TERAPROOF:User:stephencadoganDate:24/07/2013Time:14:30:55Edition:25/07/2013FarmingFX2507Page:14 Zone:FX1

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THURSDAY, JULY 25, 2013 1514 THURSDAY, JULY 25, 2013 FEATURE FEATURE

Cormac MacConnelltheoldesthack@hotmail.com

IT’S PURE TRUE

Feeling the powerof the pulpit

‘‘ Even a papish master ofceremonies is hugelyempowered by standing highover the congregation

‘‘My track record for tellingthe pure truth here should bewell established by now. Yetstill there are doubters andnaysayers who continue toallege that at the very least,Cormac elasticates the truthmore than occasionally. I ro-bustly deny that, of course.Accordingly, those

doubters will again shaketheir heads this Thursday,when i say that this old pa-pish from rural Fermanaghpreached and orated from noless than two dignifiedProtestant pulpits in Co Corklast weekend. And has notbeen inside a confessionalbox since.Those pulpits, as a matter

of fact, were located in SaintColman’s ancient church inFarrahy, at the heart of thesun-soaked village of Kildor-rery, and in the sereneKingston College chapel inMitchelstown. Both wereserving at the MitchelstownLiterary Festival, and it wasmy official duty, as MC, tomount them, in order to in-troduce the lecturers in-volved in what was a moststimulating weekend.Here are more facts. The

lecturer in Saint Colman’swas Dr Hilary Lennon fromUCC, dealing with the worksof Frank O’Connor, and thecentrepiece of events in theKingston College chapel wasprovided by Eleanor O’Reilly,reading her prize-winningshort story from this year’scompetition. It was altogeth-er as brilliant as its title,which was ‘Saints and Kid-neys’, believe it or not.There is more. I rapidly

discovered that even a Papishmaster of ceremonies issomehow hugely empoweredby standing high over thecongregation in the footstepsof now ghosted deans and rec-tors. Dr Lennon, a Roscom-mon native and a giftedspeaker, later confessed tohaving the same experience.It was my duty to thank her

for her contribution, so I hadto mount the pulpit oncemore. We were in the eveningof yet another glorious day,the parched stubble fields on

Mitchelstown, which recently played host to a literary festival.

Zookeepers goape for gorillaZookeepers at Ohio’s Cincin-nati Zoo acted as surrogatesto raise a baby gorilla reject-ed by her mother.They donned gorilla-like out-fits and mimicked animalnoises to help the baby pri-mate. They worked in eight-hour shifts around the clock,until a gorilla took over theparenting role.Gorillas and humans areclose relatives, sharing intelli-gence, emotions, and per-sonalities, and living in familygroups.Now aged five months,Gladys the baby gorilla, isliving with her new gorillasurrogate mom.After just over a week ofbonding with her new mom,M’Linzi, staff at the zoo arepositive the two have bondedand will remain together.

Cat emporiumComing soon in London isLady Dinah’s Cat Emporium,a crowdfunded businesswhich raised £109,510 onFebruary to open a luxuriousspace for cats and people toshare in a spirit of relaxationand joy.Entrepreneur Lauren Pears’sidea has visitors drinking cof-fee or tea while they petabout a dozen cats from alocal animal shelter.“There’s one thing that lots ofpeople living in London can’thave: A kitty, ” Pears said.Many similar shops can befound in Tokyo, another citywhere people tend to worklong hours and live in smallapartments that might not al-low pets.“A cat café has the potentialto create social situations thatyou wouldn’t otherwise get,”Pears said.“ Yo u cou l d h a v e twostrangers who’ll talk to eachother in a café setting be-cause there’s a cat in be-tween them.”

Slithery snakesThere are more than 3,000species of snakes, rangingfrom the 10cm thread snaketo the 30ft (9m) reticulatedpython.Snakes are covered in over-lapping scales that can feelvibrations in the ground.Without eyelids or ears, theyrely on vibrations to “hear”.They live mainly in burrows orunder rocks and somesnakes stay dormant in verycold winters.Only vipers, cobras, and oth-er related species use theirvenom to hunt. Most snakeskill their prey by swallowing itwhole. A snake can eat preythree times larger than thesize of its head because itslower and upper jaw can sep-arate. Larger snakes canstrangle prey to death.

