Kilmihil men make hay while the sun shines

Pat Lineen, his sons Darragh and Caolan and their cousin Thomas turned a few heads in Kilmihil on Tuesday. The quartet were spotted tramming hay in what is known locally as Spellissey’s Field on the Cree road in Kilmihil village.
Tramming hay is a rare sight at any time of the year these days but tramming in March is unheard of, even if the weather was summer-like.
“A lot of people were shaking their heads when they were passing. If Our Lady’s was still open I’d say they’d have me put over,” Pat Lineen laughed.
There was some rationale behind the tramming outbreak though. The field had gone “a bit wild” so Pat enlisted his sons and their cousin to give him a hand.
“I cut it Saturday. It was just to clean it up and maybe get a better crop in July. I’ll cut more hay there then, weather permitting,” Pat explained.
“I said I’d make litter of it because I had to buy straw last year for the bedding for the donkeys for last winter. So rather than buying straw, I’ll make litter of this but at the same time there was nothing wrong with it. It turned out lovely stuff,” he said of his beloved crop of hay.
Lamenting the demise of tramming, Pat says his day forking hay brought him back a few years or maybe even a few decades.
“The round bale has taken over. I used to farm years ago. The father had a farm over in Frure and we used to save hay there. It brought back a lot of memories. I’ve a diesel 20 and a 135. It was grand to see them working,” he reflected.