* Ag. Science *

Westsa

Bubbleope wrote: »

Just to the ag science students:
I got that Breaking Ground leaving cert book last week! I'm really impressed by it. I haven't read through it all (just read the soil and plant sections mainly).. but I'd say it has basically everything that's needed to know, plus it has all the experiments explained in simple details. It's all so easy to comprehend and understand so I'd definitely recommend it!
Oh also; I bought it from this here: https://www.schoolbookstore.ie/schoolbooks/breaking-ground?year=5-year
It's a really good website! I got the book one/two days after I ordered it. So yeah, I thought I'd mention it.
G'luck! (:

Thanks for that. Myself and Rainbowtrout are very happy with it. All feedback good or bad is welcome as we hope to continue to update it where ever possible.

rainbowtrout

Dearbhaile wrote: »

Hey everyone,Was just wondering,do we have to do a farm visit as part of the project?? I've beef enterprise done on my own farm but my teacher insists on us writing up on our farm visit to Ballyhaise aswell,is there any need? I haven't started it and I also lost all my pictures when I lost my iPod!:(

If you have done your project on your own farm then a farm visit is not absolutely necessary. The idea is that you get some experience of farming and you have that from your home.

rainbowtrout

daithioc wrote: »

Hey guys, doing ag science atm

Just seeing if anybody knows, when the question has something like 'outline the management of...', what are they actually looking for?

And then sometimes the question is like 'describe under the following headings : management, feeding, housing'

Its just the word 'management' really that throws me, cause its so broad like.

Cheers

Well if it specifically says feeding and housing that's pretty straightforward.

If it says all three you should probably mention things like vaccinations and dosing, for young animals (as the questions often are) you could mention things like dipping the navel in iodine (for calves) or tail docking and tooth clipping, iron injections in pigs.

rainbowtrout

conorr wrote: »

hi,
im in fifth year and am really enjoying ag science , i am hoping to get an A1 in the subject and i feel that i am very prepared . I have my 2 crop and animal projects , my farm layout , 3 months of a farm diary and most of the experiments from the farmers journal experiment book written done in class and written into an experiment copy. I am just wondering if i should have anything else done and should i include interesting articles from the farmers journal in my project as i have kept all of them for the last year.

(also fair play to rainbowtrout and westsa , the book is great and is laid out very well)

Thanks for the positive feedback, always appreciated.

Anything you can add into your project is always a bonus, I would always stress to my students that the project should show their practical experience, so photos are always a good idea.

I assume when you say fifth year that you mean Leaving Cert???

You seem to have everything covered there, so if you are in Leaving Cert maybe the next thing to concentrate on is the plant and animal identification. Make sure you know the common plants and their families, and the animals and be able to tell something about them.

rainbowtrout

fewtinsoffroth wrote: »

My oral is this Friday and i'll definitely be up for the invigilation.

I'm wondering how exactly the exam is marked? Are all the marks in the 20/30 mins allocated to the identification, and the rest of the questions on the experiments/project more of a check that the students are actually writing them?

No, if you are called for interview you will be asked questions on all sections and you will be given a mark for all sections, in the same manner that your teacher has given you a mark.

20 marks are given for plant and animal identification and that is all you can be given in the interview as well. The rest of the marks (80) are for the other sections of the project.

Westsa

Hi everyone just have a few questions about the actual ag science course and I couldn't find the answers in the thread. How many entries do you need for the diary? I have done my potato project and just wondering apart from the diary, potato project and experiment copy is there anything left to do? Any help would be great, thanks so much!!

There are no set number of entries for the diary but most students do a weekly entry of things that have happened on their farm. I take it that your farm diary is your animal production project? Or are you doing an animal production project seperately (beef, dairy, sheep or pigs). Yes you do need a second crop project. Grassland, barley (or any cereal crop) will do. Don't do a second root crop. Try and make it original rather than copying it directly from the textbook as you must have some practical experience in the crop i.e. go visit a farm that grows barley or wheat and take pictures, ask the farmers questions, maybe get a sample of seed and include that in your project. The examiner when they come will look to see if you have gained experience in it and remember the examiners no doubt will be familiar with the content in the textbooks.

randylonghorn

Thread tidied, a number of posts deleted where there was repetition or they were simply out of date at this stage.

Please SCAN THE THREAD before asking your question: you will find that all the more common ones have already been answered in detail!

Anyusername

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Right, I teach Ag Science and this is how it's broken down.

