ONE of the region’s colleges has been praised for investing in a new beef unit.

Stan Ayrton, group beef procurement manager for leading meat processor Dunbia, said it was what was needed to attract young people to the industry.

He opened the 200ft by 100ft building at Bishop Burton College, near Beverley.

Mr Ayrton said: “It’s a credit to Bishop Burton that they have built such a unit. I am personally proud to open it, and personally proud to be associated with the college and its new beef enterprise.

“Dunbia are happy to support the college and I look forward to working on future projects together.”

The development means the college can now finish a large proportion of its dairy-bred Continental cross calves.

The unit contains nine pens which can be split into 18.

It uses a cow flow handling system which is designed for cow comfort and operator safety.

It means cows can be removed from pens with minimum disruption to other pens.

Helen Martin, agriculture lecturer, said: “Now we can work with every stage and the students can get involved with the full production cycle.”