The Connelly family from Co. Galway has been announced as this year’s overall winner of the National Dairy Council (NDC) and Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards.

The family was named winner of the annual awards today (Wednesday, September 14) at a special awards ceremony at Ballyvolance House in Co. Cork.

Watch the moment the winning farm was announced below.

The Connelly family – Austin and Yvonne and their four daughters Ava, Anna, Jane and Kate – were given the perpetual cup for excelling in all areas of the judging criteria, including milk quality, animal welfare and sustainable farming practices.

Speaking on the awards, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue congratulated the family, as well as the rest of the 2022 finalists.

“To be recognised by your own peers and your own co-operative in the first instance is a tremendous honour.

“The success achieved by winners and nominees comes from a lifetime of dedication to dairy farming excellence and constant improvement. On behalf of the industry, I thank all the nominees and winners for what they have achieved,” he said.

The family was also congratulated by Zoe Kavanagh, NDC CEO and John Jordan, Ornua CEO.

Finalists

Specific category awards were also presented to all the finalists today.

The Connelly family, as well as being crowned overall winner, also took the trophy in the Lowest Somatic Cell Count category.

The Shorten family from Co. Cork was named runner up, and also won the Best in Class Facilities award.

The rest of the category winners are as follows:

  • Category award winner for Farm Development award – Collins farm, Co. Cork;
  • Category award winner for Sustainable Grassland Management award – Deasy farm, Co. Cork;
  • Category award winner for Farm Infrastructure Development award – Egan farm, Co. Kerry;
  • Category award winner for Renewable Energy Innovation award – Hawkes farm, Co. Cork;
  • Category award winner for Soil Nutrient Management award – Heery farm, Co. Westmeath;
  • Category award winner for Herd Genetic EBI award – Hogan farm, Co. Tipperary;
  • Category award winner for Working with Nature award – Maher farm, Co. Tipperary;
  • Category award winner for Transformational EBI Change award – Moynihan farm, Co. Kerry;
  • Category award winner for Environmental Management award – Nicholson farm, Co. Monaghan;
  • Category award winner for Future Proofing Animal Health award – O’Brien farm, Co. Kerry;
  • Category award winner for Best in Class Technical Performance award – Toohey farm, Co. Offaly.

Click here to read more about any of these finalist farms.

The Connelly enterprise

The Connelly crew farm in The Plantation, Tuam, Co. Galway.

Although fifth-generation farmers, they are relatively new entrants to dairy having made the transition just four years ago.

They credit a large part of the ease of their transition to the support and expertise of their milk advisor, local discussion groups and peer farmers.

Today, they milk 95 cows on the farm and supply  545,637L to Aurivo.

The milk has a total bacterial count of 7,000, a somatic cell count of 40 and comprises protein at 3.62% and butterfat at 4.49%.

Cows on the Connelly farm

In an effort to find ways to make the process on farms more efficient and effective, the four Connelly girls are constantly coming up with new ideas – one of which involves using exfoliating gloves to clean clusters.

NDC AND KERRYGOLD QUALITY MILK AWARDS 2022