YDP Supporting Youth & Education

Supporting Youth & Education

George Ellis and Dr Emma Bleach Harper Adams University 2019

Since launching in 2013 the Society’s Education Awards for students have seen nearly £8000 awarded to the winning students at the four recipient universities and colleges.

Society chief executive John Yates explains that the awards are presented to the student with the highest mark on a research project on sheep at Harper Adams in England, University of Aberystwyth in Wales, SRUC in Scotland and Greenmount in Northern Ireland.

“These students and their contemporaries represent the future of the UK farming industry and as such the support the Society offers is a great way of engaging them with both the Texel breed and the sheep sector as a whole.

“As the industry faces up to the challenges ahead, including the need to be increasingly carbon efficient, attracting the brightest and best minds into the industry will be essential to the success of sheep farming in the coming years.”

A total of 32 students have received awards in the eight years the awards have been running, with projects across a wide variety of topics, including; The relationship between foot issues and ewe body condition score, semen viability, carcass composition and the effectiveness of faecal egg counting.

“Many of the topics studied by these students have the ability to directly improve sheep flock productivity and profitability when applied at a practical level and that is great to see.

“The Society remains committed to promoting the UK sheep industry as an integral part of the agricultural industry and showcasing the opportunities available for young people at every level of the industry,” he added.

Eiry Williams & Basil Wolf at University of Wales, Aberystwyth graduation 2018

Elizabeth Bauld & Andy Barr SRUC Graduation 2018

Ryan Davies, Kate Semple, Henry Gamble Greenmount 2018