Representatives of the West Cork Co-ops of Barryroe, Drinagh, Lisavaird, Bandon and Dairygold have been named CellCheck Champions at Animal Health Ireland’s annual CellCheck Awards.
Each co-op nominated an individual ‘CellCheck Champion’, farmers that demonstrate leadership in their co-op achieving consistently low (Somatic Cell Count) SCCs, continuous improvement, and a commitment to sustainable dairy farming for this and subsequent generations.
Those that were nominated include Maire Keohane for Barryroe, Donal and Mary Hayes for Drinagh, Stephen Buttimer for Lisavaird, and Michael Pat and Ciaran Crowley for Bandon Co-op. Sean Kelleher was nominated by Dairygold.
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CellCheck is the national mastitis control programme, and Animal Health Ireland works with dairy farmers to increase the awareness and capacity to manage and prevent mastitis delivering a healthier and more productive herd.
The 12th annual CellCheck Awards took place at the end of November at the Killashee Hotel in Naas in Kildare, celebrating farmers who consistently demonstrate outstanding milk quality and strong udder-health practices. The ceremony was attended by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon TD as well as leaders from across the agriculture and dairy sector.
Sponsored by FBD and supported by Ornua, the awards highlight the top 500 milk suppliers nationwide with the lowest annual SCC from the previous production year, acknowledging farmers who maintain exemplary herd health standards CellCheck Programme Manager Finola McCoy said: ‘The farmers we’re recognising tonight with these awards are real life examples of how low somatic cell counts and effective herd health can be maintained by being brilliant at the basics.
‘We are also continuing to see a reduction in the number of cows in this cohort receiving antibiotic dry cow therapy, as the implementation of selective dry cow therapy continues to grow.
‘Our CellCheck Champions are setting a standard for all dairy farmers. It is encouraging to see all of our winners achieve SCC levels below 76,000 cells/mL, which is a significant accomplishment.’
