Graduate story – Sarah Odendaal

I have always been a passionate cook and started becoming more interested in where my food comes from in my teens. My interest in studying agriculture piqued during the gap year I took after finishing secondary school.

Other than my grandfather and great-grandmother being active in farming circles in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), I am not from a farming family, nor have I grown up in agricultural areas. Studying in my home country of South Africa was not an option for me due to security concerns, leading me to look abroad. I soon stumbled across Aberystwyth University and was instantly enchanted by the town and the university’s history.

 

I applied to the BSc Agriculture with Animal Science and received an unconditional offer which I immediately accepted. I then made my first ever trip to the UK with my parents and moved into halls. My first two years of study allowed me to gain a good breadth of basic knowledge of UK agricultural systems.

 

Despite gaining work experience milking and working with the oat-breeding team at IBERS the summer after first year, it was only on my year in industry that I truly began to grasp many of the concepts I had learned about in lectures. I spent 12 months as a herdsperson at Bryn Celli Ddu Grass Converters, milking cows and rearing calves in the spring. I also learned how to drive a tractor (even though I’d never driven a car before this!) as I had to scrape the yard most mornings after milking. Being put on calf duty was a little daunting initially but it is now one of my proudest achievements. I never thought I would be able to say that I moved hundreds of miles from home, by myself and lived and worked at such a job for a year and made it out the other side intact, but here I am!

I learned so much about dairy cow management during my placement and came away from the job with a much better understanding of the issues facing farmers today and how to tackle them effectively.

 

My years in Wales have been some of the best of my life, the people, the teaching team, the scenery, have all helped me grow and discover myself and equipped me with tools to move forward in a career in agriculture, where I hope to make a difference to the industry. I am looking forward to finally getting my driver’s license and applying for jobs in farm advisory/consultancy over the summer.

 

You can find out more about our Agriculture courses HERE