Student in the running for dairy scholarship

Posted 24 May 2013

A second year student at Harper Adams University is hoping that a research report that explores reducing medicine use in the dairy industry will win her a coveted scholarship.

BSc (Hons) Animal Science student, Lindsey Carnell, has entered the Cream Awards Scholarship competition, worth £4,000.

Each land-based institution can nominate one undergraduate student, with Lindsey being chosen to represent Harper Adams. The next stage involves presenting a paper to a panel of judges about a subject of her choice that tackles a major issue facing the dairy industry.

Lindsey, from Clevedon, North Somerset, has chosen to research ‘The impact of reducing antimicrobial use on the dairy industry.’ She is reviewing literature relating to how this affects dry cow therapy, mastitis treatment and rearing replacement heifers, in terms of profitability and animal welfare.

The 22-year-old, who regularly DJs for her local young farmers club, said: “I would like to specialise in a dairy-related industry when I graduate so thought that this scholarship competition was a great opportunity.

“We were able to select our own subject, so as the use of antimicrobials is a hot topic at the moment, I thought it would be good to investigate that opposed to other popular areas.

“It also fits in with what we have been learning in lectures and is very applicable to everyday life on farm.”

To write her paper, Lindsey is working alongside industry mentor, Elizabeth Berry from DairyCo. She is up against four other students from Newcastle University, Reading University, The University of the West of England – Hartpury College and the Royal Agricultural University.

The main scholarship is worth £4,000 towards final year fees, with runner up prizes of £2,000 and £1,000 also available. All finalists receive complimentary tickets for Livestock 2013, an invitation to attend the 2013 Cream Awards in September when the winner will be announced, and enrolment on Continuous Professional Development programme, Dairy Pro.

Lindsey, whose father runs a dairy herd, is now busy writing the report and revising for the end of year exams.

She added: “Managing my time at the moment is crucial as I need to write the best report I can, whilst revising.

“I’m really pleased to have made it this far as it’s great to be nominated and is something I can add to my CV. It also links in with my placement year at McDonald’s through their ‘Progressive Young Farmer’ scheme and my hopes for the future.”

The scholarship is run alongside the Cream Awards which are organised by Farm Business magazine, supported by Proud of Dairy, and sponsored by Genus ABS.