Three transition year students at Ballymahon Vocational School are tackling a common hazard in farmyards, as they represent Co. Longford in the senior category of the National Enterprise Awards.
Keira Hopkins, Grace Cassells and Lára Flood entered their ‘cow collars’ project into the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in January.
The three girls won the ABP farm sustainability award for their undertaking which asked: ‘Are cow collars worth the hype?’
Staying with an agri-theme, they have now devised ‘Handle Holders.’
Kiera said: “Handle Holders are holders for grapes, scrapers, hayforks, brushes, rakes, shovels and spades for farms and gardens.
“We all come from farming backgrounds and see grapes and scrapers left lying around on the ground, leaning against walls or bales.
“This is a huge safety hazard and could cause serious injuries if people stood on them, and could also cause damage to machinery if driven over.”
Kiera explained the journey of designing the product: “We wanted to create a small durable and compact product that would resolve this problem, and be suitable for all farms.
“At the beginning of the design journey, we mainly focused on resolving this issue on farms, but we quickly realised that our product would be of benefit to gardens, as they face this problem as well.
“This product is handmade by us from aluminium. It is very sustainable and comes in packaging with four wall plugs and six screws.
Grass said that the product is “of interest to all farmers and gardeners, and will exceedingly help them in their daily lives by preventing the risk of an accident occurring and providing a safer working environment for all”.
“Our product ‘Handle Holders’ is a huge addition to the market of farm and garden safety equipment. It is a reasonablyaffordable price of €8.00, with wall plugs and screws included.
“The packaging is recyclable with our company logo on it. ‘Handle Holders’ are easily used by all ages and they are straightforward to put up in sheds,” Lára said.
Lára expressed thanks to their teachers including: Ms. Hall, Mr. Nolan, Mr. Jones and Mr. Brady.
“We also want to thank our classmates and all in BVS for their endless support. For anyone who has purchased our product, we want to say thanks as well. We hope to do you all proud at the national finals,” she added.
Further information is available on the students’ Instagram page @bvs.handleholders.