My Country Living: ‘They’re like the old Land Rovers of the cattle world’

It’s very, very simple – I was looking for a birthday present for my wife. What do you get the woman who has everything? You buy her cows!

She’s a very attractive, gorgeous woman, but she’s not into jewellery, she’s not into cars, she’s not into makeup as such, but my wife Marcella has always had an interest in native Irish breeds.

We’ve a couple of native Irish dogs, an Irish Red and White Setter and we’ve an Irish Water Spaniel. We’ve kept Connemara ponies for 22 years now. That started out as a hobby and grew into an addiction!

We had a small herd of sucklers. I said: “I wouldn’t mind getting something unusual.” When I saw the Droimeanns, I thought, this looks the business. I bought two heifers.

Droimeann was granted the rare breed status last year, the breed has been around for thousands of years. It was fairly close to extinction at one stage. If it wasn’t for dedicated breeders it would be finished. All it takes is a few people to say: “No, it’s not going to happen on my watch, we don’t want that species to go and what can I do?” and everybody just did a little.

At the moment, the society has linked up with Valhalla Meats

I’m new to the Droimeann Cattle Society. People in the society have gone long before my wife and I. I only got involved about four years ago, when I got those two cattle.

With the Droimeanns, we’re starting from an ancient background, but in a new market. At the moment, the society has linked up with Valhalla Meats. There’s going to be Droimeann meat hampers available through Valhalla Meats.

Winter ready

From our two heifers, it’s escalated into a full herd. We’re up around 16 now, I think. We sold all the commercials, but we kept one Angus cow, she’s like an old pet.

The real key for us was two winters ago, you know the really bad winter? We were clearing out one shed that hadn’t been done in a while and we put cattle out. They were literally shivering outside and shaking. It wasn’t from the fact that they weren’t being fed, they were being fed, watered, looked after.

Then we had these two Droimeanns that were outside all the time. We had them out all winter long and there wasn’t so much as a peep out of them. They were grazing and going down into spots where the other cows would never have gone, eating bits of heather.

They just were thriving, whereas the other ones, you couldn’t have them out. I just said to Marcella: “Look at the difference.” We just thought, maybe this is the way to go.

Droimeann, they would be medium-sized cattle. They’re predominantly black and white, but the feature is the white stripe down the back. Droim Fhionn, fair back. There’s a lot of poetry, stories and songs about them. My background is in archaeology, I studied it in NUI Galway, so I’m very interested in their history.

Local life

I’d no interest in farming growing up, not in the slightest. I was interested in eating and I really appreciate good food. But Marcella, she always had the interest in farming.

Her mam is from Connemara, her father is from Longford. She grew up in Longford and her father would have farmed there in Ardagh. When she’d come down here to Connemara on her holidays, her grandmother would have the family farm.

So I ended up drifting into it and I just do what I’m told. I’m the muscle and the mouth, Marcella is the brains of the operation.

We farm outside Clifden, overlooking Omey Island. I’ve lived around here all my life. We recently bought 11ac of mountain that hadn’t been grazed for many years. We’re fencing it now at the moment. During the summer months, when there’s nice heathers and mountain grass, we’ll be able to move stock over.

This year, we’re going to send one, possibly two animals to a local abattoir and we’re going to sell the meat at a local craft butcher

Some land we have rented and some of it is also my brother’s – he’s in the United States – we’ve that off him as well. So we’ve a mixture of owned, leased and rented. I work part-time off-farm too.

What Marcella and I are doing is, any of the heifers we have will be for sale, any young bulls we have, we may actually rear for beef. This year, we’re going to send one, possibly two animals to a local abattoir and we’re going to sell the meat at a local craft butcher, Des Moran.

The Droimeanns have worked out unbelievable for us

Personally, I want nice, quality, very hardy young heifers and keep breeding up for purity. Then for the bulls, to be able to produce a medium-sized animal, grass-reared, that will have a nice bit of marbling. That the ones I want to sell here through the local butcher will finish well, look well and most importantly, taste well.

The Droimeanns have worked out unbelievable for us. They graze better, there’s much less veterinary gone into them, they winter better, they eat less and they’re just hardier all-around.

They’re like the old Land Rovers of the cattle world – they don’t require much maintenance and they won’t let you down.

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