Farm safety part of focus at young scientists exhibition
THIS week the 49th Annual BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition will be held in Dublin’s RDS.
As always, there are many exhibits of farming interest.
From new ideas to help with fostering lambs to an experiment which found that cows are fond of the Irish language, there is something to suit all tastes — including a project on farm safety.
Farmers know only too well the dangers attached to slurry. Or do they? The lethal threat that working with slurry can pose was tragically brought into focus last September with the deaths on a Co Down farm of Noel, Graham and Nevin Spence.
It was that terrible tragedy which prompted second year students Stephanie French and Rebecca Draper at Bandon Grammar School to undertake a project on safety around slurry.
Both students come from a farming background, and their project involved questioning over 200 farmers throughout Ireland on their knowledge of slurry safety.
Stephanie French explains, “Our survey contained 20 questions, asking what sort of precautions does the farmer have in place, are there warning signs? Or how many people are present when agitating slurry? Are they inside or outside the building when agitating?
“And then we had general questions on farm machinery. Is there a proper cover on the PTO of the slurry agitator?
“We also asked if there had been any accidents in recent times. Had cattle fallen into the slurry tank? Or if the farmers themselves, because of an emergency, had ever gone into the slurry tank?”
“We had questions regarding gas detection devices that are out there, asking if farmers were aware of such devices?
“The farmers surveyed were from all over Ireland, and we were able to get in contact with many of them through farmer discussion groups,” said Rebecca Draper. “The results of our survey will be available at the BT exhibition.
“The basic aim of our project is to make farmers more aware of the dangers posed by working with slurry. It really can be a lethal substance.”
Another young scientist concerned with farm safety is Con O’Callaghan, a 14-year-old second year student of Davis College, Mallow. Con lives on the family’s dairy and beef farm at Mallow.
The idea for the project came about when Con and his teacher Carol O’Sullivan were discussing farm safety as an option for the Young Scientist competition, and concluded that tractor visibility on the road is not as good as it could be. All aspects of improving visibility were looked at, even a suggestion that farmers might paint their tyres.
“We have tried the experiment with various reflective paints, and we are still searching for the perfect paint,” Con said.
He recommends that farmers should use a reflective paint on the grooves of tyres and also reflective stickers on the mud flaps.
“Muddy tyres reducing visibility should not be a problem,” Con explains, “as farmers are not meant to bring muddy tyres on the road.”
Cows, Colours and Sounds
I had believed up to recently that cows were colour blind, and that shaking a red rag in front of a bull was a pointless exercise.
However, after speaking to young scientist Fearghal Crooke of John The Baptist Community School, Limerick, I may have to think again.
Fearghal and fellow student Tadhg Leddin’s project investigated if cows can react to colours and sounds.
Placing different coloured buckets in a field, they concluded that cows preferred yellow-coloured buckets to all others, with a distinct dislike being shown to red.
“Cows can see certain colours,” said Fergal when I quizzed him on the colour-blindness issue.
As for sounds, the students discovered that cows weren’t fond of rock music, but liked the Irish language when spoken or in song. Ana mhaith ar fad.
Transition year students Amy-Rose Holden and Helen O’Shea of Castlecomer Community School, Co Kilkenny, also focused ed on cows, and the influence music might have on milk production.
Amy-Rose Holden said, “After hearing rumours that music can have an influence on milk production and quality, we decided to try and find out if there was any truth to those rumours.
“We investigated the effect of music on milk production by using classical music and rock music.”
The music was broadcast in the cowshed non-stop for the duration of their trial. The girls used a CD, Bridge over Troubled Waters, which was recorded by their school choir, who were in the RTÉ Choir Of The Year competition last year.
With regard to rock music, the students played Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’, over and over and over again.
At this week’s competition you can find out how the cows fared. (I would like to hear how the herdowner is doing after the experiment. Is he still hearing Freddie Mercury ringing in his ears?
*The BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition opens today, and can be visited from 9.30am to 5.30pm Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. The awards ceremony is on Friday evening.
