Minister for Agriculture, Food & the Marine Michael Creed presented Tipperary farmer John Walsh from Ballylooby with the Overall Dairygold Milk Quality Award for supplying the best quality milk to Dairygold throughout 2016, at a special ceremony in the Clayton Silver Springs Hotel, Cork on Friday night last, 26th May.
John farms with his wife Maria and children, Brendan, Claire and Helena at Ballylomasna, Ballylooby, Cahir, Co Tipperary. They have 110 cows on a milk platform of 53 hectares. They also run a beef enterprise and plan to expand to 150 cows in 2018.
The awards were based on 2016 milk quality data for all 3,000 Dairygold milk suppliers from across Cork, Limerick, Tipperary and Clare. The judges declared that while all eighteen finalists demonstrated exceptional quality, the Walsh farm was an excellent example of what good management and high standards of production can achieve.
Congratulating them, Dairygold chairman James Lynch said, “John is an excellent farmer with well-kept facilities and a keen awareness of the importance of hygiene, safety and sustainability. He is a very deserving winner and we wish John, his wife Maria and their children every success for the future.”
About Dairygold’s Milk Quality Awards
A shortlist was drawn up of three suppliers from each of the six Dairygold regions. The Mitchelstown Region winner award was made to Patrick Clancy and family from Dangan, Ballyporeen. The judges choose six regional winners and the overall winner was announced on the night.
These eighteen finalists underwent adjudication by two independent judges Dr. Karina Pierce, University College Dublin and Dan Crowley, Teagasc dairy specialist. The judges visited all eighteen shortlisted farms to review their farm enterprises first hand. The review takes account of Milk Quality, Dairy Facilities, Herd Health and Welfare, Sustainability and General Efficiencies and Farm Health and Safety.
