Five Cork farms amongst 13 finalists in this year’s Quality Milk Awards
Thirteen farming families, including five from Cork, have reached the finals of the 2019 NDC and Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards.
The awards, dubbed the “Oscars of the Dairy World”, is an annual national award programme which recognises the highest standards of excellence in dairy farming. This year, the awards have expanded to include criteria demonstrating sustainable dairy farming – with a particular focus on how Irish dairy farmers care for the environment and their animals.
This year’s finalists includes an impressive contingent of Cork farmers:
The Shorten Family Farm: Adam and Mary Shorten are fifth generation farmers in Enniskeane. Their south-facing farm, with beautiful views of West Cork, is home to almost 100 cows and counting.
The Walsh Family Farm: Dermot Walsh and his family have been farming in Bandon for seven generations. Their farm, which is set up in a paddock system with a central farm roadway throughout, uses rainwater in its modern looped water supply system.
The Nyhan Family Farm: Michael and Thomas Nyhan’s farm in Ballineen has been in continuous operation since the nineteenth century. The Nyhans’ commitment to excellence in quality and animal welfare has been recognised time and again throughout the years. The farm was awarded the Upjohn award in 1989 and has twice received the Cell Check award.
The O’Driscoll Family Farm: Brendan O’Driscoll is a fourth-generation farmer in Leap. Brendan began farming full-time in 2000 with a mixed enterprise farm before switching to dairy exclusively. Since then he has made several major improvements including investment in soil fertility, use of grass budgeting technology and herd enlargement.
The Donovan Family Farm: Edward Donovan and his father have a herd of over 200 cows and a 24-unit milking parlour on their 78 hectare farm in Cloyne. Edward, who says he always wanted to be a full-time dairy farmer, has been farming since 2014.
Zoe Kavanagh, CEO of the National Dairy Council said “The landscape that we’re living in is changing. Now more than ever consumers are demanding natural sustainably produced food – transparency, authenticity, taking responsibility for your health and keeping it real are now more important than ever.
“Irish dairy has one of the lowest carbon footprints internationally, primarily due to the unique grass fed, family based Irish farming system which is extremely efficient and involves less intensive farming. It is in all our interests to continue to nurture that approach and support new innovations in soil fertility, water quality and nutrient management”
Finalists were visited by judges, Dr Jack Kennedy, Dairy Editor of the Irish Farmers Journal, Professor Pat Wall from UCD and, Dr David Gleeson from Teagasc, over the last three months and the winner will be announced at the awards ceremony in Dublin on Wednesday 2nd October.
This year’s awards have introduced additional criteria to identify farmers operating a sustainable dairy operation with clear evidence of good technical practices in the areas beyond quality milk. Judges are specifically looking for farmers demonstrating care for their environment and their animals.