This year’s Quality Milk Awards winner, Aidan Kennedy, along with his wife Derval and their children Nickolas and Galina, represent the sixth generation to manage their farm in Cahir, Co. Tipperary.
The family were honoured to win the National Dairy Council (NDC) and Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards for 2024 at The Lyrath Estate Hotel today (Tuesday, October 1).
Upon receiving the award, Aidan said: “I’m really honoured to have received such an award, as when you look at the videos of all the 11 families (finalists), they made it such a difficult job for all the judges – there is very little between any of us.”
Aidan’s wife, Derval made sure to point out that winning this award was not an overnight success, as she told attendees that “Aidan works very hard and it has paid off”.
Aidan was very quick to point out that it was a “team effort”, as he went through his full team of staff members who add value to the family’s farm system.
Aidan told Agriland that winning the award is “a fabulous feeling and I’m delighted for all my family and all the team who work with us. It has been a great journey over the last few months”.
Quality Milk Awards winner
The Kennedys are supported by a dedicated team. Farm manager Roger O’Donnell, holds a dairy business degree from University College Dublin (UCD) and spent seven years working in New Zealand, plays a pivotal role in daily operations.
The team also includes long-standing employees Paul Moloney and Nerimantus Mikuckas, with 30 and 17 years of service respectively, as well as Vasile Barbieru – another valued team member.
With a herd of 374 cows milked through a state-of-the-art 50-unit rotary parlour, the Kennedys manage a 132ha milking platform, along with an additional 61ha, producing over 2 million litres of milk annually.
Speaking about his farm system, Aidan said: “We base it on the Moorepark system – a simple low-cost system, trying to incorporate climate, and we just follow the basic principles of good farm management.”
A founding member of the Teagas Dairymis Group, Aidan values the group as a vital learning hub, helping him access cutting-edge research to enhance farm practices. He is also an active participant in the Munster Bovine Herd.
Speaking about his children, Aidan told Agriland that neither of them are farming, as they have their own careers, but that they are a great help, and he “can’t believe their response, today has meant an awful lot to the two of them”.
Judges’ perspective
Agriland spoke with professor of dairy production at UCD, prof. Karina Pierce, who was one of the three judges of this year’s awards, along with professor of public health at UCD, prof. Patrick Wall and Dr. David Gleeson, milk quality researcher at Teagasc.
Prof. Pierce told Agriland that this year’s Quality Milk Award winner “exemplifies what a larger scale family farm can achieve in terms of milk quality and in terms of hygiene around milking”.
“Team work was something that the judges really noted on this farm, as every team member played such an important role,” she added.
Something that really stuck out on this farm, was its water quality: “This farm has two rivers running through it, the River Suir and the Aherlow, and they are extremely conscientious of water quality,” prof. Pierce said.
Prof. Pierce added that this was seen in their system when it came to “slurry storage, fertiliser inputs and the type of fertiliser used and slurry management. All of those things were evident to us”.
“So overall the Kennedy’s showed us what can be achieved on a larger scale dairy farm, with a quality team and excellent technical efficiency,” the professor added.
Prof. David Wall told attendees that “the overall standard has been very high and I’m sure that there was four or five farmers who have prepared acceptance speeches”.
Dr. David Gleeson felt he would have been comfortable to give the award to four or five farmers: “They were all fantastic people and we loved meeting new farmers, everyone is doing the same job but doing it differently, and we enjoyed it, but the hard work was making the final call.”
In addition to the overall prize, five category award winners were recognised for excellence in the individual areas of milk hygiene and facilities, environmental stewardship, grassland management, advocacy and engagement, and low somatic cell count (SCC).