School: Askamore (roll number 15675)

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1. The Care of the Farm Animals

   

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   The following farm and domestic animals at home are cows, horse,goat, sheep,pigs and the hens.When we are driving home the cows we say,"bail home, bail home."
   The cowhouse is a house with a paved floor as it is dangerous to have a cement floor. Some cows are tied in bails,while others are tied by the neck in chains to stakes. The bails are made of wood and the chains are of steel but both must be bought in a shop. Sometimes an emblem of the Sacred Heart is hung in the cow-house to bring luck on the stock.
   The cows must be milked once every morning and evening. It is a custom here to get the first milk from each cow for calves. This milk is called "forance". The very last drops of milk the cow gives is called "strippings". It is always kept for tea as it is the best milk of all.
   The stable is a house with a paved floor and is divided into stalls. Each horse has a stall with a crib and a box for oats at his head. When the horses set of are worn out it is necessary to take him to a blacksmith and purchase a new set. If a horse is left a long time without shoes his feet become tender and it is quite difficult to shoe him. It requires an amount of paring and rasping on the hoof and the horse is liable to run lame.
   The calls for the various kind of animals are "tuk, tuk ! for hens. bias, bias! for turkeys. badie, badie! for geese and weet, weet! for ducks. seoc ,seoc ! for pigs and jin, jin! for goats. Some of these calls are very ancient.
   Pigs are supposed to be able to see the wind. When the

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. activities
      1. economic activities
         1. agriculture (~2,659)
            1. animal husbandry (~2,587)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Annie Reddy

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Askamore, Co. Wexford