School: Rathcoffey, Donadea (roll number 6174)
- Location:
- Ráth Chofaigh Thuaidh, Co. Chill Dara
- Teacher: Bean Uí Laideáin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0771, Page 191
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- Long ago, people had names on the cows such as 'Ramble', 'Hop','Blacky' etc. Our cows are called 'Blacky' and 'Browny'. The former is so named because she is real black and 'Browny' has brown spots on her back. A neighbour's cow is called 'Ramble' because she is fond of breaking into neighbour's fields. Another cow was named'Hop' because she has a lame step.
When driving the cows in and out of the fields we say 'Ho!Up!Ho!Up!. We say the same when driving calves. When we are calling young calves to give them milk we say 'Suck!Suck! If calling the cow or coaxing them to stand, we say 'Prug! Prug! We call the shed where the coss sleep the cow house or cow shed. Tis shed has a rack for hay in one corner and there are mangers, one for each beast, at one end of the shed.
We tie the cows to takes by means of chains which are fastened around the cows necks. At one end of this chain which is a few feet long, there is a crook which fits into a ring when the animals(continues on next page)
