Day 5, A Travelogue of Christmas in Ireland, December 2005

Christmas in Ireland Tour, 2005

Day 5 - A carver who tells a tale and a cattle sale

Monday, December 5, 2005

Itinerary: Visited Michael Quirke, Sligo woodcarver in the morning, had an adventure trying to maneuver one-way streets in Sligo to get to the LIDL supermarket, drove through Yeats Country visiting Glencar Falls and hiking in the Hazelwood Forest, stopped at the weekly cattle sale in Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim. Dinner at Austie's Bar and Restaurant in Rosses Point.

At 9:00 a.m., we had a wonderful breakfast presented at a very fancy table setting. The first course was grapefruit and orange wedge. Choice of porridge (oatmeal), scrambled eggs – with salmon, bacon, sausage, several breads, toast, orange juice, coffee and tea. Sam finally decided to let the group sleep in, so this was the latest breakfast yet.

At 10:00 we went to Michael Quirke's wood carving shop. He told stories about Irish mythology. They were about real historical people with some fictional flavor added. Ita had told a story about the white bull and the brown bull and said some of the legends are "bull." Michael also told a variation of this story about the great cattle raid which precipitated war between Queen Maeve of Connaught and the men of Ulster. Michael used to be a butcher and still carves in his father's butcher shop. He carves mythical figures and seems to know many tales from Irish legend; however if you stay in the shop long enough, some of the details of each story will change.

We did a little shopping in Sligo Town, then we went to the cattle sale. Our host, Michael, told us that the weekly cattle sale was on that day in the nearby village of Manorhamilton in Co. Leitrim. At the sale, steers were selling one at a time. The sale rings were small. They weight the calf first and then put him in the ring. Information about each animal is posted on a reader board above the ring. This information included date of birth, TB test information, export status, age, and weight. Cattle were sold by the head and not in lots. One calf weighing 305 kilos brought 407 Euros. (2.2 kg = 1 pound; one Euro=~1.25) No one sat on the bleachers. The men stood around the sale ring, leaning over the rails. There were no ladies present except, of course, for the four American women in our group. This was quite different from cattle sales in the western U.S., where sale day is an annual family affair. Three sale rings were running at the same time. The first sale ring sold heifers. The second sale ring sold steers. We did not go into the third sale ring. If the animal did not bring a base price, the animal was a "no sale." We saw some heifers that were not sold. It was very interesting. The stock trailers were small and mostly pulled behind small cars. During our entire time in Ireland, we only saw one pickup. We did see tractors on the road but they were very small in comparison to American tractors.

We went to Glencar Falls, which provides the backdrop for the Yeats' poem, "The Stolen Child." William Butler Yeats spent many of his summers in and around Sligo, where his grandparents lived. Much of his early poetry uses Sligo landscapes and legends as background. We hiked through the Hazelwood Forest mentioned in "The Song of Wandering Aengus," and looked out across Lough Gill to "The Lake Isle of Inishfree." Yeats wanted to be buried in Drumcliff Churchyard where one of his relatives was rector. We visited his grave and read his elegiac poem "Under Ben Bulben" there.

In the evening we sat around the fireplace. Ita showed us a video of her jumping horse she just sold for 5,000EU. I asked if that was a good price. She said it was, but they spent too much money getting it trained. They had planned to "no sale" it if they did not get at least 4,000EU.

Vivian showed her the pictures of the South Dakota ranch. Ita was impressed with the colorful horse, Buddy. Here we learned that Irish farmers, like American farmers and ranchers, are not happy with the free trade arrangement. Because of free trade pacts and European Union restrictions, Irish agriculturalists are getting less government money. Agriculture in Ireland is severely regulated. The farms are inspected often. Beef cattle have to test for TB, sometimes every several months. Ita indicated this was a mandated blood test. Most Irish farms were neat and tidy. Places were painted and there wasn't a lot of junk sitting around.

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