Farm advisor clinches National Dairy Awards top honour
Overall winner Mary Kinston pictured at the National Dairy Awards
An independent farm advisor with an interest in supporting all three pillars of sustainability has been named this year’s National Dairy Awards overall winner.
Mary Kinston works with 10 discussion groups across Ireland and has helped many of her clients expand their businesses and improve their farm profitability.
Ms Kinston grew up on a dairy farm in England and completed her PhD at Newcastle upon Tyne University before working for two years for DairyNZ and later moving to Co Kerry, where she now also farms in partnership with her husband.
Her advisory centres around an in-depth financial review in January of the previous financial year.
Clients are provided with up to 12 years of year-to-year comparisons, which are also compared to around 115 accounts processed every year, as well as their own group figures.
Ms Kinston’s approach focuses heavily on balancing investment in inputs - for example, fertiliser and fee use – with the efficiency of outputs, for example, kilos of milk solids per kilo of N fertiliser or feed or kilos of milk solids per cow as a percentage of the cows’ genomic potential.
This approach has given her clients a deeper level of clarity where gains in efficiency can be made.
She said: “Sustainability has to include the profitability of a farm - that has to be central to everything. Without that, it's very hard to do anything else.
"For me, the key to deciphering accounts is to help the farmer understand profit and if it is limited by either output or the cost of production.
“I also like to take some time to look at the return on asset, as well as highlighting the differences between cash output and profit - especially when farm businesses are in their primary years or have significantly expanded.”
The night’s other big win went to Donagh Berry, a senior principal research officer and quantitative geneticist for Teagasc, who was named the Agri Insider Dairy Leader of the Year.
Prof. Berry’s work has paved the way for the Dairy Beef Index. He has also played a key role in guiding sustainable ruminant breeding programs that allow the dairy sector to lower its methane emissions through genetic gains.
He holds professorships in UCD, UCC, Scotland's Rural College as well as a college in South Africa, and is also a director of the VistaMilk SFI Research Centre at Moorepark.
Presenting the award, event organiser Jason Webb commented: “At a time when data and facts are needed to tell our great dairy story, our leader has given us a lot of important information plus the roadmaps to further enhance this story.
“I don’t think there is a piece of performance data for dairy cows or dairy herds in Ireland, and indeed globally, that doesn't have the input of our dairy leader in it.”
Rachel and James Creighton’s dairy farm has dedicated 13.52% of land to space for nature. They have played an active part within the Pollinators EIP. It was shown that the farm held the highest abundance of pollinator species, particularly hoverfly species.
Honourable Mention: Bruce Tho
Peter Clarke: Peter has adapted his farming methods and plans in a number of ways to improve specific areas of animal health. He has achieved this by building new infrastructure, changes in vaccination and medication methods and making big investments to contribute to the positive trend of animal health on the farm.
Honourable Mention: John McCarthy, Kerry
Bó Bar Soap is a natural artisan handmade soap using milk from their family run dairy farm as a 100% water replacement. Originally started as a chemical free way to treat my daughter’s eczema it soon became a passion that escalated to a business after receiving amazing feedback from friends and family.
Honourable mention: Michael Cahalane and Sally Kearney, BĂł Bainne Ăšr, Cork.
Martin Ryan has fine-tuned his grassland management practices over years to combat the challenges which environmental conditions throw at him. Through reseeding, different grassland swards and new techniques, he is constantly making changes to the grass system.
Honourable mention: David Kerr
Kevin O’Hanlon has been a farm manager for nine years and is one of the 70 fully organic dairy farmers operating in the country. As farm manager of the Marie Pascale-Pollard farm in Ballywilliam in Wexford, he has seen improvements in profits, biodiversity and work-life balance.
Honourable Mention: Patrick Dunne
Marie-Louise Ryan wants to improve animal health along with improving productivity and farm-profitability for farmers by focusing on reducing antibiotic usage on farms, carrying out selective dry cow therapy and reducing involuntary culling by improving fertility through submission rates and pre-breeding work.
Honourable mention: Isabel Coen
Teresa Roche: Kylemore Farmhouse Cheese is a unique, premium Irish farmhouse cheese produced directly on the family farm in Co. Galway. The unique award-winning cheese is inspired from the Swiss Alps and is fully traceable and sustainable from farm to fork, Bord Bia – Origin Green approved.
Honourable mention: Dayana Maltese (Mozzarella Fior Di latte), Galway.
Lakeland Dairies' nomination for the Best Dairy Marketing Campaign of the Year centres on a video that celebrates the 3,200 farm families integral to the cooperative's success. The campaign showcases the dedication and excellence of these farm families, highlighting their pivotal role in the production of high-quality milk.
Honourable mention: Carbery schools to farm programme 2023/24.
Highly commended in this category is Martin Crowe Mary Kinston works with 10 discussion groups across Ireland, completing in depth financial reviews to understand if the farm business is limited by output or by costs. Getting farmers to clarify their goals is an essential starting point and facilitation is key as all solutions generally come from the other farmers in the group.
The Royal Tara group is an all-female dairy discussion group facilitated in the Teagasc Laois, Meath, Kildare, Dublin and Louth region. The group has members that are full and part time dairy farmers. The group collaborates closely with Teagasc and their group facilitator to bring in specialists to delve into relevant topics and to work with other groups in the region.
Farm Zero C is a collaborative project, led by Carbery Group and BiOrbic, with the goal of creating an economically viable, climate neutral dairy farm. The project is based on Shinagh Estates Dairy Farm, which is owned by the four West Cork co-ops: Barryroe, Drinagh, Lisavaird and Bandon.
Agri Data Analytics, co-founded by Jack Pilkington and Alan O’Donovan, developed the c to measure methane and CO2 emissions from cattle. This non-invasive device captures breath samples while cattle eat from an integrating feeding system, providing accurate data without disturbing the animals.
John Hanrahan farms alongside his daughter Natasha on their dairy farm in Granagh, Co. Limerick. They have been heavily dependent on skilled labour which has become increasingly difficult to source. Therefore, he has invested heavily in the farm with an emphasis on investing in technologies which improve efficiencies and productivity on the farm.
Highly commended: Thomas O’Harte.
Dairygold’s success comes from more than 150 years of farming heritage and dairy processing excellence. The majority of their shareholder members are farmers operating family-run dairy farms that have been passed down over generations.
Honourable mention: Glenisk.
The Zero C farm was originally set up in 2011 with the objective of creating a profitable and sustainable large scale grazing system on a dairy farm. The project uses a holistic approach to achieve climate neutrality, looking at the farm as a whole rather than just reducing carbon emissions.
Dinny Galvin was selected as an ambassador for the Dingle ESB project involving the implementation of new technologies to help develop a low-carbon network in his home. With a keen interest in energy and saving energy he went on the Kerry Educational and Training Boards “Energy Mentor programme” where he went on to begin West Kerry Dairy Farmers Sustainable Energy Community.
Louise Crowley uses her social media profile to show how dairy farmers produce top-quality food, why there is a need to show the general public about farming and advocating policymakers to understand the importance of farmers to the country.
Honourable mention: Katie Gleeson.
Rikki Bayer, originally from Germany is a few years into a long-term lease milking 130 dairy cows through two robots in Co Cork. Coming from a non-farming background, she followed her passion for grass based dairy farming and progressed through the industry from farm hand to farm manager to running her own dairy business.
Honourable Mention Caolan Flanagan.
