Recent visitors to our Innovation Centre in Ballyragget were impressed by our people and our commitment to sustainability

Tirlán welcomed a group of buyers from Southeast Asia to our Innovation Centre in Ballyragget recently, who were on a dairy trade mission to Ireland organised by Bord Bia.

The group was shown various applications and solutions from our dairy and plant-based portfolios and were extremely engaged in conversations around proteins, cheese, plant based and FFMP ingredients.

This was a collaborative effort from all the teams in Ballyragget, the R&D team and the Commercial and Consumer teams. Bord Bia and the Southeast Asia group were hugely impressed with our innovations, our people and the Innovation Centre.

The Southeast Asian Buyers Group who visited the Innovation Centre recently

Two days later a group of future farmers also visited the Innovation Centre where they were given various presentations, application work and demos. The future farmers were very impressed, with one commenting that “it’s easy to forget about the milk once it leaves the farm”.

Tirlán’s Head of Agri-Sustainability & Customer Engagement, Thomas Ryan, commented on how “it’s great to highlight our agri-business, ingredients, milk quality, sustainability & innovation expertise with this very important group of climate action change champions amongst our farm family suppliers.”

The Future Farmers Group pictured in Ballyragget recently

Each month, we put the spotlight on a Tirlán employee and for our June newsletter, we’re talking to Ailish Byrne

Newly appointed Director of Agribusiness, Ailish Byrne, has only been in the role since March 1 but says she can’t believe how quickly time has passed and how seamless her transition was from Head of Agriculture with Ulster Bank, where she worked for 20 years.

“In my earlier years, I would have had lots of direct interaction with farmers and in the latter stages in my former post, I had more engagement with the IFA, the Minister and other stakeholders in the sector. It all means that I am very comfortable with the high-level approach in my new role, the language, our customers and the sector as a whole.

“From day one, Tirlán took me on as me. They wanted my views. Listened to my ideas. I’ve only been here three months, but it seems longer. It’s an environment in which people’s ideas and opinions are valued and respected.

“We had over 40 people at our team strategy day. It was really positive, with lots of enthusiasm from everyone – there was fantastic interaction from the entire team. Tirlán is an environment which really values individuals for what they can bring to the table.”

In her role, Ailish leads the Agribusiness team. This includes ruminant, equine, pet, the 52 branches, CountryLife, all the marketing and loyalty programme teams as well as the grain and procurement teams.

“It is a very diverse team and our job is to ensure that our farmers, our shareholders and our customers have access to all the inputs they need to run their dairy, beef or tillage farm. There has also been a huge growth in step-out programmes such as FarmGen, E-Commerce and the Twenty20 Beef Club.

“What amazes me most is the level of continuous interaction with the representative structures. I knew joining that it is a cooperative, but I didn’t realise the level of engagement and the continuous interaction between those representative structures – the board, the council, the business itself. It keeps everyone up to speed, keeps vital information flowing. Keeps it all very real.

“I do a bit of tillage myself at our home in Crossneen, on the edge of Carlow town. We usually grow malting barley but I’m growing sugar beet and some peas this year. Being involved in farming, from my background and from my new role, I know the pressures there are this year. We are coming off a very strong 2022 for dairy and for grain. The pressures for 2023 are very real and we can all feel it.

“That said, we are a cooperative that is definitely true to our values. We are in business to make money but it’s also about getting the balance right, about competitively pricing our inputs so we can deliver the best possible milk and grain price for our farmer suppliers.”

And how does Ailish relax and unwind from it all? “My husband and I have two daughters, so lots of evenings and weekends are spent on the sidelines at football or soccer matches or at show jumping events. So not quite relaxing at times – a different sort of pressure from work.”

Tirlán’s recent employee engagement survey reflects a workforce that’s excited about our evolving culture

Mick O’Leary, Chief People, D&I & Org Development Officer, Tirlán

Each month, we put the spotlight on a Tirlán employee and for our May newsletter, we’re talking to Elaine Brady

Ruminant Nutritionist Elaine Brady came straight to Tirlán after she completed her PhD in Early Lactation Dairy Cow Nutrition and is revelling in the role which sees her continue her research work, but also enjoy time in the field with the co-op’s business managers and farmers.

