Kerrygold cows graze outdoors on the lush green pastures of Ireland for most of the year.
Kerrygold farmers use a rotation planner to divide the farm into paddocks.
They graze in the fields where the grass has reached the optimum height to support milk production.
Kerrygold farmers move the cows from paddock to paddock according to their grazing plan to ensure their cows are eating the highest quality grass possible.
During the summer months, Kerrygold farmers harvest high quality surplus grass to feed to their cows over the winter. This means Kerrygold cows are grass-fed all year round.
This nutritious summer grass can be stored in three ways:
SILAGE
Which has the highest moisture content and most closely replicates fresh grass (over 40% moisture).
HAYLAGE
A hybrid of silage and hay, which has a moisture content of 15-40%.
hay
A dryer form of grass that is good for the digestive development of calves and younger cows.
Why do Kerrygold cows enjoy grass all year round?
The weather.
Quite simply, we have the perfect weather to grow huge amounts of grass. Thanks to the Gulf Stream, it is never too hot, never too cold, and there’s plenty of rain, perfect for supporting longer grazing seasons and an abundance of high-quality grass.
GRASS-FED
Ireland’s climate is perfect for growing grass. That’s good news for cows, and good news for us.
Kerrygold cows live as nature intended, outside grazing on fresh grass all day long.
In Ireland, the majority of dairy herds in Ireland are Holstein Friesian cows.
They are an efficient producer of milk from grass and are suited to the Irish climate
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Milk yield across countries
Compared to other countries, Kerrygold cows are farmed in less intensive ways. Our grass-based dairy system and tradition of family-owned farms places a priority on animal welfare.
OUR COWS
Farmers say “If you look after a cow, she’ll look after you.” We agree. Kerrygold insists on the highest standards of animal welfare because it’s the right thing to do.
Kerrygold cows are generally milked twice a day, with the milk stored in refrigerated tanks on the farm before collection by a milk tanker.
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To ensure the very highest quality and safety standards for Kerrygold products, a milk sample is taken at collection and tested for
- Butterfat
- Protein
- Lactose
- Total Bacteria Count
- Somatic Cell Count
- Urea
- Thermoduric Bacteria
The NDC & Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards are an annual competition which sets out to find and celebrate the top-quality dairy farmers in Ireland.
Dairy co-operatives throughout the country are invited to nominate their top suppliers for the awards each year. The farms nominated for the annual awards undergo a detailed assessment by an expert judging panel based on milk quality test results and technical reports spanning a full 12-month period in order to select a short-list of finalists.
The NDC & Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards assesses the top dairy farms across a number of key areas including Animal Health & Welfare, Dairy & Parlour activities, pride & passion, continuous improvement, hygiene and sustainability and the environment.
In October each year, the winner of the NDC & Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards is announced at an awards ceremony in Dublin. In 2018, the McKenna farm won the accolade.
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THE MILK
From cow to your morning toast, you can be sure the milk for Kerrygold products has been rigorously tested for quality and safety
supply milk to
Co-ops are owned by farmers, not corporates, and always act in the best interests of their members.
They collect milk from the farms and ensure every farmer is paid an equitable price
Every year co-ops nominate one farmer for the Quality Milk Awards, run by Kerrygold and the NDC.
The Co-op Milk Advisor
Each co-op provides a milk advisor to the farmer, who can provide expert insight to help farmers optimise nutrition for their herd and improve milk quality.
IRISH CO-OPS
Cooperatives can help farmers benefit from economies of scale and tap into a wider pool of support and knowhow
99% of farms in Ireland are family-owned.
It’s not unusual to find three generations working together on the same farm, passing down knowledge and swapping the latest thinking.
Farmland rarely changes hands so farmers know their land intimately and understand what works best for their farm and their animals.
Farmers are custodians of the land and part of Ireland’s 6,000-year-tradition of dairy farming. For them it’s a vocation, a way of life.
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Family Farms
A tradition that lives and breathes. Custodians of our beautiful countryside across the generations.
sdas
Ireland’s Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS) sets high standards for
- Animal health and welfare
- Hygiene
- Land management
- Biosecurity
- Greenhouse gas emissions
SDAS sets out the requirements for best practice in Irish dairy farms and provides a means of measuring and improving the performance of every participating farmer.
Ireland is the only country in the world that has a scheme of its kind.
Hedgerows
Kerrygold farmers are encouraged to preserve and manage hedgerows between fields.
Hedgerows provide food, shelter, corridors of movement, nest and hibernation sites for many of our native flora and fauna and are vital to biodiversity.
Kerrygold farmers are custodians not just of our land, but also our history and culture. Rich in plant and animal species, older hedgerows along town boundaries often date from medieval times while ancient bank-and-ditch formations can originate from as early as the Neolithic and Bronze Ages (c3,500-700 BC).
water
We’re proud to be part of a highly sustainable grass-based dairy system.
Ireland is the most carbon-efficient milk producer in the EU and our abundant rainfall means our farms are naturally irrigated, so we rank among the lowest on the water stress index*.
* Yale University
The Sustainable Dairy Assurance scheme measures farmers on how they are minimising water usage – such as via rainwater collection, and minimising potential sources of water loss.
Sustainability
It’s important to us to do the right thing and that means caring for our animals and minimising our impact on the environment