Milk award for Rathcoole farmer
MARK PRAISED FOR ‘GOOD MANAGEMENT AND HIGH STANDARDS’ AT DAIRYGOLD MILK QUALITY AWARDS IN MALLOW
MARK Leader of Oakwood Farm, Glenleigh, Rathcoole in Mallow is the regional winner of the 2014 Dairygold Milk Quality Awards.
The award presentation took place at the Springfort Hall Hotel in Mallow last Thursday night, where Mark was awarded for consistently supplying the best quality milk from the Mallow region to Dairygold throughout 2014, as well as coming second overall for the best quality milk across all six Dairygold regions.
Mark’s farm was described by the judges as “an excellent example of what good management and high standards of production can achieve”.
Meanwhile, Daniel Dennehy of Clonmoyle, Aghabullogue was declared Overall Winner of the 2014 Dairygold Milk Quality Awards.
Speaking at the awards Dairygold Chairman James Lynch said that quality is critical for Dairygold.
“This is especially the case with our infant formulae business where Dairygold has a good reputation for high quality milk.
“The encouraging thing for Dairygold is that the quality of our suppliers’ milk keeps improving.
“In 2014 we not only had record milk volumes but also record highs in our milk quality standards. Mark Leader, the Dennehy family and all the finalists can be justifiably proud that of over 3,000 milk suppliers across our catchment area their milk was of the highest quality,” the Dairygold chairman added.
The awards were based on 2014 milk quality data for over 3,000 Dairygold milk suppliers. A shortlist of three suppliers was drawn up from each of the six Dairygold regions.
Those farmers then underwent adjudication by two independent judges - Professor Charlie Daly, former professor of food micro at UCC and Matt Ryan, former Teagasc dairy specialist.
The judges visited the farms of all 18 shortlisted contestants to review their farm enterprises first hand and choose six regional winners and the overall winner.