Farmers from across the Lakeland platform were honoured at an award ceremony held by the cooperative for “Excellence in Milk Production”.

At the Lakeland Dairies Milk Quality Awards, dairy farmers from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland were honoured for the exceptionally high quality of milk produced on their farms.

The winners emerged from among 3,200 farm families who produce milk for the 1.8 billion Lakeland Dairies milk pool.

The awards were presented by Mairead McGuinness MEP, Vice-President of the European Parliament, with Lakeland Dairies chairman Alo Duffy and group CEO Michael Hanley at a special event today, Friday, June 28.

Alan and Catherine Doak, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, won the Lakeland Dairies Supreme Milk Quality Award.

The Doaks also won the 0-1 million litres Northern Ireland milk production category, for the exceptional quality of their milk supply to Lakeland Dairies.

Milk Quality Award Winners

John Anthony McNally of Drumroo Farm, Drumrooghill, Lisnalong, Co. Monaghan, won the 500,000+ litres milk production category. The runner-up in this category was John Malone, Walshestown, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath.

David Boyd and Trevor Keith from Glaslough, Co. Monaghan, won the 0–500,000 litres milk production category, closely followed by runner-up Patrick Reilly, Cammagh, Moyne, Co. Longford.

Sustainability Award

Peter Robinson from Ballinagore, Co. Westmeath, won the Sustainability Category of the awards for outstanding commitment to sustainable milk production, based on measures including carbon footprint, biodiversity, water management and milk quality results.

Northern Ireland

Iain McLean, Bushmills, Co. Antrim – represented at the awards by sons Matthew and John – won the 1 million+ litres milk production category.

The runners-up in this category were the Johnston Family, represented by Stephen Johnston and his son Isaac, Ballinamallard, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh.

The overall runners-up in the 0-1 million litres milk production category were Sean and Padraig McKee, Toomebridge, Co. Antrim.

New Entrants

In the category for New Entrants to Dairy Farming, Ciaran Boylan, Shercock, Co. Cavan, and Ian McClelland Banbridge, Co. Down, both won awards for exceptional milk quality.

‘Recognise commitment’

Lakeland Dairies Group CEO, Michael Hanley said: “Lakeland Dairies is proud to put the work of our farmers at the centre of our business and we are delighted to be able to reward and recognise their commitment to excellence at our Milk Quality Awards.

We’re all working in a deeply competitive and globalised marketplace. To succeed in that environment, you need to be able to differentiate yourself based on your reputation and the quality of what you do.

“Lakeland Dairies is achieving this through the excellence and distribution of our value-added dairy products, the technological capability of our processing facilities and the high quality of our milk pool from our farmers,” Hanley concluded.