Kilkenny lecture focuses on: ‘A rare breed: The Irish and their animals through history’

The South Kilkenny Historical Society lecture programme resumed recently with a lecture delivered by John O’Halloran, ‘A rare breed: The Irish and their animals through history’.

John brought the attendance (in the Parish Hall, Mullinavat and on Zoom) through the roles played by various breeds of farm animals (goats, sheep, cows and dogs) throughout our history and also spoke about the efforts being made to save some from extinction.

John pointed out that he is an archaeologist by profession, but ‘fell into farming’ and also farms with his wife Marcella and daughter. He went on: ‘I took over the farm from my grandmother. They had a simple system of suckler cows. They would have had traditional breeds, improved by British breeds in the 60’s and 70’s but over time they were replaced by limousines, a non-native breed’.

John O’Halloran (speaker) and Michael Parsons

John’s visit to the farm of Tom Keane ‘was a lightbulb moment’ and he described how the biodiversity was on a level that he had never seen before, where the main impetus was the Droimeann Cattle, a traditional Irish breed. As a result of the visit ‘we bought two and that year was the worst weather we had for a long time. The non-native species were finding it really difficult and they wouldn’t eat the grass, whereas the Droimeann breeds were eating brambles, nettles and rushes. We couldn’t catch them because they wanted to stay outside. From there we bought the same breeds and kept them on marginal land where they were happy’. TAP HERE FOR MORE WHAT'S ON IN KILKENNY

A very engaging, informative and interesting discussion followed the lecture, where issues such as climate change, organic agriculture and agricultural policy were discussed

The chairman, on behalf of the society, thanked John for an excellent and informative lecture, which dealt with much more than the animals themselves, but was also ‘littered’ with numerous reference to events and people throughout our history. He also thanked those who helped organise and promote the lecture, and to Kilkenny County Council for funding under the Community Event Grant and Community Local Enhancement schemes.

Deirdre Atkins and Mary Ryan
The next lecture, which takes place on Thursday, October 30, will be delivered by Conor Brady, ‘A Hundred Years of Ireland’s National Police Force: 1925 – 2025’.

This year marks the 100 anniversary of the merging of An Garda Siochana (which was established in 1923) and the DMP (Dublin Metropolitan Police) and since then it has been the only police service in Ireland.

Conor Brady is the author of two histories of An Garda Siochana. He was editor of ‘The Irish Times’, from 1986 to 2002. From 2005 to 2011 he was Commissioner with GSOC, the garda supervisory body. He is Associate Professor of Journalism at the University of Galway.