What I can't stress enough is that your teacher grades your project and signs off on the paperwork to say you completed the practical work under their supervision so if there is an Ag teacher in your school, talk to them, if not it might be worth talking to your biology teacher.

You can't just sign up for ag and send in the project.

You are only in fifth year, you have plenty of time to get the course covered.

Project is worth 25% (100 marks) and is broken down as follows:


Plant Identification - 10
Animal Identification - 10

Livestock - 15
Crops - 15
Farm Plan - 5

Experiments:
Soil - 10
Ecology - 10
Animal Physiology - 10
Plant Physiology - 5
Genetics - 5
Microbiology - 5

Total 100


Plant Identification:

Anyway you are expected to be able to identify a number(5) of common plants and the families (Latin names) they come from.


Animal Identification:

You are then expected to be able to identify common breeds of cattle pigs and sheep. You are also expected to be able to identify/know something about other animal families, liverfluke, earthworm, greenfly etc


Livestock: Depending on what you decide to do for a livestock project you should probably include the following headings
Breeds, Housing, Feeding, Disease Prevention, Rearing lambs, Mating. If you get the gree Ag Science book (Breen and Mullen) that most of the country have, the headings in that are good enough.



Crops:
You MUST have two crops. Grass is acceptable as a crop, then a root crop or cereal for the other, you could do root and cereal and not bother about grass but it's more hassle. So Grass and Potatoes or Barley for example



Farm Plan: This is a diagram (aerial view) of the layout of a farm. It does not have to be a work of art. A rectangle is fine to represent a shed/house etc once it's labelled. It must be minimum A4 size. I find A3 is easiest to work with and not as cramped. Drawing the layout of your own farm (if you have one) is easiest, you are supposed to be able to justify it if asked. i.e. slurry pit is not beside the dwelling house. silage pit near winter housing for easy access to feed for animals. Shelter belts, round bales in fields far from the farm etc.

Experiments:

Experiments are worth 45/100 marks on offer. You need to have a minimum of 1 experiment in each section I named above but the more the better, preferably ones you have done and it will stand to you for the written exam.

Eg:

Soil - pH, amount of air in soil, sedimentation, water in soil
Ecology - field study using quadrat
Animal physiology - heart dissection is the most common one
Plant physiology - transpiration, photosynthesis, phototropism, geotropism
Microbiology - silage making, resazurin test for milk quality
Genetics - no experiment really here, i usually do a survey of traits within the class and they do up the results in a table and decide what's most likely to be dominant or recessive eg left/right hand, eye colour, hair colour, colour blind, double joints etc... doing it outside school you could do survey on family and friends



You don't need biology to do well in ag science, but it can be an advantage

Hi there,
Great information.Just a couple of questions if you don't mind.
When you say plant identification (10) and animal identification (10) these do not have to be included in the project as you are just tested on them is it?
Identify dandelion, friesian cow etc.


What I need in project is Livestock, crops, farm plan and experiments?

For lifestock, im thinking cows, ( include pics of cows, feeding meal etc)
Crops, grass and potatoes as you suggested ( include pics of potatoes , grass, fertiliser etc)
Farm plan: plan to visit mountbellow or somewhere else.
Can I just make up a drawing or what do ppl do that don't live on a farm?


And then the experiments.
I read somewhere someone had 30 experiments?
Do I literally just copy experiments from book to project?
This would mean the majority of the project would be experiments ?


Appreciate your advice.

Reon

do we need to include all the kingdoms? e.g - kindom monera...our teacher said we should..

supers3

Hi could anyone help identify the following grass sample for me?

I think 1. Cocksfoot 2. Timothy grass 3. Meadow Foxtail 4. No idea

No 2 and 3 could be the same for all i know! Thanks in advance!

rainbowtrout

supers3 wrote: »

Hi could anyone help identify the following grass sample for me?

I think 1. Cocksfoot 2. Timothy grass 3. Meadow Foxtail 4. No idea

No 2 and 3 could be the same for all i know! Thanks in advance!

Cocksfoot and Timothy are correct.

So is Meadow Foxtail.

The head on Timothy is about twice the length of Meadow Foxtail.

The fourth one is Yorkshire Fog. Your photo is a bit dark and blurry, but it looks like the grass has purple tinges to it. Yorkshire Fog normally has a soft, feathery feel to it.

http://www.leicestershirevillages.com/images/847131dd0852ab453603314/original.jpg

supers3

Thanks a million for the quick response. The last one is completely bleached colour, no purple tinges. Its grain looks like small spikelets similar to oats which is throwing me.

