The Irish language, rural Ireland and agriculture “are all very important aspects of our heritage” according to Séaghan Ó Súilleabháin, who is better known to many as the ‘Kerry Cowboy’.
Ó Súilleabháin, a Co. Kerry farmer who along with his dog Braindí, has built up a following of almost 200,000 followers on TikTok, today (Wednesday, August 9) spoke of the importance of carrying on traditions from the past.
Ahead of National Heritage Week 2023, Ó Súilleabháin took part in an event together with Michael Duignan, two-time all-Ireland senior hurling winner with Offaly, and renowned historian Caitriona Crowe, to discuss why “heritage” is important to them.
The event was held to announce a new collaborative partnership between the National Lottery, and the Heritage Council of Ireland ahead of National Heritage Week. The National Lottery raises over €4 million a week for good causes across the country, including heritage groups and projects that receive the funding through the Heritage Council.
One of the key themes of this year’s National Heritage Week, which begins on August 12, revolves around “living heritage” which refers to the practices, knowledge and skills that have been passed from one generation to the next, and are still in use today.
Speaking to Agriland at the event, Ó Súilleabháin said: “From my side of things I’m very interested in the Irish language, rural Ireland, agriculture, which are all very important aspects of our heritage that I’d like to see sustained and brought into the modern Ireland that we’re creating.”
Ó Súilleabháin, who hails from mid-Kerry, spoke of the importance of preserving the way of life that exists in the region and how he is keen to see this continue into the future.
“We’re in Dublin today which is a built up area of course, but it makes you appreciate when you go home, the mountains, the sea, everything we have, the natural landscape that’s there.
“So I think that’s very important that we keep our farming going at home, that we don’t go in to the direction of urbanisation in places.
“I suppose what I’d like to see of course, while modernising and moving with the times, is that Kerry could keep that kind of rawness that it has. You know that real country way about them.”
Key to this, according to Ó Súilleabháin, is how farming will continue into the future, both in Co. Kerry and across the country.
“I always say farming isn’t a job, it’s a life, and I think that most people my age getting into farming would realise that.
“They’d say to themselves, that we have something valuable that we need to maintain and pass on to the next generation.
“I think that farms in general are a lot more grounded than a lot of other industries would be.
“They realise the generational chain that’s going on, and we’re thinking towards the future the whole time.
“So I would like to think most people would have that mindset and that it would be maintained,” he added.
Heritage on the farm
For Ó Súilleabháin, living heritage plays a daily part of his own family farm, from the vintage machinery that they use to their approach to producing their cows for milking.
Ó Súilleabháin said his father “loves vintage machinery” and owns a Massey Ferguson 135 and a Massey Ferguson 168.
“He has nice, big John Deere’s though, and he’s more obsessed with the little Masseys than anything,” he said.
He also believes that continuing the breeding characteristics of cows on the farm that were introduced by Ó Súilleabháin’s grandfather is an important way of continuing a living heritage.
He added: “Something that my grandfather instilled in the herd at home, and we’re still continuing that breeding line, is a cow that maybe wouldn’t have the most massive yield of milk, but that would be a strong, healthy, long-lasting cow.
“We’ve always zoned in on that, it’s a practice that has carried on and has stood to us. That’s something we’d like to carry on as well.
“We were always looking at health, fertility, docility, before they were ever really a thing.
“I think that my grandfather always wanted to make an all round, solid cow. That’s the trend nowadays, but it’s a practice that has always been there and that we’ve kept going.”
Ó Súilleabháin also believes that the place his farm occupies in relation to the biodiversity of the area is an important aspect of how living heritage exists, as each generation has sought to preserve the environment.
Ó Súilleabháin said: “We’re always looking to the environment, it’s very important to us in Kerry, the different animals that are living in the vicinity. It’s important to keep them going.
“The farm has expanded, as all farms have over the years, and as we’ve grown, I think we’ve tried to keep the natural environment maintained at the same time.
“It’s a challenge for farmers to do that, but I suppose it’s something you’d always strive to keep going, and look, we’ll do our best.”