Dale Farm presented its annual Producer Awards at the Balmoral Show, in association with Ulster Bank. Held on Thursday 16^th May, this year’s awards saw the dairy cooperative commend farmers across two categories for their outstanding efforts in improving milk components, with a particular emphasis on butterfat and protein improvements in the last three years.

Cookstown farmer Mark Bell was named overall winner. Mark, who also won in the ‘under 1 million litres category’, has significantly improved his farm infrastructure in recent years with a new DeLaval parlour, handling facilities and cow accommodation. The judging panel was impressed with how the farm has reacted to improved payments for milk solids by improving cow comfort and incorporating targeted feeding of concentrates. This has been combined with more focus on breeding and the selection of mating sires, which will further embed components into the herd. The result of these improvements has been a combined increase of fat and protein percentages of 16.8% in three years.

Runner up in the under 1 million litres category was Glen Watters from Dungannon. Glen operates a 60-cow herd with day and night grazing in the summer months. He has incorporated Kiwi cross genetics into the herd, which has undoubtedly been one of the main reasons behind his butterfat improving by over 7% and protein by over 6% in the last three years.

Third place in the under 1 million litres category was Ian and Lynn Millar and family from Ballymena. Ian milks 95 cows on an all-year-round calving system and uses natural service bulls with a particular emphasis on milk constituents.

Cinching the award for ‘over 1 million litres’ category was David Cochrane, a young farmer from Newtownards. David milks 250 cows on a spring calving system and operates a high stocking rate with meal feeding at just over 1 tonne per cow. David has incorporated Jersey genetics into the herd through the years, which have given a good base for milk solids. In recent years he has moved to using more Kiwi cross and some New Zealand Friesian genetics. He selects heavily for milk components and fertility to suit a 12-week calving window which starts in February. A combination of all these recent changes have resulted in an improvement in milk solids percentages of 14.5%

Second place in the ‘over 1 million litres’ category was Christopher Connell and Alistair Meighen farming outside Dungiven. Since coming home to farm 10 years ago Christopher has made significant improvements, which include doubling cow numbers, introducing maize silage and cutting silage earlier. Average yields have been pushed to 10,000 litres per cow. This yield will undoubtedly increase as a new parlour development is planned in the very near future. AI has been used extensively for a number of years, while all cows in the herd are genotyped. This has allowed females with better components to be selected and mated with bulls which excel for milk solids and fertility. Butterfat on the farm has improved dramatically by over 9% in three years.

Third place in this category went to Thomas Johnston from Cookstown. Thomas milks 130 pedigree Holstein cows overlooking Dunman creamery. Recognising Dale Farm’s strategic focus on cheese production, Mark placed great emphasis on selecting for butterfat and protein in his herd, now choosing only bulls with strong positive traits for both. This targeted approach is clearly delivering results with rolling herd averages reaching 4.52% butterfat and 3.53% protein.

Speaking at the awards, Dale Farm Chair Fred Allen said:

“The consistent supply of top-quality milk is key to the success of Dale Farm and our award winning range of dairy products. Every one of the 1,300 Dale Farm producers share a commitment to excellence and quality.

“Our Producer Awards are a great opportunity to showcase the fantastic efforts of all our farmers, and to recognise those who are delivering exceptional results. On behalf of all of us at Dale Farm, I want to congratulate all participants, with special recognition to our overall winner Mark Bell.”

Cormac McKervey, Head of Agriculture, Ulster Bank, sponsors of the awards added:

“Ulster Bank is a longstanding supporter of Dale Farm’s Producer Awards and we’re delighted to once again sponsor the event at this year’s Balmoral Show. We are consistently impressed by the hard work, attention to detail and commitment to quality displayed by Dale Farm producers, and this year’s winners can be particularly proud of their achievements.”

Pictured with Cormac McKervey, Ulster Bank (L) and Fred Allen, Dale Farm (R), Mark Bell

Mark and Julie-Ann Bell, winners of the ‘Under 1 Million Litres’ category and ‘Overall Winner’ of the Dale Farm Milk Components Improvement awards, pictured with Dale Farm Chair, Fred Allen and Cormac McKervey, Head of Agriculture at Ulster Bank and Margaret Jobling Chief Marketing Officer at NatWest Group.

The winners of the Dale Farm Milk Components Improvement awards, pictured with Dale Farm Chair, Fred Allen and Cormac McKervey, Head of Agriculture at Ulster Bank and Margaret Jobling Chief Marketing Officer at NatWest Group.