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As we go to press, the results of this NDC and Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards competition have not yet been released. The 11 finalists from participating processors nationwide are known and all judging on farm has been completed.
On a TV advert during the Late Late Show this Friday 30 October, the destination of the overall award category will be announced. The overall winner is a worthy winner with a proven track record and the results to match. In many ways all the finalists are winners, but their can only be one winner of the national competition and that business will be the ambassador for the industry for the next year the same as all previous winners.
The judging process takes in six key areas outlined as follows:
1 Pillar one is the quality milk results, which includes the fat and protein produced alongside the total bacterial content and the somatic cell count information. The quality milk results used were the full lactation results for 2019.
2 Pillar two is a measure of the sustainable practices and nutrient management details for 2019 as collected for all farms. The intention with this information is to give the judges an overview of how the farm business is managing the resources available to the farm and importantly the nutrients developed from the process and the nutrients brought on to the farm.
3 Pillar three is the herd health and animal welfare practices happening on the farm. Not alone the milk quality issues, but the overall herd health issues around the various animal health challenges that the business encounters.
4 Pillar four of the judging process is the area of farm business and labour usage. Some are family farms, more have employed help. Both can work every bit as well, but both take organisation and management.
5 Pillar five is around infrastructure and what investment the farm has made or is going to make. Farms are at different stages of development. We can’t expect farms that are only starting off to be in the same place in terms of infrastructure as farms that have been in business for the last 30 years. However, the basics of essential infrastructure are important.
6 Pillar six is the involvement of the farmer and farm business in the farming community and other involvement in the sector whether that is the co-op, the local school, or community groups etc.
A combination of scores for all these pillars brings the total score together for the farm business so they can be compared across these critical farm areas.
All are working to leave the environment and farm assets in a better place
The standard of competition this year is exceptional once again and showcases what the dairy industry is doing to evolve as the various market challenges appear.
We hear lots of negative talk about industrial livestock farms and a growing Irish dairy industry. Farmers in this competition range in herd size from 300 to 50 cows on real commercial farms.
All are working to leave the environment and farm assets in a better place, but, yet invest and make sensible economic decisions for the farm business. Sensible sustainability brings financial, environment and best practice under the one umbrella.
SHARING OPTIONS: