Quality Milk Awards: 'The girls would be stone mad for farming'

In the third instalment of our 2021 NDC and Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards 2021 series, in association with the National Dairy Council, Kerrygold and Ornua, we meet three more farming families that are through to the finals of these prestigious annual awards.

From Cork and Galway, we meet the O’Sullivans, the Barrys and the O’Briens.

Quality Milk Awards – finalists

O’Sullivan family

For almost 50 years, John O’Sullivan has been running his family farm in Whitechurch, Co. Cork.

He lives there with his wife, Teresa, and two sons, John and Victor, both of whom are now married with children of their own.

Having been immersed in farming from a very young age, John commenced managing the farm with his late father in the 1970s, and now his two sons are managing the enterprise with him.

“It’s a means of making a living, but we get so much more than that out of it,” he says.

John describes farming as a cyclical process, with each part of the annual cycle bringing its own rewards.

And, he considers farming a community affair, believing he would not be where he is today without the help and involvement of his neighbours and community.

John has always had an interest in breeding, which he describes as an “all-consuming passion”. In 1977 and 1984, he won the Spring Show in Dublin and cites these as his career highlights.

Farm facts

Herd size – 500;
Milk supply – 3,750,902L;
Total bacteria count (weighted) – 10,000;
Somatic cell count (weighted) – 157;
Butterfat % (weighted) – 4.03%;
Protein percentage (weighted) – 3.55%.

The O’Sullivan family farm is nominated by Dairygold Co-op.

Barry family

Joe Barry is a fourth-generation farmer from Mallow, Co. Cork, who took the reins to the family farm from his father, Jimmy, about 12 years ago.

Joe lives on the farm with his wife, Ann, and his two daughters, Emily and Hazel both of whom, he says, are “stone mad for farming”.

Emily and Hazel are keen to learn as much as possible and are always willing to get stuck in and help out.

Joe Barry enjoying some downtime with children, Emily and Hazel

Joe has been farming for as long as he can remember and, as a child, remembers looking forward to feeding the newly-born calves.

He describes his love of tractors as “an awful addiction” and similar to many of this year’s finalists, believes that farming is integral to rural communities.

Outside of farming, Joe is heavily involved in the local GAA club and community development association.

Farm facts

Herd size – 95;
Milk supply – 617,176L;
Total bacteria count (weighted) – 10,000;
Somatic cell count (weighted) – 149;
Butterfat % (weighted) – 4.34%;
Protein percentage (weighted) – 3.65%.

The Barry family farm is nominated by North Cork Creameries.

O’Brien family

Father and son duo, Vincent and Conor O’Brien farm together in Kilmurry, Tynagh, Loughrea, Co. Galway, with the help of Ivor Glennon.

Also present on the farm is Vincent’s wife, Mary, Conor’s wife, Orla, and their children, Frank, Alex and Kate.

A relatively new addition to the dairy world, Conor joined his father on the farm three years ago. Vincent had just acquired an adjacent farm and they decided to begin increasing the herd number together.

The O’Brien team are keen to ensure their farm is as sustainable as possible and recently invested in a state-of-the-art milking parlour and cow-drafting system to provide a more efficient and safe working environment.

Although their passion clearly lies in dairy farming, the duo are conscious that maintaining a healthy work/life balance is of the utmost importance.

“Acquiring the additional land gave us the capacity to expand further and the new parlour has enabled us to achieve a better work/life balance,” they say.