The sample does have the soft feathery feel to it though

rainbowtrout

supers3 wrote: »

Thanks a million for the quick response. The last one is completely bleached colour, no purple tinges. Its grain looks like small spikelets similar to oats which is throwing me.

No, it's nothing like oats.


Oats:

supers3 wrote: »

The sample does have the soft feathery feel to it though

Well most grass would have died off and dried out at this stage which is why it looks bleached.

mixery

My project is finished and stored away. Im very happy with it, I think I'll get a good mark.

I need help with one question. I have a good understanding of genetics, but I don't really know how to tackle this - 2012 Q7 b (oats) .
link to the paper - http://www.examinations.ie/archive/exampapers/2012/LC024ALP000EV.pdf .

I thought the whole point of it was that when you cross tall pea plants with dwarf pea plants, you get either one or the other, depending on dominant gene. How come with the oats the height is about the average of the two?

Thanks in advance!

rainbowtrout

mixery wrote: »

My project is finished and stored away. Im very happy with it, I think I'll get a good mark.

I need help with one question. I have a good understanding of genetics, but I don't really know how to tackle this - 2012 Q7 b (oats) .
link to the paper - http://www.examinations.ie/archive/exampapers/2012/LC024ALP000EV.pdf .

I thought the whole point of it was that when you cross tall pea plants with dwarf pea plants, you get either one or the other, depending on dominant gene. How come with the oats the height is about the average of the two?

Thanks in advance!

That is a question about incomplete dominance. I'm sure you've studied examples where red flowers and white flowers are crossed and the F1 generation turn out pink because neither gene is dominant over the other.

This is the same, neither gene is dominant so you get incomplete dominance. 650 is halfway between 500 and 800.

ShaunaM123

i'm half way through 5th year and i need to do an extra subject if i want to get the points i need. I'm thinking of starting agricultural science outside school by myself with some grinds cause the class in school was full :-( You seem to give the best advise..and i know some might be a bit stupid but i'm just wondering..so i hope u will answer these :-)
1. i know you said a ''teacher grades your project and signs off on the paperwork to say you completed the practical work under their supervision''..can that be a grinds teacher?
2.can i go to the same farm as a friend is going or does it have different cause shes in the same school?
3.do i need the farmer to sign anything to prove i was there?
4.is it too late to start?

Thanks! :-)

rainbowtrout

ShaunaM123 wrote: »

1. i know you said a ''teacher grades your project and signs off on the paperwork to say you completed the practical work under their supervision''..can that be a grinds teacher?

The teacher must be teaching ag science in a school. If the teacher in your school is giving the classes after school you should have no problem or if the teacher is teaching in another school.

ShaunaM123 wrote: »

2.can i go to the same farm as a friend is going or does it have different cause shes in the same school?

Yes it can be the same farm.

ShaunaM123 wrote: »

3.do i need the farmer to sign anything to prove i was there?

No.

ShaunaM123 wrote: »

4.is it too late to start?

No. But start as soon as possible. Get the teacher thing sorted first.

weirdspider

borrch wrote: »

God 60 pages isn't anywhere near enough if you want full marks!

This is my layout... (my tutor is giving me full 25%):

19pgs = farm animals (half pg picture, bullet point format)
12pgs = other organisms (same as above)
15pgs = plants (half pg picture, then just name & family)

40pgs = experiments (hand written)
40pgs = experiment diagrams - (hand drawn) you need one for every experiment

1pg = farm map
1pg = farm layout

---experience in agriculture---
18pgs = cattle
18pgs = sheep
15pgs = grass
15pgs = barley
15pgs = potatoes
(all of these have plenty of photos, fairly large font size, alot of bullet points, and not every page is full, a new page for a new topic)

Hope this helps, let me know if you need help

Sorry, I meant 60 pages for this part. Also, I thought that we only had to do one animal, 1 root crop and 1 on grass? Did you visit a farm for all of those above? Did you include experiments as part of your main project? I have mine in a separate experiment copy. One last thing. For the identification part of your project are you including that with your main project?

borrch

I have everything in one folder, just divided into 3 sections. I think it's easier for the examiner when checking over projects.

