Glanbia Ireland family farm lands top prize for best quality milk

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The NDC & Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards crowned the Hearne family from Rathgormack, Co. Waterford as the top-quality milk producer in the country.

The awards, dubbed ‘the Oscars of the Dairy World’ celebrates excellence in Irish dairy farming and this year expanded its criteria in the area of sustainable dairy farming to champion farmers committed to caring for their environment.

The winner was announced at a special awards ceremony in Dublin following presentations to 13 farming families, representing the very best of Irish dairy, and which was attended by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed.

Winner, Kieran and Ann Hearne, supplying Glanbia Ireland, received €5,000 prize money and took home the coveted NDC & Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards perpetual cup.

Michael Creed, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine commented, “The NDC & Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards celebrate what is truly special about Ireland – our unique way of farming coupled with the passion our farmers have in producing the best quality milk in the world. The environment which we operate in is ever-changing and while we face significant challenges, it is important to celebrate our dairy farmers who continue to strive for excellence. It’s their hard work and dedication that forms the foundation of success for our industry.”

Kieran Hearne is a second-generation farmer and has been farming since 1990. The family have expanded their farm in a sustainable manner to make it more profitable and continue to produce top quality milk.

Martin Keane, Glanbia Group Chairman, congratulated the entire family on their win. “All of the entrants in this year’s awards epitomised the very best of Irish farming. They have all excelled and strive every day to deliver the best quality milk from their top class farms.”

“We’re delighted to see the Hearne family crowned the winners in this year’s awards. It is very much a family-run enterprise and we wish them every success for the future.”

John Jordan, CEO Ornua, congratulated the Hearne family on their win commenting “Kieran is a true ambassador for Irish dairy – not only is he dedicated to producing top quality milk, but he also demonstrated his commitment to sustainable dairy farming. The pride, passion and dedication of our farmers is the vital ingredient to the success of the Kerrygold brand world-wide. Nature affords us with the natural advantage of our grass-based system but it’s farmers like Kieran that turn this advantage into one of Ireland’s most sought-after resources – the very best quality milk in the world.”

For each of the finalist farms, the judges detail the combined fat and protein percentage for each month of the year, the total volume sold from the farm, the weighted average somatic cell count (SCC) and the total bacteria count (TBC). These results, coupled with additional factors including evidence of sustainable dairy farming, help formulate the winning farms.

Zoë Kavanagh, CEO National Dairy Council commented “Sustainability was firmly on the agenda for us at this year’s awards. Consumers are demanding natural sustainably produced food and our dairy farmers are well placed to deliver this. 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. I am proud to represent these excellent food producers today who once again have excelled in producing high quality Irish dairy 365 days a year!”

The Hearne family

Key figures

Herd EBI - €184

TBC ‘000 - 9

SCC cells/ml ‘000 – 72

Milk solids kg/cow – 503

Milk solids kg/ha – 1,141

Protein % - 3.73

Fat % - 4.55

“The quality of our milk is very important to us and we take huge pride and satisfaction in having this as good as possible, as we do in having our farm looking well and running smoothly,” said Kieran and Ann Hearne, who farm at the foot of the Comeragh mountains outside Carrick-on-Suir with their four children Laurence (17), Fiona (15), Conor (12) and Stephen (10).

“Our herd is a high EBI Holstein Friesian herd (ranked as one of the top herds in the country) that calves compactly in the spring to produce top quality, high milk solids from grass. I am very passionate about producing milk from grass and aim to have grass in the cows diet while they are in milk,” said Kieran.

A number of bulls have been sold into AI from our herd under the Curra prefix and one of them Curra Fionn (named after their daughter Fiona) is currently the number one bull on EBI in Ireland.

Attention to detail is key on the farm, with the investment priorities in the cows, buildings and grazing infrastructure.

In 1992 when Kieran took over the farm, they operated a mixed dairy and cattle enterprise with 28 cows on 28ha producing 135,000lts of milk. Today they have 190cows on 82ha selling 1.1million litres to Glanbia Ireland.

In 2017, they invested in a slurry storage unit and 100 cubicles were built. They farm 82ha in total. The Hearne family has also installed automatic calf feeders to aid with the workload during the springtime.

National Award Winners – 2019 NDC & Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards

Development Award

Brendan O'Driscoll, Leap, Co. Cork

Nominated by Drinagh Co-op

http://www.qualitymilkawards.ie/odriscoll-farm-cork

Best Milk Solids Per Cow

Charles McCandless, Culdaff, Co. Donegal

Nominated by Aurivo Co-op

http://www.qualitymilkawards.ie/new-project-3

Best Milk Solids - Manufacturing Milk

The Ryan Family, Cappawhite, Co. Tipperary

Nominated by Arrabawn Co-op