At the 10th annual Animal Health Ireland CellCheck awards
ABOVE: At the 10th annual Animal Health Ireland CellCheck awards: David Graham, CEO Animal Health Ireland, Fionnuala Malone, Milk Quality Manager Tirlán, David Murphy, Tommy Murphy, CellCheck Champion, Michael Berkery, FBD Trust, John Murphy, Tirlán chairperson, James Lynch Chairman, Animal Health Ireland, Sean Murphy and Conor Phelan, Tirlán milk advisor
A milk supplier to Kilkenny’s Tirlán has been named CellCheck Champion.
Dairy farmer Tommy Murphy was one of 18 Champions honoured at the CellCheck Awards.
The awards recognise excellence achieved by Irish dairy farmers in herd health, specifically those that achieve a consistently low somatic cell count (SCC) in their dairy herds.
CellCheck is the national mastitis control programme. Coordinated by Animal Health Ireland, the programme works with dairy farmers and their service providers, to increase the awareness and capacity to manage and prevent mastitis in Irish herds. This delivers a healthier and more productive herd, which contributes to increased efficiency and profitability.
Improvements
Over the last decade, the national average bulk tank SCC has reduced by almost 100,000 cells/mL to the current 183,000 cells/ml.
This improvement in udder health in the national herd is also helping to reduce antimicrobial usage, improve farm profitability and contribute towards reducing agri-emissions.
A study conducted by AHI found that the average dairy farmer can increase net profitability by at least 1 cent per litre through improved mastitis control.
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