Ya you only need one animal but you need to go a bit over and above for the examiner to want to give you full marks. My tutor gave me a few A1 projects to look at, they had a similar layout and extra bits etc

I took pictures of me holding chickens, standing beside cattefeeders, stone walls, hedges, creep feeders, beehives, sheep, cattle, jersey cow, even a polytunnel & veg patch. (my sister is really into sustainable living so was handy posing at her house). We also have our own farm with beef, sheep, horses etc so no shortage of farm visits. But the farm plan etc was done on my neighbours farm because he has better sheds, and more varied farming etc. and thus more to write about...

supers3

Can anyone help me with this one. Its tinged purple so I think its Meadow Foxtail but its hard to tell between that and Timothy.

Thank you

borrch

supers3 wrote: »

Can anyone help me with this one. Its tinged purple so I think its Meadow Foxtail but its hard to tell between that and Timothy.

Thank you

It looks like meadow foxtail, but it's hard to tell as the picture quality isn't great

rainbowtrout

lapetitefraise wrote: »

Hello there!
I am in a difficult situation at the moment. I am German and came to Ireland in August 2012 to do a High School Year Abroad. It was supposed to be just that one year abroad, but now that I've experienced how the Irish ed system works I don't want to go back to Germany at all anymore to be honest (because the German ed system is quite unfair and unrealistic in my opinion, but I will save that rant for another time in another thread). My parents, my Irish and my German schools are all ok with my decision, I have even found a hostfamily willing to host me for the next year. I am currently in 5th year and will be doing my Leavin Cert next year so.

At the beginning of 5th year I chose to do Ag Science as one of my 7 subjects. I am fairly on top of the course and even got an A2 in my Christmas report card. I do have a big problem doing the project though. I do not come from a farming background, I lived in the burgeois suburbs of a rather big German city for the entirety of my existence and have only set my foot on a farm about 2 times in my life. My current hostfamily and my hostfamily for the coming year both do not have farms nor any farming relations in the area. I talked to my Ag Science teacher about this and when I told her about my decision to stay around Christmas I raised the question of how and where I will do my farm diary, and she just said I can make up my 'own farm' in my head and take pictures of strangers' farms when going for walks in the area or the like.
Around Easter now she raised the issue again and gave me her mobile number so that I could call her to arrange a visit to her husband's farm. I do not have time over the next few weeks (Summer exams are coming up AHHHHRGHHH), so she said I coud drop by over the Summer for a couple of times. BUT I'll be in Germany for those three months enjoying what time I have left with my family as I am panning to go on to study in Ireland directly after doing the Leaving Cert next year. She suggested I come back a week before school starts again and visit her farm then, but is one visit really sufficient to do the farm diary, layout, take photos etc???
I can't adopt a German farm over the summer as there are no farms where I come from, haha. Sure I could do that part of the project in 6th year and visit one of my class mates' farms who are also doing Ag Science, but I am not friendly with any of them and my hostmum doesn't have a car so I wouldn't have a lift to go anywhere anyway. And to be honest with you, Irish Public Transport is not exactly the cream of the crop and going to farms dispersed throughout the country side by bus seems to be an impossible quest. I also cannot expect a farmer friendly enough to be willing to show me around his farm to pick me up from my house?! That would seem rather rude and lazy to me. So as you might be able to tell I am just freaking out at this point now. I don't have a farm, I cannot adopt one or if I would I could only have a few visits at my teacher's farm.
Would I be allowed to just make up a farm? I mean, even my teacher suggested it in the first place, although she seems to have changed her mind about it??
And if I just tell her I will adapt a German farm over the summer, but then really just make everything up? Would she be less likely to notice than if I tried to make up an Irish farm? Is doing a project on a (existing or non-existing) foreign farm even possible???
I know I need some experience with livestock etc, if I get chosen for the Oral the examiner will be quite likely to notice my lack of understanding of how a farm works I guess.

Any suggestions, tips, experiences you would like to share will be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

Don't make up a farm, you are supposed to get practical experience for your project. Take up your teacher's offer of a visit to her farm if you can some weekend before you go back to Germany for the summer. Spend as much time as you can there that day and ask lots of questions and take down as much information as possible and take photos of everything.

Get samples of things that you can include in your project (old dockets, cattle feed, old ear tags, hay or straw). You can always ask if you can visit again after the summer.

needhelp12345

Hello. I was just wondering could anyone please tell me is Oil seed Rape a ceral crop , a root crop or other ?
It just I want to know can I use it in my agscience project
Thanks

randylonghorn

It's a root crop, isn't it?