“I’m here a year and a half now. It has absolutely flown by. There was a time when spring would be a busy time but it’s busy year-round now. Last year, we had the fodder crisis and the fall-out from the drought and fertiliser prices. This year, it’s all about helping find sustainable solutions to help farmers after the long winter and struggles with grass growth.

“It’s great to be in a solutions-driven role and to be able to help our teams and our farmers get the results they need, particularly in a more sustainable manner. I’ve noticed an even stronger focus on delivering for our farmers and working closer than ever with them since we went back to our cooperative roots. There is so much regulation coming down the line that it’s crucial that we work closely together.

“When this role came up, I jumped at it. It is the perfect fit for me. I get to focus on the academic and research parts of my job and be outside, working with discussion groups, with our farmer facing teams and on Tirlán events. I grew up on a dairy farm in Westmeath so I also love being out of doors, getting stuck in.

“I enjoy my work on the technical development team and I provide technical updates to our farmer facing teams and farmers. My work also involves reviews and research into any new feed additives such as VistaMilk projects in Moorepark, with a focus on finding solutions to reduce methane emissions. I also work on projects that involve grass-fed substantiation and verification, responsible sourcing of soya and bringing the GAIN Momentum programme to life.

“My work is predominantly desk-based, but at different times of year I get to do dual calls with our business managers and regular training events with them. Lately, I’ve also started doing Discussion Groups with Teagasc which are great.

“Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do today. It is key. We are working hand in hand with our farmer members to drive sustainability in animal nutrition, to increase efficiency and profitability on farms.

“Our farmers are very progressive, very open to help and support. They are enthusiastic and interested in taking on board the advice we give. It makes all the difference when you can get out and see what is happening on the ground and see the research and advice being put into action on farm.”

Elaine has now moved to Kilkenny and makes the two-hour journey back to Westmeath when she can to help out at home. “It made sense to move to Kilkenny and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve taken up running and run twice a week with my work colleague. I like to be outdoors, to run, walk or hike. It recharges the batteries, particularly after a week when you spend lots of time in front of a screen. There’s nothing like it.”

Vhi support services for Tirlán farmer shareholders continue across 2023

Tirlán recently announced it is to continue to offer farmer shareholders access to a free and confidential counselling and information service provided by Vhi Corporate Solutions.

In times of crises or emotional distress Tirlán employees, farmer shareholders and their immediate families can have peace of mind that the Support Services from Vhi’s Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is available 24/7 365 days a year.

The Tirlán farmer shareholders (EAP Programme) offers expert, practical assistance and emotional support for some of life’s challenges including:

• Advice on mental health challenges
• Addictions
• Financial pressures on and off farm
• Bereavement counselling
• Relationships and struggles with parenting

Speaking about the launch of the service for a second successive year, Tirlán Chairman John Murphy said: “This is a great resource for our farmer shareholders as it’s important to promote positive mental health. We’re all aware of the stresses that running a farm, like any business, can bring.

“We would hope that those who need it make good use of this counselling and information service offered through Vhi. We all need to remember that as much as we look after animal health, it is equally important to take a step back and look after ourselves as well.”

Tirlán employees and farmer shareholders also have the option to see a counsellor locally for up to six face-to-face counselling sessions and whether you decide to get in touch by phone or email, support is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In addition, support services for Tirlán farmer shareholders also provide access to a specialist information service, coaching programmes, trauma support and an interactive online portal.

A panel discussion to celebrate our first year as a Co-op was held this week at Abbey Quarter

It’s been one year since the conditions of purchase of Glanbia Ireland were met by Glanbia Co-op, forming our independent farmer owned Co-operative. Since April 4th of last year our Co-op has taken great strides forward in creating our new identity as Tirlán.

The last year has not only been an extremely successful one for our business, but there have also been huge changes over the past 12 months, from turning the sod at Kilkenny Cheese, to moving in at Abbey Quarter, starting the rebrand of our branches, creating Tirlan’s new ESG function and designing a whole new Purpose, Vision and set of Values. We can all be proud as we’ve laid the groundwork to become one of the world’s leading Co-ops.

