How West Cork farmer claimed overall Quality Milk Award

Kieran and Catherine O’Sullivan from Goleen in west Cork were crowned Overall Quality Milk Award winners for 2015 at an awards ceremony in Dublin this week. The O’Sullivans came out on top based on their milk quality results for 2014 and their overall routine and farming system to maximise milk quality.

The terrain in Goleen is rocky and unforgiving and a digger or bulldozer is a farmer’s best friend. You can easily distinguish the outline of Kieran’s farm, with the green fields interspersed with heather and rock outcrops. Cows have a lot of walking to do no matter what way they turn out of the parlour on this farm. As a consolation, the cows do a have a great view over Dunmanus Bay, but this is little solace when the westerly wind and rain are sweeping up the coast.

Kieran inherited the farm from his parents, Donal and Mary, after he completed his agricultural training in Darra Agricultural College in 1983/84. Donal is very proud of Kieran’s achievement this week. Donal recounted stories of delivering milk to local dairies by horse and cart when they were milking 16 cows in the early 1960s. Even back then milk quality was top priority. “It’s as easy to get it right as wrong. Our milk had to go through a three- or five-hour Met Blue test so it had to be top quality even back then,” he said.

When Kieran started milking cows there was a milk quota of about 46,000 gallons (200,000 litres) and now the farm is delivering over 500,000 to Drinagh Co-op (one of the four west Cork co-ops that make up Carbery). Kieran is now helped mainly by his 18-year-old son Cathal, who like Kieran is very interested in milking and better grassland, which means maintaining and reclaiming more land if at all possible.

Rocky land

Given the nature of the land when Kieran inherited the farm, there were more cattle and sheep than milking cows as the farm was being slowly developed and converted to grassland. However, by reclaiming more land and bringing more rocky land into good grass, cow numbers have increased. Now there are 67ha (165 acres) where the cows can graze.

In the last number of years the number of cows milking has increased from under 100 to 136. Kieran has a strong type of British Friesian herd and believes this sort of a dual-purpose cow, so to speak, is necessary given the demands on walking and rainfall on this coastal farm. A lot of sire ancestry used in the herd comes from Scotland. To reduce lameness, Kieran likes to keep the herd young but he has some cows that have completed over 10 lactations.

All AI is used starting at the end of April and continuing for five or six weeks. Milk recording is a key tool used to monitor somatic cell count and Kieran started recording back in 1985. He maintains he gets a quick repayment for the recording cost of €16 per cow for 10 recordings. Kieran said: “Starting in early lactation is key and we will always start the first recording as early as possible in the year rather than wait until most of the cows are calved.”

The O’Sullivans create their own homemade chart of the milk recording results so they can quickly identify problem cows or cows that need to be checked carefully. The chart has the cow number and her most recent cell count result, with colour coding depending on the result.

No rush

In 2010, as cow numbers increased, Kieran went from an eight-unit De Laval to an 18-unit Dairymaster parlour. He believes milking should not be rushed: “It’s not a race. Do it right and the small things matter. If you are rushing you can sometimes skip over the small things which can add up quickly to a bigger problem.”

The wash routine is perfect on this farm. The plant is rinsed after milking and left rinsing until all the milk is gone from the rinse water and it is almost running clear. A hot wash is used every morning and Kieran uses 1.5 litres of Hydrosan liquid detergent in almost 300 litres of hot water.

This is rinsed in the plant for 10 minutes and then retained for the next milking. In the morning after milking this is re-used and then dumped. Three times a month the plant is descaled. Kieran said: “I believe in the regular hot wash to get the fatty deposits away. My motto is if the consumer walks in they must be happy and all equipment used must look the part. It’s the least we owe our consumers and our processors.”

Despite the demands of a spring-calving family farm, Kieran finds time to be chairman of the Goleen underage GAA club.

The West Cork quality bonus

Carbery have a milk quality bonus based on supplying milk under 200,000 cells/ml somatic cell count (SCC). The bonus ranges from 0.88 c/litre in the winter months to over 0.5 c/litre in the summer months. All the O’Sullivan milk makes the bonus and for milk supplied in 2014 the bonus amounted to almost €2,600 in total or over €20 per cow.

NDC and Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards

Overall Winners – Best Milk Quality

Kieran and Catherine O’Sullivan, Dunmanus, Goleen, Co Cork (Drinagh Co-op)

Overall Runners Up - Best Milk Quality

Denis, Siobhan, Barry & Jane O’Mahony, Shanakiel, Kilbrittain, Bandon, Co. Cork (Barryroe Co-op)

National Category Award for Most Hygienic milk (“Lowest TBC”)

John & Ann Fitzgerald, Gobbinstown House, New Ross, Co. Wexford (Glanbia Ingredients Ireland)

National Category Award for best Udder Health (“Lowest SCC”)

John & Margaret Greene, Greenville, Callan, Co. Kilkenny (Callan Co-op)

National Category Award for Best Milk Protein (“Best Milk Protein”)

James Kingston, Maulnageragh, Clonakilty, Co. Cork (Lisavaird Co-op)

National Category Award for Attention to Detail

John and Colette Fox, Ballinacregg, Oranmore, Co. Galway (Arrabawn Co-op)

National finalists