(subject to verification)

Daniel7740

doesnt it have a tap root?

also heard before that its related to the turnip

rainbowtrout

needhelp12345 wrote: »

Hello. I was just wondering could anyone please tell me is Oil seed Rape a ceral crop , a root crop or other ?
It just I want to know can I use it in my agscience project
Thanks

It's a brassica (Turnip family).

You can do it in your project,

For the 2014 exam and onwards, you have to do two crops as before from the following list

1. Grassland
2. Root Crops
3. Cereal Crops
4. Any other crop

So it's fine.

Maguire1000

Okay, I'm sure a lot of people have told you that ag science is a simple subject that will get you easy marks. This is a lie, there is no easy leaving cert subject. On the bright side, if you live on a farm (like me) you will pick it up very quickly and will probably pass on your general farm knowledge if you put in minimal work. However, if you choose it thinking all you have to do is put your name down for it, you are destined to fail.
It is possible to take it up while repeating and do well (like one of my friends) however you need to be willing to work incredibly hard and devote a lot of time and effort to it. If you do not you could wind up earning a low D grade (like another one of my friends, also repeating).
If you have done or are doing biology it would be a huge help, but unfortunately, when it comes to the project you NEED farm experience because the interviewing examiner will know whether or not you've actually ever had any experience on a farm immediately.
The bottom line is if you think you can do it and it's worth the risk then go for it, other wise you need to ask yourself, is it worth risking a fail AND taking precious time away from other subjects where you could improve your grade significantly? When it comes down to it the choice is yours. I wish you luck either way.

T0001

Having done Ag last year I can safely say anyone from a farming background can easily get a C1. Good study can bring it up to a B, but a knowledge of Biology is essential to get an A1. You need to study:
Beef, Dairy, Sheep, Pigs, Crops, Potatoes, Diseases in all Animals, Principals of Cattle Farming(AI,ET), Cell Division, Plant families, Animals Groups, Common garden pests, Forestry, and other smaller topics.
I suggest getting a book for the course.
For the project you are required to do a project on an animal (beef,dairy,sheep,pig,horses,poultry) [30 pages approx..] and then two crops (grass, potatoes, barley e.t.c.) [20 pages each approx.,] and a farm plan [5 pages approx, including diagrams and maps.] If you have a farm then you can use your own but if not then you will need to visit a farm. A weeks diary of work on a farm is also a good asset to any project.
Your only difficulty doing it outside of school is the project is graded by the teacher and given a mark out of 100. The examiner then comes and chooses one person from each grade (A, B, C, D) and interviews them, if the examiner feels the candidate deserves more than what he got they can add marks to the teachers result. Also the school must stamp your experiment book to prove you carried them out.

Digital Solitude

T0001 wrote: »

Having done Ag last year I can safely say anyone from a farming background can easily get a C1. Good study can bring it up to a B, but a knowledge of Biology is essential to get an A1. You need to study:
Beef, Dairy, Sheep, Pigs, Crops, Potatoes, Diseases in all Animals, Principals of Cattle Farming(AI,ET), Cell Division, Plant families, Animals Groups, Common garden pests, Forestry, and other smaller topics.
I suggest getting a book for the course.
For the project you are required to do a project on an animal (beef,dairy,sheep,pig,horses,poultry) [30 pages approx..] and then two crops (grass, potatoes, barley e.t.c.) [20 pages each approx.,] and a farm plan [5 pages approx, including diagrams and maps.] If you have a farm then you can use your own but if not then you will need to visit a farm. A weeks diary of work on a farm is also a good asset to any project.
Your only difficulty doing it outside of school is the project is graded by the teacher and given a mark out of 100. The examiner then comes and chooses one person from each grade (A, B, C, D) and interviews them, if the examiner feels the candidate deserves more than what he got they can add marks to the teachers result. Also the school must stamp your experiment book to prove you carried them out.

Very thorough answer! Thank you very much. I come from a farming background and I'm also sitting the biology exam, and I believe I'll get an introduction to soils and soil types in geography too, so do you know if there is much of an overlap between Biology, Geog for Ag? Thanks again

liverpool1997

as part of the project you must Identify 10 plants of agricultural significance (Generally Weeds),Identification of 10 animals of agricultural importance (Insects and Pests).i dont really know how to do this and was wondering if some1 could give me an example for 1 weed or animal in private message.