Cellcheck Milking for Quality Awards 2017

Glanbia Ireland was well represented at the CellCheck Milking for Quality Awards Night recently in Kilkenny with the majority of our award winners travelling to receive their plaques.

These awards celebrate excellence in udder health performance across the dairy industry and are given to the 500 milk suppliers nationally with the lowest weighted annual average somatic cell count. The 500 winners represent the 14 Coop regions across the country.

This is the fourth year of the awards and recognises excellence in the 2016 supply year. Henry Corbally Glanbia Chairman said he was ‘delighted to meet so many of our suppliers at this event tonight as it really reflects the ongoing day to day hard work and dedication to milk quality and animal health and welfare on farm’.

Sean Molloy (Director of Strategy and Supply Development at Glanbia Ireland) presented the award to the Glanbia Ireland supplier with the lowest SCC – Padraig and Geraldine O’Scanaill. Sean said ‘presenting this award to a Swords based liquid milk supplier shows just how diverse our farmer supplier base is and I was delighted to be involved with the event’.

Finola McCoy, CellCheck Programme Manager said “We continue to see annual progress, even among the suppliers with the best somatic cell counts in the country, with all winners for the 2016 supply year having an SCC of 78,000 cells/mL or less, compared to 93,000 cells/mL in 2015 and 103,000 cells/mL in 2013, the inaugural year of the Awards. It is important to note that while this award scheme recognises the 500 suppliers with the best average SCC, there are many more suppliers with only small margins separating them from the award winners.”

The CellCheck Milking For Quality Awards ceremony is also an occasion to recognise the substantial improvement in milk quality that has been achieved in the national herd in recent years. The evidence-based messages of the CellCheck programme highlight the benefits for dairy farmers, both economically and from an animal welfare point of view, of paying greater attention to the somatic cell count level in their herd.

The CellCheck Milking For Quality Awards ceremony was sponsored by FBD Insurance and supported by Ornua, Irish Farmers’ Journal, DAFM, Teagasc and the milk processors involved.

Congratulations to all Glanbia award winners.