School: Carrowmore
- Location:
- Carrowmore, Co. Donegal
- Teacher: Seoirse Ó Dochartaigh
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1123, Page 463
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- (continued from previous page)was "butted" that is put in a butt. The butt held about 28lbs of butter. Butter merchants who also bought eggs bought the butter in the market and generally crossed once a week to Glasgow or other British city to sell it. Nowadays the farmers cannot produce near so much firstly because the old Irish cow which produced a good rich milk that yielded much butter was kept. Nowadays the shorthorn and other cattle are kept for beef purposes. Secondly more sweet milk is given to the calves - seventy years ago the bull calves were nearly all killed. Thirdly the farmers eat more of their butter. Fifty years ago butter was not eaten at meals except at breakfast on Sunday morning. Fourthly the demand for creamery butter killed trade for butter made in the home, though the butter if good has a better food value than creamery butter.
If a cow is proving in calf her ear is held and water is poured on her back. The farmer can foretell the sex of calf that cow will have if bit of manure gathers in a lump to cow's "barn" the calf will be a bull. More than one calf at a birth is considered unlucky and if the calf is in any deformed - wanting a limb or the member it is considered unlucky. We put manure into calf's mouth first thing so that witches will have no power over it. We call the calf "prugee" yet.
