Mayo Aurivo farmer a winner at Animal Health Ireland’s CellCheck Awards

ANIMAL Health Ireland (AHI) has announced the winners of its CellCheck Awards for 2025, celebrating farmers who consistently demonstrate outstanding milk quality and strong udder-health practices.

Mayo-based Aurivo Co-op farmer James Garrivan was named CellCheck Champion at the awards ceremony, attended by Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon as well as leaders from across the agriculture and dairy sector.

The CellCheck Milking for Quality Awards, sponsored by FBD and supported by Ornua, highlight the top 500 milk suppliers nationwide with the lowest annual SCC from the previous production year, acknowledging farmers who maintain exemplary herd health standards.

Each co-op also nominated an individual CellCheck Champion. These farmers demonstrate leadership in their co-op achieving consistently low SCCs, continuous improvement, and a commitment to sustainable dairy farming for this and subsequent generations.

CellCheck programme manager Finola McCoy said: “The farmers we’re recognising with these awards are real life examples of how low somatic cell counts and effective herd health can be maintained by being brilliant at the basics.

“Our CellCheck Champions are setting a standard for all dairy farmers. It is encouraging to see all of our winners achieve SCC levels below 76,000 cells/mL, which is a significant accomplishment.”

AHI chair James Lynch also told attendees: “The CellCheck Awards recognise and pay tribute to the commitment to excellence by Irish dairy farmers. Our dairy farmers are world-class food producers, and the CellCheck programme has, for over 10 years, supported them on the journey of improved herd health, reduced SCC, and the continued application of selective dry cow therapy.”