The 12 Limousin heifers wandered ahead and pulled at the grass. Five hundred of us followed behind.
The ceremonial cattle drive was the last event at the Burren Winterage Weekend, a festival that celebrates the unique farming practices of the Burren region in Country Clare, Ireland. Cars filled the small country roads for miles and in all directions until they were waved into the field designated for parking. John O’Brien, whose farm the drive was held at this year, insisted he didn’t want much attention on himself. However, not unlike many Irish rural men, when he was handed a microphone he suddenly spoke with ease and at length about his farm of 50 beef cattle.
Geologically speaking, the Burren is one of the most unique places on earth. Once the site of a low-lying sea, the karst region is dominated by glacial-era limestone. To the uninformed observer, the region looks like a lunar landscape where little life can be supported. However, there are certain flora and fauna in the Burren that can’t be found anywhere else in the world. The landscape is home to orchids, butterflies and water beetles that would become extinct if their habitat in the Burren became untenable.
The farming traditions in the Burren are nearly as unique as its species. It is one of the only places in the world that practices reverse transhumance. Generally, when farmers or shepherds move their livestock between high and low ground, they bring them down from the mountains in the winter and send them back in the spring. In the Burren, however, it’s different. The Burren is locally called “the land of the dry lie” because the limestone bedrock provides good drainage for the grasses and, in the winter, releases the heat it has stored in the summer. Therefore, beef farmers in the Burren bring their cattle to the mountains in the late autumn to grazing grounds they call “winterage.”
The night before the cattle walk, James Rebanks, probably the most famous farmer-writer in Europe, was supposed to give a reading at the Winterage Weekend with the Irish poet Jane Clarke. His book, English Pastoral, has been one of the most widely read farming memoirs in the last few years. He’s a name that most Irish and UK farmers recognize, as well as many general readers. However, James had gotten ill and couldn’t make the trip from England. Hence, I got the last-minute call to replace him.
There were about 70 or 80 people at the reading. I watched most of them walk in. Their faces said what they were thinking, which was: You’re not James Rebanks. A few of them looked back toward the door. They were probably even more unsettled when I started talking and they heard my American accent. And then I read the first passage from my novel, where a mute boy beats a dead Holstein and then has a cow skull put over his head. The next section had the protagonist fixing a prolapsed uterus with a steak knife and a shoelace. As I finished, I wondered if I had single-handedly ruined the Burren Winterage Weekend.
The people and the landscape of the Burren have developed together. Grazing cattle in the rocky landscape has proven not only to be important in keeping farming alive in the area, but also necessary to protect the irreplaceable species of plants and insects there. In 1991, the EU designated the Burren a Special Area of Conservation – which, while in itself was an important specification, also demanded that grazing be reduced there. What they soon found, however, was that the flora and fauna of the region had started disappearing. In the end, it was proven to the academics what the locals knew the whole time: Their cattle were an essential part of the ecosystem.
The winterage festival celebrated a unique type of farming system that works hand in hand with nature and demonstrates that agriculture can be sustainable. For someone who had grown up on a farm far away from the Burren, the specific details were interesting. Most farms, naturally, were small, with about 50 head of hardy beef breeds like Limousin or Charolais. The general rule is that a farmer needs four times the acres of summer pastures to winterage, as they try to bring the cattle to the mountains as late as possible. From the middle of October, the roads around the Burren become busy with farmers walking their cattle to their winterage spots. During the rare times it freezes in Ireland, the farmers must walk up the mountains themselves and break the ice on the natural watering holes found there.
Joining in an ancient tradition, at least ceremonial, made for a good weekend. I couldn’t help thinking how much easier it would have been moving cattle on our farm growing up if we had 500 neighbors to help. Fortunately, it only rained for 20 minutes, which is an exceptional day in Ireland. In regard to my ego, I’m also happy to report that some of those who recognized me from the reading also shook my hand. Very different from James Rebanks, they all agreed, but didn’t someone have to write about fixing a cow’s uterus? Then we all kept walking after the Limousins, through the spartan rocky landscape, honoring how nature and people find a way to work together sometimes.
