One day a week at college while working on farm

MY name is Ewan Ruddell, and I am in the first year of my Level 3 Work Based Diploma in Agriculture course at CAFRE.

I attend class one day a week at Loughry campus, Cookstown. The remainder of my week I work on my family farm, between Moneymore and Cookstown, County Tyrone.

We keep ewes and also buy store lambs in to finish, so I am always kept busy!

Prior to this course, I completed the Level 2 Work Based Agriculture course, also at Loughry campus, which allowed me to progress on to the Level 3 course.

I have always enjoyed working on the farm at home, and knew that farming was the career for me – but I felt that I needed to continue my education in agriculture. I looked at the options available to me, and decided that I did not want to go into full-time education.

I enjoy being outside and spending my time doing practical work. The Work Based courses suited me perfectly as I get to study agriculture – but also farm at home.

Each Wednesday at CAFRE we study theory in class, and work on our assessment portfolio. I can see how the Level 3 course is building on the material which we were taught at Level 2. We cover subjects such as animal health and welfare, health and safety, livestock housing and nutrition.

I enjoy how this course allows me to discover new technologies and gain in-valuable knowledge which I can put into practice at home.

This course is not only run at Loughry campus, but there are also Level 3 students based in Greenmount campus, Enniskillen campus and Ban-bridge.

I am really enjoying my course and am planning to graduate this summer alongside many of my classmates who I met on the Level 2 course.