This Tuesday the winners of the the 2016 NDC Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards will be announced. You can watch each of the 10 finalists here.

Ahead of the awards on Tuesday, we look back at the 2015 winners, the O'Sullivans from west Cork.

Overall winners Kieran and Catherine O’Sullivan, were accompanied by 18-year-old son Cathal, who farms with them, and by Kieran’s parents Donal and Mary. They received a prize of €5,000 and the NDC & Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards perpetual cup.

Kieran and Catherine are the fifth generation of their family to farm at Dunmanus, which is close to Mizen Head. Kieran O'Sullivan said: “We pride ourselves in delivering top-quality milk and we need to put our best foot forward at all times because we owe it to our milk processor and our consumers.”

Zoë Kavanagh, chief executive of the National Dairy Council, said: “So many of our Irish dairy farms have been family farms for generations who have a deep pride in what they do. Skills and heritage are passed down from father to son or increasingly from mother to daughter also.”

Celebration

Also speaking at the event, Ornua chief executive Kevin Lane Ornua said: “At Ornua, we are very proud to sponsor these awards because these farmers are role models who raise the bar for everyone in the industry, encouraging all of us to work harder and do more. They continue a proud tradition in Irish farming of sharing their knowledge in the hope that it will help the farming community. This, as much as the rain and the grass, is what makes Irish dairy farming world class.”

Intensive scrutiny

Professor Pat Wall from UCD spoke on behalf of the national judging panel, which included Dr David Gleeson (Teagasc) and Dr Jack Kennedy (Irish Farmers Journal). He thanked the farmers and co-ops for participating in the national awards.

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