Farmers in Mitchelstown vie for best milk awards accolade
SEAN AND TREASA MOHER WILL GO FORWARD TO THE FINAL OF THE BEST MILK AWARDS
A MITCHELSTOWN farmer along with two other dairy heard holders from the Rebel county will go forward to the finalists of a high calibre quality milk awards.
In all 10 of the country’s dairy farms have been selected as national finalists in the NDC & Kerrygold Quality milk awards.
Sean and Treasa Moher from Croughmore Lower, Mitchelstown were nominated by Dairygold Co- Op. They will be joined by Tim and Breda Hurley of Rosscarbery and Thomas and Laura Griffin from Bandon have been chosen out of 14,000 dairy farmers as the three finalists in this years quality milk awards.
Dairy co-operatives throughout the country are invited to nominate their top suppliers for the awards each year. The farms nominated for the annual awards undergo a detailed assessment by an expert judging panel based on milk quality test results and technical reports spanning a full 12 month period in order to select a short-list of finalists. The judges are UCD’s Professor Pat Wall Dr David Gleeson of Teagasc and Dr Jack Kennedy of the Irish Farmer’s Journal will visit each fo the finalists farms for an inspection.
“All of the national finalists in this competition are role models, demonstrating excellence not only in producing high standards of milk quality; but also in terms of best practice for standards of animal welfare, care of the environment and sustainability,” said Zoë Kavanagh, Chief Executive of the National Dairy Council.
“We are seeing that these high standards go hand in hand with productivity as they also support improved efficiencies and economically sustainable practices on Irish farms.” All of the 2016 nominees and national finalists are registered with Bord Bia’s Sustainable Assurance Scheme with pro-active farm practices related to biodiversity or conservation of wildlife, to demonstrable work on soil nutrient planning or water, extending to initiatives such as rainwater harvesting.
Congratulating the national finalists, Kevin Lane, Ornua CEO said that Irish dairy farmers should be very proud of the high standard of milk they produce, which has earned Irish dairy an excellent reputation globally. “Ireland’s natural grass based production system is a vital ingredient to the success of the Kerrygold brand worldwide,” said Mr Lane. “Irish farmers’ unrivalled commitment to delivering world class quality milk, day in day out, has enabled us to build successful markets for dairy products around the world,” he said.
A celebratory campaign, under the heading #MadeForThis, will go behind the scenes of each farm to learn what makes them best of the best and why Irish dairy is the best in the world.
The overall results will be announced on October 4.