The Animal Health Ireland (AHI) CellCheck awards took place yesterday evening (Thursday, November 10), at the Killashee House Hotel, Naas, Co. Kildare.

Champions from each of the 16 participating co-ops were named at the ceremony.

CellCheck is the national mastitis control programme, coordinated and facilitated by AHI and sponsored by FBD.

It is developed and delivered in partnership with industry bodies representing farmers, processors, service providers and the government. 

This programme complements the work which AHI does in educating dairy farmers in achieving and maintaining a low somatic cell count (SCC) level in their herd.

This delivers benefits to the herd, and more widely in terms of improved profitability, welfare and reduced antimicrobial usage.

The CellCheck Milking For Quality awards are given to the 500 milk suppliers nationally with the lowest weighted annual average SCC for the previous year’s supply. 

It is an initiative to recognise and reward the excellence of Irish dairy farmers who are currently achieving high standards of udder health on their farm. 

All 16 co-ops submitted data to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and all co-ops have winners in the ‘Best 500’ category. 

From the 'Best 500' category a champion from each of the co-ops is selected with the winners presented with their awards at the event yesterday.

The 16 winners selected this year from each of the co-ops are named below:

Click on the gallery's below to see the full images.

Stay tuned to Agriland for more updates from yesterday's event.