Katherine's Country: an unexpected trip

I had not left our farm since the start of lockdown, except for groceries or medical issues. Then, last Friday, I was offered a legitimate window into the outside world. Two stock bulls needed to be brought home from Kildare. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been weaning the replacement heifers off milk and onto meal and grass in readiness for the trip to the heifer rearer in Kildare. They will return home in spring 2022. This is the third crop of heifers to head north.

After nine full weeks in lockdown, I was apprehensive but happy to be heading off with my husband Tim. That morning, I ventured to the shop for a cooked chicken and some rolls to make a lunch for the trip. Meanwhile, the men were loading the 16 heifers. It felt really weird to be going on a journey. The road was eerily quiet and unusually clean. The golden yellow gorse had the motorway embankments ablaze with colour. By now, the mix of trees and shrubs on the embankments have matured well.

They are adorned in fresh leaves of numerous shades of green and grey

We started to name the many species; finding birch, ash, mountain ash, oak, blackthorn and whitethorn, hazel, whitebeam, dogwood, sitka spruce, sycamore, lime, hazel, willow, scots pine and bird cherries. I’m sure we missed a few.

They are adorned in fresh leaves of numerous shades of green and grey. Blowing in the breeze and catching the sunlight, they are a credit to the landscapers and various county councils. The embankment plantings provide cover for insects, birds and small animals.

Crops of barley and wheat add to the tapestry, along with meandering rows of silage down in fields from Cork to Kildare

Around Cashel, oil seed rape fields in bloom added another dash of colour to the landscape. Crops of barley and wheat add to the tapestry, along with meandering rows of silage down in fields from Cork to Kildare. We really have a beautiful country.

Light traffic

The traffic was minimal; confined to trucks and vans, an occasional farmer and the odd private car. It reminded me of the early 80s when I had my first car – only then, there was no motorway. I’d see a car coming towards me in the distance and be cautious until it had passed.

In many ways, lockdown has turned back the clock. When I was young, we didn’t eat out. There weren’t any restaurants. Home cooking was the norm and is again.

We dropped off the heifers; maintaining social distance

We wrote letters and received post. The postman and the milk lorry are currently marking these days. In our busy lives pre-lockdown, I’d hardly notice them. We pulled in at one of the lay-bys and had our sandwiches.

We dropped off the heifers; maintaining social distance. We called to see the R2s (replacement heifers over a year old) as my son Colm calls them. They are now being bred for calving down in 2021. They are doing well. A lovely red girl, 2039, came up to me for a rub. She was one of my pets as a calf. It was nice to see that her temperament hadn’t altered.

These are the subtle things that are as important, in my book, as reaching the targets. We loaded up two bulls that will be needed at home when AI finishes and turned around. No cup of tea, no place to stop.

A weird journey

It was a weird journey. The sun shone down. I focused on one long white truck ahead casting its sideways shadows. Then another coming ahead, one white van and then nothing. “Do you know what those blue signs are?” Tim asks. One read M8S80. “Something to do with location,” I answer. We discuss them.

The windscreen was filthy from dead bugs. The lack of traffic has brought them back onto the motorway

The mountains to the side looked magnificent. I was seeing Ireland as a tourist; unspoiled and green with cattle and cows grazing or lying in the sun, the odd flock of sheep with fat lambs at foot and more golden gorse. The windscreen was filthy from dead bugs. The lack of traffic has brought them back onto the motorway. A car overtakes us. One bull gives another a puck and the box rocks. The sign says welcome to Co Cork.

One day at a time. Let’s keep at this

We’ve passed through Tipperary without making a visit to my Tipperary home. Strange times indeed. One day at a time. Let’s keep at this. It’s too soon to take chances. Lockdown is easing but that means little change for farmers.