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A Scottish Lassie Went Farming.
On the second of August 1996 I met an irish farmer and the next eighteen months became one big adventure into the world of farming. I was in County Mayo visiting my father for the summer just enjoying the beautiful countryside and chilling out for a few weeks. He introduced me to his neighbour about ten days before I was due to return to Scotland.
I had previously worked with horses so cattle were a mystery to me thats for sure.
The first day I got picked up on the tractor and told we were going to help lift a sick cow. Having control of the tractor spike lever, with a cow on a harness attached within fifteen minutes was a definate case of being thrown in at the deep end but I loved it and was totally hooked! My one day adventure turned into everyday left of my holiday spent farming. Learning about sick cattle, feeding, bailing etc. I continued to commute every few weeks and felt totally at home there. The scenery is so beautiful. It would be hard not to fall in love with the place. Mr Gallagher the farmer had such stories to tell of days gone by. He was one of nine children who all had to do their bit on the farm as they were growing up. He told me about the different methods used for stacking the hay, harvesting, milking etc and it made me realise the pride in the history of living there. It was interesting to see the photographs of all the changes that had taken place on the home farm and to see the new advances in technology and machinery standing side by side against his late fathers and grandfathers originals. Sitting pillion in the tractor out bailing silage on beautiful evenings and sometimes working straight through the night to finish at 6am just to start all over again a few hours later was such a buzz. Turning the hay and defying the weather to net over four hundred bails was an incredible challenge but Mr Gallagher and a couple of other farmers all pitched in and beat the odds. The old system of you scratch my back and ill scratch yours is very prominent there. A favour for a favour. Its nice to see in an age where its all about money.. The cattle were very scary to me at first but you soon learn about their personalities and being a woman of course I had to name a few....well quite a few actually. The bulls were my favourite and it gave me great joy to scratch their backs with a big brush every morning while feeding them their meal and silage.
You understand the whole meat marketing process a lot more working with them and realise they will be killed so there is no point getting attached. To see an animal well looked after and treated with respect while it is alive up until the point of its death makes the difference in your acceptance of their situation. Scotlands land usuage and versitility is so diverse compared to Mayo. I have learnt a lot more about land rotation, fertilising, laws of the land etc and it has made me very aware of my environment both home and away. I got to speak to many local characters and still to this day some do not have electricity in their houses. They cook on the range and keep some traditions alive. It could be described as a land that time forgot in a lot of ways...thoroughly charming... I would totally recommend anyone tempted to learn something different to give farming a go. It aint pretty, it aint easy but its totally rewarding.
Pink Flowery wellies and a woolley hat are essential accessories ofcourse!! |
bailing at charlestown
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Coming from a farming background, I can appreciate how you fell in love with this way of life. I really enjoyed reading your account of farming in the County Mayo. I do hope that you will continue writing of your experiences. You do it so well!
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