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Antrim dairy farmer Harold Johnston won the Ulster Grassland’s Society’s (UGS) grassland farmer of the year award on Tuesday.
The Johnston family runs a herd of 270 autumn-calving Holstein Friesian cows near Ahoghill and are participants in Agrisearch’s GrassCheck programme.
Harold will now go on to represent the UGS in the British Grassland Farmer of the Year competition later in the year.
Other winners
Speaking at the UGS annual conference in Templepatrick, local grassland researcher Dr Debbie McConnell said that there were 14 entries for this year’s competition across the dairy, beef and sheep sectors.
Christopher Hamilton from Carrowdore, Co Down, is a recent entrant to dairying and won the UGS special commendation award.
Newry dairy farmer Geoffrey Malcolmson won the silage award and Robert Patterson from Hillsborough, who runs a grass-based dairy-beef system, won the grazing award.
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