An open day which took place on a dairy farm in Co. Tyrone has raised a total of £39,200 for two charities.
The farm open day took place in conjunction with Lely Centre Eglish outside Castlederg in Co. Tyrone on Grove Dairy Holsteins, a 750-cow dairy farm owned and ran by the Mitchell family.
The total sum of money raised will will be split equally between two chosen charities, which are Parkinson’s UK and Air Ambulance NI.
Both charities have received £19,600 each and speaking to Agriland, John Mitchell from Grove Dairies said: “We are overwhelmed with the support and can’t thank everyone enough for the support we received.”
He explained that one of the main reasons he decided to host the open day was to fundraise money for these two charities.
The event saw large numbers of both farmers and non-farmers in attendance to see the inner workings of the impressive farm.
At the event, John spoke about the farms’ transition from milking in two 30-30 milking parlours, three times a day to an entirely robotic Lely milking system.
There were also a range of other agri-businesses in attendance at the open day including feed companies, genetics companies and machinery companies.
About the charities
According to the National Health Service (NHS) Parkinson’s UK is the main Parkinson’s support and research charity in the UK.
It aims to help people living with the disease and advises people of support groups in their areas.
Air Ambulance NI, is a charity in Northern Ireland that works in partnership with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS), to provide the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) for the region.
The charity’s operational helicopter carries a crew compiling pilot, doctor, and paramedic, 365 days of the year operating for twelve hours every day.
According to the charity, each day costs it £6,850 and £2.5 million is needed each year to keep the air ambulance service operational.
The charity relies entirely on support from the public and local businesses.