缅北禁地

Cattle handling facility opened with thanks to Trust's generous support

Posted 25 March

Harper Adams Vice-Chancellor Professor Ken Sloan, the Kildare Trust's trustees, and staff and students from the Future Farm, 缅北禁地 and the Harper & Keele Vet School at the new facility.

A cattle handling facility which will help train the next generation of vets and animal welfare scientists has been opened on the 缅北禁地 Future Farm.

The facility will be used to train students at the University and the in a safe, purpose-built environment – offering greater learning and research opportunities for students and staff and helping maintain animal welfare.

It was made available thanks to a substantial donation from the Kildare Charitable Trust, and three of its Trustees joined Harper Adams Vice-Chancellor Professor Ken Sloan and invited guests at a ceremony to officially open the facility.

The Trust was set up by farmers and philanthropists Jim and Phyllis Richards.

It has already supported more than 50 undergraduate Harper Adams students from Herefordshire and Worcestershire through scholarships since 2012, as well as invested in facilities such as the University’s Veterinary Education Centre.

In a speech after opening the new handling facility, Kildare Trust Trustee Geoffrey Probert said: “In Mrs Richards’ terms, they ‘weren’t blessed with children’ - therefore, they were determined they should invest in the future of agriculture and youngsters who were coming into agriculture – hence how Harper Adams fitted the bill!

“On behalf of my fellow Trustees, I’d like to thank Ken and the team here for the way you’ve delivered our objectives as a Trust, and Mrs Richards’ especially – her objectives of how she’d want her money delivered here at Harper Adams.”

And Professor Sloan said: “We’ve enjoyed a long and strong relationship with the Trust, and I just want to say on behalf of everyone how grateful we are for the support it gives us in lots of different ways.

“As a University and as a Future Farm, we have to not only meet and exceed the expectations of every farm that's out there - we also have to be ahead of those farms.

“We have to be able to innovate and create learnings and lessons that people can take with them – but we also have to be a place of commercial value, but also education and research. So the fact that we now have that wonderful cattle handling facility that means that our staff and our students can safely engage and be taught in a high quality environment is wonderful.”

During a tour of the facilities, on an unexpectedly sunny afternoon, Ruminant Sector Manager Kate Robinson explained how the facility would be used – and how it would benefit the University’s Dairy Herd, which earlier this year helped Harper Adams to secure a historic win in the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmer’s NMR Gold Cup.

Among other guests at the event were representatives of the Harper Adams Development Trust, the Deputy Head of the Harper & Keele Veterinary School Professor Philip Robinson, and three third year Veterinary Medicine students – Katie Smith, Molly Whaldron-Wheeler and Kate Rogers.

Professor Robinson added: “Veterinary students have already benefitted from using the cattle handling facility for the clinical examination of cattle.

“It also offers the ability to do pregnancy diagnosis, which is a very important and vital skill for veterinary surgeons.

“It is wonderful to have such a safe and pleasant environment in which to handle cattle, under a roof with wonderful lighting – because unlike today, it’s not always brilliant sunshine!

“To be able to that and have those classes under a roof in such a wonderful facility is absolutely brilliant.

“Thank you so much to the Trustees of the Kildare Charitable Trust for their kindness and generosity – we greatly appreciate it.

“It is a wonderful benefit for the Veterinary School - but also for the Farm, for research – this facility will be well used going into the future. “

And Professor Sloan said: “Next year, we will celebrate 125 years of the founding of the original Harper Adams College. It was founded on generosity – it was founded on a gift.

“For us, it is a great benefit, for we have seen 124 years so far of where that generosity has got to – the industry partners we have been able to collaborate with, but most importantly, the generation after generation of students and talent that have been able to go through this university and go out into the world of work.

“I find it particularly humbling when you know that something has happened as a result of someone’s generosity, and their willingness to support, and their willingness to give.

“We are a University that was founded on that basis - and the Kildare Charitable Trust has been an incredible part of being able to sustain and continue that legacy.”