A Northern Irish family have been named the region’s best quality milk suppliers by Northern Ireland’s largest milk processor.
Lakeland Dairies’ top suppliers were honoured at an award ceremony held by the cooperative to celebrate excellence in milk production.
The Milk Quality Awards honoured dairy farmers from across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The winners emerged from among 3,200 farm families who produce milk for the 1.8 billion Lakeland Dairies milk pool.
The awards were presented by Mairead McGuinness MEP, Vice-President of the European Parliament, with Lakeland Dairies chairman Alo Duffy and group chief executive Michael Hanley at a special event today, Friday, June 28.
Alan and Catherine Doak, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, won the Lakeland Dairies Supreme Milk Quality Award.
The Doaks also won the 0-1 million litres Northern Ireland milk production category, for the exceptional quality of their milk supply to Lakeland Dairies.
Milk Quality Award Winners
John Anthony McNally of Drumroo Farm, Drumrooghill, Lisnalong, Co. Monaghan, won the 500,000+ litres milk production category. The runner-up in this category was John Malone, Walshestown, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath.
David Boyd and Trevor Keith from Glaslough, Co. Monaghan, won the 0–500,000 litres milk production category, closely followed by runner-up Patrick Reilly, Cammagh, Moyne, Co. Longford.
Sustainability Award
Peter Robinson from Ballinagore, Co. Westmeath, won the Sustainability Category of the awards for outstanding commitment to sustainable milk production, based on measures including carbon footprint, biodiversity, water management and milk quality results.
Northern Ireland
Iain McLean, Bushmills, Co. Antrim – represented at the awards by sons Matthew and John – won the 1 million+ litres milk production category.
The runners-up in this category were the Johnston Family, represented by Stephen Johnston and his son Isaac, Ballinamallard, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh.
The overall runners-up in the 0-1 million litres milk production category were Sean and Padraig McKee, Toomebridge, Co. Antrim.
New Entrants
In the category for New Entrants to Dairy Farming, Ciaran Boylan, Shercock, Co. Cavan, and Ian McClelland Banbridge, Co. Down, both won awards for exceptional milk quality.
‘Recognise commitment’
Lakeland Dairies Group CEO, Michael Hanley said: “Lakeland Dairies is proud to put the work of our farmers at the centre of our business and we are delighted to be able to reward and recognise their commitment to excellence at our Milk Quality Awards.
We’re all working in a deeply competitive and globalised marketplace. To succeed in that environment, you need to be able to differentiate yourself based on your reputation and the quality of what you do.
“Lakeland Dairies is achieving this through the excellence and distribution of our value-added dairy products, the technological capability of our processing facilities and the high quality of our milk pool from our farmers,” Hanley concluded.
