School: Tobar Pádraig (roll number 4764)
- Location:
- Patrickswell, Co. Limerick
- Teacher: Anraoi Ó Broin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0527, Page 133
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- XML “Our Farm Animals”
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- Our Farm Animals.In this parish we have the cow, the horse, the donkey, the goat, the pig and the sheep. They are very useful to us. As we have only one acre of land ourselves, we cannot keep a cow, so we have a goat instead. We are very fond of "Jenny". Her milk is rich and she has a kid every year. Jenny can be very cross sometimes. She rises on her hind legs and butts at you with her strong horns.My neighbour, Pat MacMahon has ten cows. Some of them has names such as "White poll, Black legs, Croaker, Rathkeale". This is the name of the place where she was bought.When May eve comes the farmers here like to get the May water. They believe that a blessing is good on the cows at this time. There are few "piseogs" followed by the neighbours here. Long ago I heard that the milk could be taken from one farmer and given to another by charms or spells. The cowhouse or stall is a long low house. Inside there is a row of bails. When the cow puts her head in the bail, a timber post is pushed towards her head and is tied. Then the cow is tied for the night. There are many other ways of tying them. In Winter the cows are milked in the stalls. When only one cow is kept, she is tied to a ring in the wall by the neck with a soft rope.(continues on next page)
