The official naming ceremony took place yesterday in the all-girls school for the calves won by a group of students who were finalists of this year’s certified Irish Angus schools competition.

This is the first year for a Dublin school to become a finalist, taking their place among four other schools from Longford, Cork, Kilkenny and Limerick.

“My blessing goes especially to these five calves that share this wonderful world with us,” were the words of Fr Padraic McDermott as the calves were christened their new names as voted by students: Cindy-Lou-Moo, Mooju, Carla, City Slicker and Alfalfa.

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Fifth year students Shauna Jager, Tara Frehill, Eithne Murray and Emily Browne are the proud owners of the calves, which they will now rear through to slaughter to coincide with their Leaving Certificate agricultural science project.

City girls in charge of calves

Before their introduction to ag science by teacher Ms Flannery, farming and rearing animals was something these city girls had never really come across before.

“From the farm to the fork, we would never have realised the processes that goes into meat before this competition, so that’s what we want to make people aware of now,” Shauna Jager said.

The girls were presented the calves at the National Ploughing Championships in September, which was an experience for them, to say the least.

“None of us were ever at the ploughing before. There was lots of slagging, because we’re from Dublin, and jokes about marriage proposals, but we were able to give it back!” Tara Frehill said.

The calves are residing on Sean and John Eustace’s farm in Brittas, Co Dublin, who have generously offered to provide a residence for the calves. A friend of the team is sponsoring a year’s supply of feed from Quinn’s of Baltinglass Ltd, Co Wicklow.

The girls get out to the farm as often as they can to get their hands dirty and they will benefit fully from the financial gain derived from the production of the cattle. One school will be chosen as the overall winner and will receive an additional €2,000 payment towards their further education.

Promote understanding of farming

General manager of the Irish Angus Producer Group Charles Smith was present at the calf-naming ceremony. He said: “When I was a child, many farmers’ children got a calf and that kind of led you into farming. We wanted to repeat that – it’s a modern twist on an age-old tradition.

“We had to earn our pocket money. This is not a competition where you just get a cheque. They’re not getting a cheque – realising their prize takes a bit of effort.

“The Terenure girls, for example, probably won’t ever have cattle,” continued Charles. “If we as farmers expect them to pay a decent price for food, we need to show them why. We want to promote an understanding and the best way of getting people to understand is to do it themselves.”