Mitchelstown milk supplier, Richard Fitzgerald of Gortnahoun was given one of Dairygold's highest accolades this week when he was announced the winner of the 2012 Dairygold Milk Quality Awards.

Himself and his wife Nora will now go on to represent Dairygold at the national finals, where they will be up against creameries from all over the country in a competition hosted by the National Dairy Board.

Speaking to The Avondhu, Richard said that they were delighted. "It's our first time winning this. We are delighted and it's a great honour to represent Dairygold. It shows that all of our hard work and dedication in 2012 paid off," he said.

The award presentation took place at the Springfort Hall Hotel in Mallow on Thursday night where Richard and wife Nora were awarded for consistently supplying the best quality milk to Dairygold throughout 2012.

Richard’s farm in Gortnahoun near Mitchelstown was described by the judges as an excellent example of what good management and high standards of production can achieve. John W Coughlan from Ballylanders and James Clahane from Kildorrery were regional finalists in the competition.

The awards were based on 2012 milk quality data for all 3,000 Dairygold milk suppliers, taking account of milk solids, farm facilities and animal husbandry. A shortlist of three suppliers was then drawn up from each of the six Dairygold regions.

Those farmers underwent adjudication by two independent judges, Prof Charlie Daly, former professor of food micro at University College Cork (UCC) and Mr Matt Ryan, former Teagasc dairy specialist. The judges visited the farms for more than two hours, going through every process in detail with the farmers.

The Fitzgerald's will be visited by three judges in July ahead of the next competition in September.

Speaking at the awards, Dairygold's chief executive said: “As a business that supplies the food industry, we must ensure that our products meet customers’ high standards. Demonstrating the integrity of our products requires us to be able to trace the quality right back to the first point of production – the milk that leaves the farm gate. Richard can be justifiably proud that of nearly 4,000 milk suppliers across our catchment area, his milk was of the highest quality."

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