Earlier this week Tirlán’s Head of Culture and Engagement, Helen Kiely, hosted a panel discussion at Abbey Quarter to celebrate and recognise our company’s achievements with CEO Jim Bergin and panellists Ed Elder and Louise Hogan. Ed led the programme of change and all it involved arising from our new identity, while Louise led out on media and corporate comms promoting our new brand to a local and global audience.

A new uniform is cementing the new Tirlán identity

Our company’s new identity as Tirlán is being further embedded across the country as our farmer facing teams receive their new branded uniforms. By May, the new look will be evident across Tirlán as, along with branch colleagues, the agronomy, milk supply, ruminant, technical, sustainability and operations teams receive their uniforms.

The Tirlán Farmlife brand will be displayed on the branch uniforms, while our 12 Countrylife stores will show their logos on an array of garments. There are a number of different uniform styles, which have been designed around functionality and to make our farm facing teams easily identifiable to customers.

Yard staff in branches will wear hi-visibility clothing, which is paramount for health and safety, while the branch staff uniform consists of a black polo shirt paired with durable work trousers. The teams will also have a black sweatshirt, gilet and winter coat to chose from.

Below are examples of some of the uniforms that will be worn.

The milk supply, technical and sustainability teams will don a smart looking light-blue shirt with the Tirlán Farmlife and Living Proof logo embroidered on the breast, matched with navy chino trousers. The agronomy and ruminant team will wear the same uniform with a variation of logos, which will include the Mastercrop logo and GAIN Animal Nutrition logo, while the operations team uniform will display the Tirlán Farmlife logo. All teams will have a gilet and winter coat with their logos displayed.

HR Officer Rob Mosse has been working on the creation and rollout of the uniforms over the past number of months. Overherd caught up with Rob to hear some more.

“The whole idea behind the new look is to have a slick uniform which is professional and makes our employees recognisable to customers and more approachable. The other aspect of designing the new uniform, which I had to keep in mind when I met with Portwest who manufacture the clothing, was making sure that employees were comfortable in whatever uniform we decided to go with and that they liked it.

“The uniform project started in July, we had to wait until the brand was announced before we could do anything. Everything went out to tender and we met a couple of different companies. Originally, we were going to use the Tirlán brown as the uniform colour. We sourced samples in China and we knew once they arrived that the colour wasn’t going to work, so we chose the off-the-shelf black colour along with the Tirlán green.

“All our locations have now taken part in sizing days and our team in Bunclody was the first branch to be fully kitted out. The other branches are due to receive their uniforms in the coming weeks and we aim to have everyone in full uniform by the 1st of May.”

Bunclody Countrylife branch manager Mark Morrissey said: “The feedback from staff so far has been positive, I think everyone is really behind the Tirlán brand and what it stands for. You can see that a lot of thought has gone into it.”

“We were thrilled to be the first branch to get the new uniform and everyone was very excited to get the new gear. Our customers have been very complimentary of our new look and with new staff joining us recently, it makes it easy for customers to identify them.

“A customer the other day commented that the new uniform was very swanky for ‘Glanbia’, I replied that it was the new normal for Tirlán!”

Each month, we put the spotlight on a Tirlán employee and for our April newsletter, we’re talking to Gwen Gould

The Tirlán rebrand has provided an ideal opportunity for our farmer-owned cooperative to introduce uniform packaging across all products and ingredients, build on our new identity, promote our core values and plan for the future, Senior Marketing Manager Nutrition Gwen Gould says.

The Carlow native, who works in Commercial Ingredients, says it’s been absolutely non-stop since the re-brand late last summer and the launch of the complete protein offering, Promiko, in the midst of it showed how agile, enthusiastic and driven the entire team is.

“Our new identity has been really well received. Everyone loved Glanbia Ireland. But being able to create a new identity, build on our core values, celebrate where we’ve come from and look to the future sits very well. Our customers all over the world understand where we have come from and what our vision and mission for the future is.

“From September onwards, our key focus was on our international markets, Japan the US and Europe, introducing our new name, telling the story behind it and reinforcing with our customers that while our identity had changed, our people hadn’t and our world-class ingredients hadn’t.

“With the company restructure and rebrand came an exciting opportunity to change all of our packaging. Some of it was the exact same since the Waterford Co-op days. We grasped this unique opportunity to bring our new identity to life through our packaging and bring consistency to it. It has taken a huge team effort and has been so incredibly worthwhile.