the horizons aching for thesolace of twilight, and yet,from the crowded congrega-tion, a lady asked me if Iwould sing my Christmassong about the spontaneoussoldiers’ truce on the West-ern Front of a First WorldWar Christmas. The puretruth too. And dammit, I putmy head back and gave it tothem full volume from begin-ning to end.Surreal. I think I may have

spotted a few tears in thebenches afterwards too.Young men who were boys inthis church would surelyhave gone forth to be slaugh-tered in those dreadfultrenches. Maybe some oftheir spirits were not too faraway. It felt that way. I havedecided since the event thatpulpitry somehow enhances anicotined old voice. Next timeI am asked to sing, I willdemand a similar platform.We Papishes from the other

side of the border were raisedin a world where the animali-ty of the Orange demonstra-tions in Belfast was never toofar away. We are often chinacups of things, brittle. Deepinside, there is often a buriedcell or two of suspicion andfear and watchfulness in thepresence of strangers instrange places.You needed that, especially

in the marching month of Ju-ly. It is a complex area, large-ly beyond my word power,but I long ago discovered thatit is in the deep south of whatwe always called the FreeState that the cold little celltotally disappears, and one is

deeply at peace. and that isthe pure truth too.Just one small example of

how special this Free State is,even today.At some point, I needed a

packet of cigarettes late inthe night in Mitchelstown.Young lads directed me to thefilling station across the road.I walked in and told the manbehind the counter I wouldkill for a packet of Carrolls.He said there was no need forthat, produced my cigarettes,accepted my €10 note, gaveme my change and thenasked if I was the man whowrote in the Irish Examiner.I confessed. He said he

reads me every Thursdaywith some enjoyment, hisname was Pat O’Shea, and weshook hands as I thanked himfor the compliment. I walkedback up to the pedestriancrossing and was waiting forthe lights to change, when Igot a quick tap from behindand there was Mr O’Shea,mutely, with the gift of anoth-er packet of cigarettes lest Irun out again before theevening in Walsh’s musicalpub up the road was over.Where else would you en-

counter that kind of gesturetowards a visitor? We shouldbe very proud of what wehave been, as reflected in themasterful stories of FrankO’Connor, and equally proudof what we still are today.Thanks Pat. I am smoking

the very last of yourcigarettes back home in Clareas I write this. And never hasnicotine intake felt so holisti-cally healing.

FarmAntics■ Stephen Cadogan says attendance of 3,500 at Kilgarriffe reflects dairy

Record numbers atHelen farm’s HolsteinFriesian open day

TH E R E w a s arecord Irish Hol-stein Friesian As-sociation (IHFA)open-day atten-dance, 3,500, at

the Kilgarriffe pedigree-regis-tered Holstein Friesian herdof Richard and Marion Helen,at Clonakilty, Co Cork, lastweek.Pedigree breeders and com-

mercial dairy farmers tookpart in inter-club stock-judg-ing, presentation of nationalherds competition results,gold and diamond awards forindividual cow performance,YMA stock-judging (introduc-ing a successful class for un-der-12s), Macra na Feirmestock-judging; and presenta-tions on milk quality, forage-budgeting (Teagasc), grass-seed establishment, nutrition-al advice, opportunities post-quotas, and the genetic diver-sity of the Holstein Friesianbreed.Key sponsors were Green-

vale Animal Feeds, LisavairdCo-op, Carbery and ClonaDairies.Volunteer members of the

Cork Southwest Associationfor Autism distributed re-freshments.The Kilgarriffe celebration

sale of young stock was abarometer of the positivityamong dairy farmers.They averaged €2,000, with

the top price, of €4,100, forKilgarriffe Sharon 1 ET, avery stylish calf by Man-O-Man, from the Sharon family,her dam a third calf, VG 87cow, by Goldwyn. Her seconddam is a full sister to therenowned sire, Picton Shottle.Purchasers were from vari-ous counties, with two lotsgoing to Northern Ireland.The Kilgarriffe herd was

established in 1965 by RichardHelen’s parents. Three gener-ations of the family work onthe farm, which has grown to200 hectares, including a 60-hectare milking platform,with a milking herd of 200.Milk is supplied to Clona

Dairies and to Lisavaird Co-Op.The breeding philosophy at

Kilgarriffe is trouble-freecows developed throughstrong families.Their average yield last

year was 9,132kg, at 4.06%butterfat and 3.35% protein.There are 36 EX, 102 VG and

60 GP-classified cows in theherd. All replacements arereared on the farm, with 40bulls from the top cow fami-lies retained each year to sellas stock bulls.Open-day competition re-

sults were as follows.

NATIONAL HERDS COMPETI-TION 2013

Over 70 cows: 1, Brochan

Cocoman, Kill, Co Kildare. 2,Paul Hannan, Crecora, CoLimerick. 3, Tom Kelly,Drogheda. Highest EBI: DerekRyan, Bowerswood Herd,Mullinahone.

Under 70 cows: 1, NoelHennessy, Lismore, Co Water-ford. 2, Richard Whelan,Clonard, Co Meath. 3, DenisDonoghue, Mallow, Co Cork.Highest EBI: Colm McGirr,Ringowney Herd, Edgeworth-stown.

