EYBS Report

European young breeders school

Rachel White, Manus Murphy, Hannah Williamson, Amy Roche, Hannah Greenan, Claire Hannan, Emma McNamara, Emer Kelly

A week of hard work, amazing experiences and meeting people from all over the world

From Tuesday 30th August, until Sunday 4th September, a team of Young Members were over in Belgium at the European Young Breeders School, a fantastic opportunity. The Team consisted of Manus Murphy, Carlow/Kilkenny, Hannah Williamson, Breffni/Oriel, Amy Roche, Carlow/Kilkenny, Claire Hannan, Limerick/Clare, Hannah Greenan, Breffni/Oriel, and Emma McNamara, Limerick/Clare, accompanied by two well able leaders, Emer Kelly and Rachel White. Throughout the week, workshops were held in washing, bed preparation, feeding, clipping, handling, stock judging, traits of a good judge e.g. ring etiquette, professionalism etc) and marketing and then these skills were all to be put to the test as the week went on. The young members were privileged to be taught by some of the worlds best known Cattle Fitters, to name a few: Jonas Melbaum (Germany), Erica Rijneveld (Netherlands), Quim Serrabassa (Spain), Bikram Singh (Italy).

It was most certainly a jam packed week full of lots of learning, competing and of course some fun in between. The week included a culture evening on the Saturday evening which allowed everyone to go around the different countries stands and get a little taste of their countries delicacies, a nice touch. Each countries team are scored in points as a whole team but also individually and Team Ireland most certainly flew the flag and did us all proud. Our members were in the Top 10 in both Handling and Calf Classes which is an amazing achievement in itself. Hannah Williamson also placed 19th overall out of over 150 competitors. Calves Handling Emma McNamara 3rd 5th Hannah Williamson 1st 2nd Manus Murphy 5th 8th Hannah Greenan 9th 4th Amy Roche 10th 6th Claire Hannan 6th 5th