The Buttimer family of Lyre, Clonakilty, Co. Cork welcomed massive crowds to their farm for Carbery's Milk Quality and Sustainability farm walk.

The event was held in conjunction with Lisavaird co-op and Teagasc.

Darren Buttimer is milking 245 cows alongside his wife Caroline and their children, Mathew, Rachel, Leah, and Hannah.

In November 2025, the family farm was announced as the overall winners of the 2025 Carbery Milk Quality and Sustainability Awards.

Fast forward eight months, the family has been announced as a finalist in the 2026 NDC and Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards.

Production

The farm, which the Buttimer family has been milking on since the early 1960s, is now comprised of just under 140ha, more than 75ha of which is in the milking platform.

In 2025, the herd produced an average 6,398L of milk at 4.47% fat and 3.74% protein, equating to 540kg of milk solids (MS) from 1.05t of meal.

This brought the farm slightly into the high nitrates band last year, with Darren stating he would rather go back into the middle band than pushing on through the third.

Currently, they are producing 21.8L at 4.41% fat and 3.72% protein, equating to 1.83kg/MS off 4.5kg of ration alongside silage, given the current drought conditions.

The mainly Friesian herd has an average Economic Breeding Index (EBI) of €138, with Darren noting he would be more focused on functionality and production rather than the EBI figure itself.

He grew 12t/ha of grass last year, but with the poor spring and the hard drought, grass production is back this year as is milk production.

The Buttimers are rearing 61 yearling heifers and 71 weanling heifers on out-blocks.

Milk quality

Winning a Milk Quality and Sustainability Award is no longer just about the milk quality, with farms now being evaluated on all areas of dairy farming.

That been said, the Buttimer family milk quality data speaks for itself.

In 2024, the year they were judged on, the Buttimers averaged 4.45% fat and 3.72% protein.

This was all while maintaining an average somatic cell count (SCC) level of 93,000cells/ml, a total bacterial count (TBC) of 10,000 CFU/ml, and a thermoduric level of 310 CFU/ml, which has since dropped back to 95 CFU/ml.

To achieve these figures, the Buttimers put an emphasis on getting the basics right.

They milk the herd through a 16 unit double-up Alfa Laval parlour.

It does not have a dump line or cluster flush, which may be expected on such a high-quality producing farm.

It does however have automatic cluster removers (ACRs).

Cows are not pre-sprayed in the parlour, they are only washed and drip-dried if the teats are physically dirty. Teats are thoroughly post-sprayed.

The parlour receives a peracetic acid wash twice each day, one hot wash each day, and one descale each week through the auto-washer.

It is also serviced once a year while liners are changed twice a year.

The Buttimers milk record five times a year, as well as carrying out culture and sensitivity testing twice a year, once in or around St. Patrick's Day, and the second time before drying off.

This allows them to to be more accurate with selective dry cow therapy, with 66% of the herd below the 100,000 cells/ml SCC criteria rate and only receiving dry cow tubes.

In the lead up to dry-off, batches of 16 or 32 are picked out at the start of the week and milked once a day until the end of the week, where they will be dried off an hour after the last milking.

Matthew Buttimer said they make a real effort to feed "good strong dry silage" in the lead-up to dry off, saying wet silage loosens out their dung and presents a higher risk of infection as tails swing, even when clipped.

When it comes to mastitis during the year, Buttimer praised their farm manager, Richard Roycroft, for spotting any swollen quarters or mastitis in the herd.

From there, cows are treated with Endocam and Mastiplan.

Colour-indicated leg bands are fitted to any cows with mastitis to indicate the infected quarter, while infected cows are left in a separate pasture and milked last.

There is also a focus on housing when it comes to the Buttimers' milk quality, with 250 cubicles fitted for just over 240 cows, a cubicle for each cow plus a few spare.

Scrapers are run every four hours each day when cows are housed.

Cubicles are also cleaned out and limed twice a day using a Bobman.