“At the very same time that all this was happening, we got to launch our new sports category brand. The separation from Glanbia gave us an opportunity to promote Promiko to our customers and that too has been very well received.”

There isn’t a typical day, per se, for Gwen, who joined Tirlán in 2018 and started out in the consumer wing of the business. “My role very much involves looking at how we promote our brand, both Tirlán, Tirlán Ingredients and our ingredient brands; how we showcase our capabilities and our talents and expertise within the business and how we apply these through our high quality ingredients and make our customer’s products better.

“We promote our products, people and capabilities through industry platforms. We create webinars and we showcase our brand at trade shows. We now have an opportunity to meet our customers on site at our state-of-the-art new Innovation Centre and Collaboration Hub. My weekly agenda is very much based around what product we’re promoting at the time.

“The best part of the job is seeing all our work come together for webinars, customer visits, trade shows etc. It’s incredible to see the whole team work together, bringing the brand, the power behind it and what it has to offer to life. People want to talk to us, they want to talk about us. They believe in who we are and what we do.
“The most challenging part at times can be keeping all the plates spinning, keeping all of the balls in the air. But to be honest, I thrive on it and I wouldn’t be happy in a quieter job.”

And what does Gwen do to unwind, to recharge and step away from it all? “I like to run. I run a lot with my running buddy during the week and with my sister at weekends. I’m doing more trail running at the moment, which gives me an opportunity to appreciate the mountains and the forests at the same time.”

Unearth Your Future, Tirlán’s new two-year Graduate Programme, is offering graduates a wide range of opportunities and career progression prospects within our business

Graduates are currently being recruited across a range of disciplines, including Accounting & Finance, Agribusiness, Commercial, Corporate Affairs, Engineering & Operations, HR, IT (Business Analysis & MES), Marketing, Quality & Compliance, R&D and Strategy/Project Management.

Unearth your Future has been designed to provide all the structures that graduates need to grow their career, including personalised development planning, access to coaching, mentoring and individual wellness planning.

Successful applicants will enjoy rotations that will deliver exposure to the Tirlán business through on-demand and structured learning. The programme will culminate each year with the graduates being given the opportunity to showcase their learnings at the annual Tirlán Graduate Summit.

Speaking about the grad programme launch, Michael O’Leary, Tirlán’s Chief People, D&I and Org Development Officer said: “I’m incredibly proud that within 12 months of becoming a standalone co-op and operating under the Tirlán brand, we have created a graduate programme that reflects the ambitions of our organisation and whose participants will impact communities locally and globally for years to come.”

GAIN Equine Nutrition is supporting Riding for the Disabled Association Ireland

GAIN Equine Nutrition is partnering with Riding for the Disabled Association Ireland (RDA Ireland) to support the free horse riding and carriage-driving sessions the charity provides to hundreds of children and adults with disabilities every week.

The three-year partnership with the charity is in keeping with GAIN Equine Nutrition and Tirlán’s Living Proof sustainability strategy and our operative’s commitment to supporting farm families and the communities in which they live.

RDA Ireland was established over 50 years ago and its 360 volunteers work in 30 groups across the country to provide all-important weekly riding or carriage driving-sessions to over 300 children and adults with disabilities.

The free sessions provide service users with fitness, development of skills, socialisation, achievement and most importantly, fun, according to Cathy Byrne, RDA Ireland’s National Coordinator.

“The weekly lessons provide therapy, achievement and enjoyment to people with a range of disabilities to enjoy safe, healthy, stimulating horse-riding activities. But it is not only the riders who benefit – our volunteers gain so much from the Association and we’re always looking for new help and support. The funding we’re receiving from GAIN Equine Nutrition and Tirlán will help us train and support our volunteers and run our organisation, which has also just launched a Sponsor Riders Scheme.”

Joanne Hurley, Head of Equine, GAIN Equine Nutrition said: “Through our work in GAIN Equine Nutrition, we get to partner and support so many different parts of the industry from racing, bloodstock, high performance and horse welfare. It is great to be able to show our support to another really valuable part of the equine industry through this partnership with the RDAI. It is an association that enriches the lives of so many people right around the country and it is just wonderful to be able to give them our support.”

If you’re interested in becoming a volunteer or learning more about RDA find out more click here