Spring calving section: 1,Thomas Byrne, Gorey. 2: Ea-mon McLoughney, Ard-croney, Nenagh. 3: Pat Shana-han, Rathkeale. Highest EBI:John Kealy, RandallstownHerd, Navan.

Judges Choice: 1, Brochan

Cocoman. 2, Thomas Byrne,Gorey. 3, The Hurley Family,Arklow.

NATIONAL STOCKJUDGINGOver 26 section: 1, Limer-

ick/Clare (John Moroney,Aidan Frawley, Mike Dana-her), 2, Cork (Sean Mc-Sweeney, Seamus Crowley,Gerard Lehane. 3, Tipperary/Waterford (Noel Hennessy,Eamonn McLoughney, TomJulian). Highest Individual:John Moroney (Limerick/Clare).

18–26 Section: 1, Cork (Di-armuid Murphy, DavidBeechinor, Leslie Draper. 2,Limerick/Clare (Ann Neville,Thomas Nev i l l e , MarkLynch). 3, Carlow/Kilkenny(Padraig Murphy, WilliamPhelan, Louise Murphy).Highest individual: DonalCoppinger (Galway) andKatie Kennelly (Kerry).

Under-18 section: 1, Lim-erick/Clare (Jane Hannon,Christine Lynch, ConorLynch). 2, Carlow/Kilkenny(Doireann Mulhall, SimonLanigan, George Murphy), 3,Kerry (Jack Walsh, TJ Maun-sell, Lauren Fitzmaurice).Highest individual: JackWalsh (Kerry)

MACRA NA FEIRME/IRISHDAIRY BOARD DAIRYSTOCKJUDGING

Senior: Victor O’Sullivan,Whitechurch Macra, Sean-dun , Cork . Runner-up :Michael Murphy, Kiltealy/Ballindaggin Macra, Wexford.

Under-23: Alan Twomey,D o n o u g hm o r e M a c r a ,Mu ske r r y . Runn e r - u p :William Neville, TullamoreMacra, Offaly.

Munster Cattle Breeding Group shows off its new€2million bull

farmer positivity

stud developmentThe Munster Cattle BreedingGroup, the largest cattle breed-ing company in Ireland, recentlygave board and committeemembers a preview of its new€2 million bull stud at itspremises in Mallow, Co Cork.The stud will strengthen the

relationship between the Mun-ster Cattle Breeding Group andthe National Cattle BreedingCentre, providing the centrewith additional infrastructureto scale up its breeding pro-

gramme and operate to thehighest bio-security standards.Bulls will be housed in opti-

mum animal welfare conditionsat Mallow, in a stress-free, easy-handling environment.Pat Mulvehill, CEO of Munster

Cattle Breeding Group, said:“We invited a group of boardand committee members topreview the new stud and seefirst-hand the innovation andtechnology that has gone intoits development and we look

forward to officially opening thenew facility in the comingmonths.”Construction of the new facil-

ity began late last year.Munster Cattle Breeding

Group was established in 2007with the merger of the Dairy-gold, Kerry Agri and ShinaghEstates (the former SWS agri-businesses) cattle breedingservices business.It is a one-stop-shop for herd

owners, with a breeding and

semen procurement pro-gramme, DIY and AI technicianservices and advisors, milkrecording, liquid nitrogenservice and, more recently,herd heal th and fer t i l i tyservices.The group has over 410

people engaged in provision ofservices, including 47 full-timeemployees and 370 artificialinsemination and milk record-ing technicians on a contractbasis.

Avril Helen leading one of her family’s prize animals at theIrish Holstein Friesian Association national open day, on theHelen family farm at Kilgarriffe, Clonakilty, last week. Just 48hours later, she showed the family’s Holstein and Jerseychampions of the Carbery Show in Skibbereen (show report:page 26) Picture: Denis Boyle

‘‘ The Kilgarriffe herd was established in 1965 byRichard Helen’s parents. Three generations of thefamily work on the farm, which has grown to 200hectares, including a 60-hectare milking platform,with a milking herd of 200

‘‘

Taking a break at the IHFA national open day, on the Helenfamily farm at Kilgarriffe, Clonakilty, were Pat Buckley,Upton and Harry Ferguson, Bandon. Picture: Denis Boyle

Gladys the baby gorilla,raised by keepers atOhio’s Cincinnati Zoo.

At the preview of Munster Cattle BreedingGroup’s (MCBG) new bull stud:Progressive Genetics (PG) chairman TomKelly; Dairygold chief executive JimWoulfe; Dairygold chairman BertieO’Leary; MCBG CEO Pat Mulvehill;National Cattle Breeding Centre (NCBC)CEO Bernard Eivers; MCBG chairmanDavid Horan; NCBC chairman MichaelJohn O'Donovan; MCBG board memberPatrick Landers; and PG CEO DenisGuilfoyle. Picture: Diane Cusack