Crowds flocked to the Glanbia Ireland Stand throughout the Ploughing

THE AVONMORE milk bar was in strong demand at the National Ploughing Championships as tens of thousands of people visited the Glanbia Ireland stand over the three-days.

The Glanbia Ireland stage discussions drew strong interest as our milk quality team talked about bulk tanks and chlorine-free detergent at our ‘Parlour Wall’, while our vet gave tips for herd health over the winter.

Across the three days nutrient management; soil testing; premium grains and our new solar initiative FarmGen drew plenty of questions from farmers.

Glanbia Ireland’s Chairman Martin Keane thanked all farmers who generously joined in our Pink Bale campaign and placed their silage in prominent locations to support and highlight Breast Cancer Ireland.

A cheque for €25,000 was presented to the charity, which came from funds raised through the Pink Bale campaign and the Glanbia 300 annual charity cycle.

Catherine Wallace, Nurse Co-ordinator on Breast Health Education and Awareness at Breast Cancer Ireland, said: “Over 3,200 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in Ireland last year and it is important to be aware with increasing occurrence among young women.”

Another issue that was firmly highlighted was farm safety with the charity Embrace FARM calling for more awareness and farm accident survivor Ann Doherty, from Kilmacow, Co Kilkenny, speaking about how a farm accident 10-years ago has proved life changing.

Fionnuala Malone, Glanbia Ireland’s Farm Quality and Compliance Manager, said the move to chlorine-free detergents has been really topical.

“We are responding to customer demands and needs,” said Fionnuala, highlighting the full team are there to discuss the best wash routines for the parlour.

“A lot of farmers are asking about upgrading bulk tanks. Farmers are finding they are running out of bulk tank size and capacity. We have a financed option to allow farmers to purchase them through Finance Ireland.”

Ireland’s number one milk brand, Avonmore, proved a firm hit with first year students from the Treasian School Donnybrook, Dublin meeting our vet Shane McElroy when they popped into the stand.

Finance Ireland were present to discuss the MilkFlex Loan Fund, which provides flexible, competitively priced loans to Glanbia milk suppliers with loan repayments which vary according to seasonality and movements in milk price.

Entries were also strong for the FarmGen Solar PV competition, which offers the opportunity to win a package worth up to €12,000.

Over the course of the three days, Board members and staff from Glanbia Ireland’s Agribusiness, Consumer, the Co-op Shares Office, Corporate and Glanbia Connect welcomed our farmer suppliers, customers and members of the public to the Glanbia stand.

First Published 19 September 2019