Remember this? The version I am going to give here is not exactly the one I recall from my school days, but it is the one contained in one of my favourite poetry volumes - An Duanaire - 1600-1900 - Poems of the Dis- possessed.
Sean O Tuama did the compilation, the verse translations from the original Irish were by Thomas Kinsella.
A dhroimeann donn dilis's a fhiorscoth na mbo Ca ngabhann tu san oiche's ca mbionn tu sa lo? `Bimse are na coillte's mo bhuachaill im choir Is d'fhag se siud mise ag sileadh na ndeor'. Kinsella rendered it like so:
My dear Droimeann Donn, o choicest of cows
Where do go you at night, and where are you by day? `I wander the woods with herd- boys beside me
and that's what has left me so, shedding down tears'. The Droimeann donn dilis - the "beloved brown, white-backed cow," was a pseudonym for Ireland. And that's where the poetry session ends.
The poem may have been referring to a breed of cattle that is still to be found in south Kerry and parts of south west Cork. The Droimeann is distinguished by the white stripe on its back. Once quite common in the two counties mentioned, there has been a dramatic decline in its numbers, and people like Mr Patrick O'Sullivan of Ardfert, Co Kerry, are determined to do something about it.
Accordingly, the Droimeann and Endangered Cattle Society was formed recently - its particular aim being to breed the Droimeann and other species under threat, with a view to guaranteeing their survival. According to Mr O'Sullivan, the Droimeann, as well as other species needing protection, could be found in its day in plentiful numbers from Sneem to Kenmare and along the Beara Peninsula. He estimates that today, there may be no more than 50 in existence.
There are various theories as as to where the Droimeann originated - white-backed cattle, such as the Gloucester breed in the UK are not unknown. But the Droimeann's unique and distinctive features have evolved in a different way.
In 1840, Prof David Low of the department of agriculture at Edinburgh University was writing about rare cattle breeds in Britain and Ireland. He described the Droimeann, so we know that its pedigree goes back that far at least.
Mr O'Sullivan says the Droimeann which attracted most attention in recent years was "Big Bertha," said to be more than 40 years of age when she died in the late 1980s. Bertha, owned by Mr Jerome O'Leary of Blackwater, Co Kerry, came to prominence because she had given birth to some 40 calves in her lifetime.
Mr O'Sullivan owns five cows as well as two Droimeann calves, and anticipates that other lovers of the breed will join him and his small band of fellow-enthusiasts to make sure that the Droimeann lives on. The society, already, has had two meetings. There will be more. In the meantime, Mr O'Sullivan can be contacted at 066-33227.