This is one for all the “culchies” out there. While this post may not have anything to do directly with the GAA – we felt it only right to pay homage to our dairy farmers – who make up a good chunk of the GAA populous.
1 – Routine, routine, routine.
Cows don’t care if you’re hungover. Cows don’t care if you are sick. Cows don’t care if you’re studying for the leaving. And cows don’t care if you have training.
Cows are cows, and the bottom line is the cows need to be milked. Milking cows is ideal life training for preparing and sticking to a routine -a valuable trait in any profession, should you decide not to take on the farm. And if you do take on the farm – sure all the better. Who else is going to milk the cows?
2 – Responsibility.
Milking cows teaches you responsibility. There are times when you would rather be doing anything else but mopping up cow faeces in the holding pen of the parlour at 6am. After a long day at school, sometimes you just want to sit down and enjoy some down time. But cows wait for no man/ woman. The cows need to be milked, and having that responsibility teaches you that sometimes you need to put your own selfish needs after the farm.
3 – Hygiene
Many who aren’t agriculturally minded will be under the false impression that farmers and in particular dairy ones are somehow unhygienic. But in reality this is not the case.
The only reason you have drinkable milk on your breakfast table every morning is because Irish farmers take the hygiene of their herds very seriously. And pasteurisation – pasteurisation cures all ales.
Every one who has ever spent time in the milking parlour know that every cow gets checked and sprayed for mastitis as they go through.
4 – Waste not, want not.
Milking cows teaches you not to waste anything. As anyone on scraper duty will attest to. Everything has its use.
5 – Management of Large Groups
One of the most sought after skills in the work place is the ability to manage large numbers of people and have them all work in unison towards the same common goal.
Ok, cows aren’t people – but you’d like to see one of them there fancy engineers try “Hup!” and “Mup!” 100 cows up and down from the fields and milking parlour twice a day.
6 – The Value of Money
One problem people face when growing up is the lack of respect for the value of money. When your parents finance your entire life from toddler to adult – it can be hard to grasp just how valuable money is.
But milking cows gives you a head start in this regard.
There is something about a cow shitting down your arm at 5 O’Clock on a winters morning that makes you realise – money does not grow on trees.
Author: Kevin Bolger Source: GAA Banter
