were presented a certificate by Agriculture Minister Michael Creed following their Dairymaster bursary awards succes
WIT BSc (Hons) in Agricultural Science graduates John Molloy and Aine Butler were the recipients of the inaugural Dairymaster Agricultural Science award at the Ploughing Championships in Screggan, Co. Offaly this year.
The award recognised the achievements of Agricultural Science degree students with the best final year project presentation, and was judged by a panel of experts from Dairymaster, Teagasc and WIT.
Both John and Aine were presented with a certificate at the Dairymaster stand at the Ploughing Championships by the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed and CEO of Dairymaster, Dr Edmond Harty.
Áine recalls the assistance she received from WIT lecturers which helped her develop her thesis, “I had a lot of supervisors particularly Bill Keogh, who helped with my thesis and helped me come up with the idea, which was “Selenium deficiency in dairy cows.” At WIT we did a lot of field work and practical work that helped me develop plenty of skills. My project saw me test lots of ground samples. Lots of neighbouring farmers got involved as they were interested in selenium deficiency.”
Since completing his agricultural science degree at WIT and finishing his thesis titled, “The effects of body condition score and energy balance on the milk fatty acid profile of lactating dairy cows”, John has found employment with Agri-Lloyd which supplies innovation and nutrition inspired products to livestock farmers.
“I found that the collaboration between WIT and Kildalton college has equipped me with the skills I needed to achieve a first class honours and win this award with Dairymaster.”
Also in attendance was programme leader for the BSc (Hons) in Agricultural Science, Dr Michael Breen, who commended both Dairymaster and Minister Creed for their part in the event.
“It is fantastic that Dairymaster have become one of our stakeholders and are sponsoring our students in their final year to excel. This gives them the opportunity to further themselves in their chosen field of study. It is great that Minister Creed is giving his time to support the initiative between Dairy Master and WIT.”
WIT’s agricultural lecturers joined outreach officers over the three days of Ploughing to discuss everything from courses to careers, the state of farming today and how to plant the seed packs WIT was handing out.
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