The Southern Star and Celtic Ross Hotel West Cork Farming Awards winners for the month of September are Sean Dineen, John Quinn, Jack Good and David Forde who are students of Kinsale Community School.
September monthly award is sponsored by:
A DEVASTATING fire in a farm shed was the catalyst for a group of Kinsale Community School students to design an innovative gas dehorner holder.
Their award-winning device is now widely stocked throughout West Cork and beyond, has been endorsed by vets who use it in their day-to-day work, and is also used in other farm scenarios including hoof pairing, dosing, and AI.
Devised by fifth year students, Seán Dinneen (17), John Quinn (16), Jack Good (16), and David Forde (16), the quartet are already looking to identify other gaps in the agri-engineering sector and plan to design further products going forward.
Lisa Finn, Local Enterprise Office Cork North & West with the students when they won the LEO award for West Cork. (Photo: Darragh Kane)
The lads, who are all from farming backgrounds, brainstormed business ideas as part of their Enterprise module in Transition Year.
Seán recalled the fire in his grandfather’s shed in 1999 sparked by a gas dehorner falling on hay, and the rest is history.
‘We identified a gap in the market for a product like this and started working on a number of design templates,’ said Seán. ‘We made up a prototype at David’s farm with help from his uncle. We had a stand in Millstreet show to get market research back in October 2023 where we received very good feedback from farmers about whether a product like this could be useful on the farm and what would be useful in terms of design,’ he added.
Calling themselves DJS Engineering, the lads set about finalising the design and manufacturing the farm equipment holder ahead of the regional final of the prestigious Student Enterprise Awards last year.
‘We received a great interest about our product once we started advertising it on social media @djs__engineering and through word of mouth. We knew we had a good product and we could see how useful it was for ourselves on the farm,’ added David.
The students were the overall winners of the West Cork Student Enterprise Competition in February, clearing the way to represent Cork North & West LEO (Local Enterprise Office) in the National Student Enterprise finals last May.
‘To prepare for the national stage we contacted Country Farm Supplies, and pitched our idea to them and asked would they stock and distribute the farm equipment holder as they have a strong online customer base,’ said Jack.
‘They were on board from the beginning and offered us advice around our business also. After linking up with Country Farm Supplies, we knew we had a big order of units which we would struggle to produce quickly ourselves so we thought about outsourcing our production so that we could concentrate on the other aspects of running the business,’ he added.
To work past this potential roadblock they teamed up with O’Neill Engineering in Ballinadee which has been a key collaboration.
‘This enabled us to update the design, outsource the production which enabled us to take on more orders and be sold in more shops. They were great to deal with and after negotiating a deal with them we also managed to alter and improve the design into a more efficient and easier product to use. We also realised that our product could have many other uses beyond dehorning calves and could be used in general on farms when hoof pairing, dosing or AI etc. They are currently making our product for us and we are delighted with the partnership,’ said John.
The product is also available in Stock Health in Bandon and many of the West Cork Co-ops.
Hazell Mullins, Cork vet and current president of Veterinary Ireland trialed the product and has endorsed it.
‘As a vet I found it very useful while working on farms, it holds all the dehorning equipment neatly and safely. I recently burnt a plastic grooming box while dehorning calves so this product is a fantastic idea. It was also great for keeping syringes and medication safe from calves, and has lots of possible uses outside of dehorning,’ she said.
The foursome won the best overall Sales & Marketing Award in the senior category of the national enterprise competition, which surpassed all of their expectations.
The students at the Student Enterprise Awards earlier in the year with ther project
‘All the hard work and sacrifices were immediately worth it, including having to miss a school tour to Italy which clashed with the final, and concluded transition year for us on such a high,’ said David.
The lads have thanked their families who they say have been ‘instrumental’ in supporting them from the outset.
‘We are also grateful to the staff in Darrara Agricultural College for inviting us to visit them and showcase our product. It was motivating to realise that they could see a role for our product when educating farmers around safety and organisation while doing various tasks on the farm.
‘We also need to thank our teachers Caitriona Leahy and Máire Fleming who were key players in motivating us and guiding us from the brainstorming stage to everyday business strategies. When we felt like giving up, our teachers and families have got us over the line many times. We have learned so much from this business venture,’ they said.
Winning The Southern Star monthly farming award has been a huge honour too.
‘We are so thankful to be considered for such an accolade by the local paper that is in all of our homes every Thursday. This is a hugely proud moment for us, our families and our school. We came up with a product that we knew would make our lives safer and easier on the farm and we are delighted to know that others are seeing the value in it too.
‘To be recognised among so many innovative and inspiring people in agriculture in West Cork is a huge honour for four teenagers from Kinsale. This entire journey has helped us all improve many skills from communicating, managing finances, meeting deadlines, working as a team and much more,’ said Sean. Their journey hasn’t stopped.
‘Since the competition we have continued producing and supplying the local farm stores on demand. Our involvement in sport and farm work does make it challenging to balance it all.
As we begin 5th year in Kinsale Community School we expect that it will continue to be busy, as we try to balance school, farming and the business, but we wouldn’t have it any other way,’ said Jack.
‘We have a few things in mind, school will definitely be more demanding this year so we may need to park some of the business expansion ideas for the moment.
Our interests in school continue to be focused on engineering and agricultural science, so we will continue to pursue our passion in farming and engineering, while continuing to supply our product to local shops and country farm supplies.
We would in the future like to expand more at a national retailing level as we believe that our product has many uses within the farming sector,’ concluded David.
Why we support West Cork farming
Owen O’Driscoll & Associates was formed in 1995 by Owen O’Driscoll, a significant Agri-Environmental Consultancy firm in the southwest region servicing clients in Cork and
Kerry.
Farming business is now strictly regulated. Non-adherence to statutory regulations can be a costly experience. We provide a professional service to optimise and protect your farm income. We aim to eliminate the stress of non-compliance. We support all of the various EU farm Schemes such as GLAS, Basic Farm Payment, TAMS, Nitrates, Cross Compliance, and the Organic Farm Scheme.
Our firm has more than 20 years of experience in farm planning and has built up a reputation for providing a professional service in an approachable manner.
We ensure our clients get the optimum farm income and that their farm payments are protected.
Our reputation and professional farm advice has led the business to significant organic growth. Our growth and success has brought substantial experience and depth of expertise in every sector of agribusiness. Our growing team share the original ethos of dedication to quality of service and practical support and advice for our clients. We provide a confidential independent professional service.
We are delighted to come onboard with the West Cork Farming Awards and sponsor the September winner.
