It has been an exciting few months for CBS Thurles students Daniel Ruddy and Jack O’Mara. After securing top position at county level for their invention – the handy hose holder – they were judged against the rest of the country in the Student Enterprise Programme national final which is run by Local Enterprise Offices.

The pair, who have developed a mini-business called J & D Engineering, claimed the top accolade when results were announced on Wednesday 27 May.

Daniel Ruddy and Jack O'Mara set up their own mini business called J & D Engineering.

The handy hose holder is aimed specifically at dairy farmers who use milking parlour hoses. The holder fits to the hose to enable it to attach easily to any metal surface within the milking parlour. This enables the farmer to keep the hose off the ground and close to hand.

The product is aimed at helping farmers to avoid straining their backs constantly while picking a hose up off the ground. It also helps to keep the hose clean and remove any trip hazards. The handy hose holder comes in four different sizes – 0.5in, 0.75in, 1in and 1.5in.

The handy hose holder comes in four different sizes: 1/2inch, 3/4inch, 1inch and 1 ¼ inches.

Daniel and Jack are just 16 years old and are transition-year students in CBS Thurles. Both boys come from farming backgrounds.

Daniel’s father works as a farm manager on a dairy farm in Kilkenny. It was here while working with his father during the summer that Daniel noticed that his father was straining his back during milking by constantly bending down to pick up the hose. This led him to try to design an easy-access holder for the hose.

“We went about brainstorming ideas after that, and we identified the steel railing on the milking parlour and thought we could stick a magnet there,” Daniel said.

We identified the steel railing on the milking parlour and thought we could stick a magnet there

The invention was initially trialled on the farm. The student enterprise competition is run in the boys’ school, CBS Thurles, every year and as transition-year students Daniel and Jack had the opportunity to get involved.

“We talked about it and thought about ideas that we could enter, and the handy hose invention seemed to be the perfect fit,” Daniel and Jack said.

The lads trialled the handy hose on more farms including the Teagasc Moorepark research farm along with farmer of the year winner David Russell in Thurles. This gave them the insight as to whether the product would be a benefit to other farmers and if it could be improved.

Business founders

Daniel and Jack went about setting up their own mini-business called J&D Engineering. The pair started to market and sell their product online and through social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter, and have sold over 230 handy hose holders to date. J&D Engineering makes the handy hose holders also.

Handy hose holder in action.

Given the success of the new enterprise, the boys were put forward by their school in the Student Enterprise Programme competition, where they went on to win the county competition and, in turn, were entered into the national competition to see how their invention compared against the rest of the country.

With Daniel and Jack announced as the overall winners of the competition, the judges praised the young men’s ability to identify a problem and develop a comprehensive innovative solution. The testing of the prototype and evaluation of the advice they received was also noted and impressed the judges.

Daniel and Jack received €1,000 in prize money for their win and also got a €1,000 prize fund for CBS Thurles.

Where to buy

The handy hose holder can be bought online through Twitter or Instagram by searching handyhoseholder. The handy hose holder costs €15. Buying it and getting it delivered straight to your door will cost €22.

The handy hose holder was available at some local agri-stores prior to lockdown. Daniel and Jack have talked to co-operative stores and hope to get their product into more stores around the country as soon as possible.