On Thursday 1 December, TY Students visited Carbery Farm Zero C in Shinagh and Agri Gen anaerobic digester in Timoleague with a view to understanding how both of these initiatives link to TY courses in Farming, Sustainability and Agricultural Science.
Carbery have a world first project for agriculture where they are working to create an economically viable, climate neutral dairy farm by targeting several areas:
· Using clover and multi-species swards to capture carbon within the soil, produce more resilient grass, improve productivity and reduce fertiliser use.
· Trialling different types of diet that change animal digestion, reducing the amount of methane emitted by cows.
· Maintaining and improving biodiversity on the farm and harnessing the natural ecosystem to reduce the reliance on pesticides and fertiliser.
· Sourcing renewable energy where possible to reduce the farm’s reliance on carbon-emitting fossil fuels.
The aim is that this model could be adapted and used in farms across the country.
Students noted the following:
We learned that Carbery sources its milk from Drinagh, Lisavaird, Bandon and Barryroe Co-ops and as a result, all suppliers are effectively shareholders at Farm Zero C.
We learned that codes on dairy products such as “1867” and “1431” indicate that the milk has been supplied by West Cork farms. This helps consumers to support local farmers when choosing own-brand products.
We also learned that policy and financial incentives are essential to help farmers reduce emissions. In terms of biodiversity, from January onwards famers will be able to claim payments for scrubland whereas up to now they were penalised.
Cows can wear collars that act as “fit bits” which monitor their health and wellbeing, when they are coming into heat etc.
When organic waste breaks down it produces methane. Timoleague Agri Gen take waste food from food processing and manure from across Co. Cork and convert it into biogas and electricity through a process called anaerobic digestion. The site produces 500KW of renewable electricity.
Organic waste material & manure feedstock is transported to the site in lorries. This is mixed and heated to increase bacterial activity which break down the waste and create the biogas. This is fed into the National Grid to generate electricity. We learned that there are plans for over 300 anaerobic digesters to be up and running in Ireland over the next five years. The Timoleague model can run on a smaller scale on farms. It is possible for tractors and trucks to run off methane.
The residual by-product after the anaerobic digestion process is known as digestate. Digestate is rich in Nitrogen (N), Phosphate (P) and Potassium (K) and this biofertilizer can be land spread using existing machinery as an excellent substitute for chemical fertilizer.
Ava Scarlett, one of our TY students on the trip, has just qualified for the BT Young Scientists Competition with her project on the production of electricity through anaerobic digestion in microbial fuel cells. Well done to Ava and her teacher Ms. O’Brien!
We would like to thank Aoife, Gavin and Mary-Kate at Carbery, and Derry from Agri-Gen, for their very warm welcome and for sharing their expertise and experience with us. Thanks also to all the students, Mr Fitzgerald, Mary and Ms. Burke. We had a great day out!
Report from South Munster schools cross country challenge held Friday 2nd December at Riverstick course.
1st year girls
Lorraine Coakley, Doireann Flannery and Clodagh Hickey ran 1000m. It was a very quick dry course with a slight pull towards the end. 119 runners finished. SCS girls were the 12th team.
2nd year girls 1000m
Ciara Delaney had very good run. She took the lead with 500m and went on to finish in 1st place. Emer Dennis McAleavy finished 2nd chasing her teammate to the finish but she had to fend off a couple of challengers. With 300m left she pulled clear.
Ciara and Emer ran well, looked strong as their training has been going well.
Emer is on the cork U17 cross country county team running national championships next Sunday 4th December at Conna near Fermoy.
Well done to all!
Pictured below are the prize winners in Classes 1B and 1C for their models of an animal or a plant cell in science.
Well done to our Junior Ladies Soccer team and their coaches, Ms. Orla Higgins and Mr. Ger Carey on beating Carrigaline Community School by 5 goals to 1 in the league on Tuesday, November 28th.
Congratulations to Abigail Fowler, 3rd Year, who won Junior Student of the Year in the Cork Education and Training Board (CETB) County school of Music.
She is pictured here with her award and the Principal of the School of Music Carol Daly.
Our Open Evening will take place on Thursday December 1st from 6.15 to 8pm. We are looking forward to welcoming everyone on the night.
TY Food & Hospitality Students are hosting a Christmas Food Market at our Open Evening on Dec 1st at 6.15pm.
On Thursday 17th November, the 5th year Ag science class were invited to the farm of the Buckley family in the picturesque Castlehaven.
Here the students were given a very informative tour, lead by their own classmate, James Buckley, who was a fountain of knowledge.
He showed the class around the state-of-the-art dairy farm, he explained how the rotary parlour works and the day to day running of the farm.
He showed us the different breeds of cows, calves and even some Christmas turkeys!
The class were then treated to a fantastic spread of tea, coffee and breakfast rolls.
We would like to thank the Buckley family for a very enjoyable morning out on their family farm and for the huge effort they went to.
Photos of classes 2A & 2B making ice-cream as part of Science Week.
Second year science classes made ice cream in a bag on Friday as part of Science Week.
After looking at the science processes involved in making Ice cream in a bag, students undertook a short physical workout to make their own ice cream.
The addition of some sprinkles and strawberry syrup made it go down very nicely.
A good end to the week!
Save your seat on the sofa, as it’s that time of year again.
The Late Late Toy Show!
All our LRC students have been creating gift bags for each other to celebrate the evening in style.
Enjoy everyone!
Pictured below is Ms. Quirke’s 5th year Biology class completing the ‘Escape Room Challenge’ for Science Week.
Students enjoyed the task of answering questions on the Digestive System to break the code and open the locked room.
Today some TY students travelled to the Raddison Blu in Cork for Teen Talk 2022. Those who opted not to travel got the opportunity to experience the live event virtually from school.
We were lucky enough to be hosted by Anna Geary and heard the life stories, experiences and success & wellbeing tips from speakers such as Stephen McDonnell, Donna Kennedy, Darragh Fleming, Sheila Naughton and Pat Slattery.
The message from the day was very clearly- it’s okay to ask for help!
Many thanks to the Cork County Council, Teen Talk Team, Ms. Burchill for organising and for Ms. R. O’Brien and Ms. Wycherley for travelling today.
