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00:00Hello and welcome to Ear to the Ground. Coming up for you on the show, Stephen is in the South
00:05East to find out how farmers are doing after the recent flooding.
00:09Whenever you step down, it bubbles up through the ground.
00:12Yeah, like there's, look at that, there's no visual crop left.
00:15There's no crop here?
00:16No.
00:17Dara spends the day in a wildlife rescue centre in Kildare.
00:21So it's quite a strong pain relief, because as you can imagine, a fracture is very painful.
00:27And I'm in Cork, meeting a woman balancing ongoing cancer treatment with a busy calving season.
00:32I know I've an incurable cancer. I have no idea how much time I have, but I'm going to make
00:39the most of it.
01:00On every dairy farm, calving season is the busiest time of year.
01:06The O'Leary farm near Tower in County Cork is no exception.
01:11For Catherine O'Leary, caring for the new arrivals is more than just another job. It is a passion.
01:19Catherine, this has been your job for the longest time.
01:22I am rearing calves here in Woodside for 43 years, and probably even a little bit before.
01:28And it has always been my domain.
01:31It's a skill that Catherine is now passing on to her grandchildren.
01:35So, Ricky, I'm only giving them one scoop...
01:38But it has taken on extra significance, since she was first diagnosed with cancer six years ago.
01:44Well, I'll bring a baby, please.
01:46Yeah, there you go.
01:47When I can do my normal chores, I just get such satisfaction out of it.
01:53And it's a different mindset. You just must be positive.
01:56And you must be resilient. And I suppose I try to be as resilient as I can.
02:02Catherine has been documenting her life with cancer in the Irish Country Living magazine.
02:07Until last year, the cancer had been responding well to treatment.
02:11But a recent scan revealed a tumour beneath her left arm.
02:17And further scans also showed a number of tiny tumours in her lungs.
02:24Catherine's cancer is now incurable.
02:28It is what it is.
02:30It's a bummer.
02:32It's not nice.
02:33There's no point in saying it's wonderful or anything like that.
02:36And I'd hate any people to get the wrong impression that she's on cloud Google, and I'm not.
02:41I know I've an incurable cancer.
02:43I have no idea how much time I have.
02:46But I'm going to make the most of it.
02:51Catherine met her husband, Tim, when they were both just 18 years old.
02:56They married five years later and went on to have four children.
03:02We're together 50 years, imagine.
03:0550 years this year.
03:06We met in Macra in 1976, in Balancholic Macra.
03:09So all our adult lives, we've been together.
03:12And we've dealt with all the issues together.
03:15Yeah.
03:15We've talked them through and found solutions and all the rest of it.
03:18This is different.
03:19This is going to end in Catherine dying.
03:23Yeah.
03:24And we have to face up to that.
03:27Okay, life has changed.
03:28It has changed an awful lot.
03:30There are days I'm a blubbering idiot looking out that window saying,
03:33I don't want to go.
03:34I don't want to leave my grandchildren.
03:37I don't want to leave my children.
03:38I just want to be here.
03:40Yeah.
03:40But I have a little cry.
03:42And my main cry is usually in the field with the heifers.
03:45You know, and I go to see them and I'm saying,
03:47oh, you'll have calves in two years.
03:49No, time now.
03:49I wonder will I be around.
03:50Yeah.
03:51But you have to put that away.
03:53It would be very easy to step in and do too much
03:56and make her a patient.
03:57And we won't do that.
03:59So she feeds her calves, the housework and stuff like that.
04:02She does most of that.
04:03I've done a bit of cooking now because she does get tired in the evenings.
04:07And that's a new adventure for me.
04:10But we try and keep it as normal as possible, Ellie.
04:13You know, we just try and put that fucking other stuff in the background.
04:19It comes out of its own accord, you know,
04:21but we keep it there as long as we can.
04:28I want to keep on.
04:30I want to keep involved.
04:32And that is the way I will beat the cancer back
04:35and get more time and more time and more time
04:37by not allowing it take hold of me.
04:42Farming has been at the heart of Catherine and Tim's life.
04:45Together, they have built a thriving business
04:48and a home for their children, now all grown up.
04:53The last few years have been a difficult time for the whole family.
04:57I can honestly say for the first couple of months,
04:59definitely struggled massively with the pain, just pain,
05:03just the fear of the suffering, the fear of what she has to go through.
05:08She can't be the powerhouse she is
05:10because the week she goes for chemo, that's what it is.
05:13And she does everything she wants to do,
05:16but there's this kind of constant cloud.
05:19When we were growing up, we heard about the challenges
05:22that mum and dad had when we were young children.
05:25But now, with this newest challenge of cancer,
05:28we've been able to see what their resilience is like.
05:32So you feel the strength?
05:33You can, yeah, you can see it, like, straight in front of our eyes.
05:39I think mum did think about whether to write about it totally open.
05:43But, um, once it was done and she started getting letters
05:47from people who, like, you know, just say things like,
05:52my family's been through the same, thanks so much for sharing.
05:54That's a massive list to mum, the thought that she's helped someone.
05:58And, dear Mith, how do you help your mum?
06:02I help my mother around the house,
06:06make tea, do the water, throw away my stuff,
06:12and make tea as well.
06:14You sound... I would like to live with you.
06:16You sound fantastic.
06:19Every family that goes through what the O'Leary's are now facing
06:23deals with it in their own way.
06:27Everyone carries the burden as best they can.
06:31How do you think Tim is?
06:32How do I think Tim is?
06:34I think he's heartbroken.
06:37I think it's terribly tough on him.
06:43I'm more heartbroken for Tim and for my family
06:48than I am for myself.
06:51You've been together for five decades.
06:54Yeah.
06:54In the last few years,
06:56have you learnt anything new about Catherine?
07:01Jeez, that's a question and a half.
07:05Have I learnt anything new about her?
07:08It's certainly deepened my love for her.
07:13And admiration.
07:16Because the way she's dealing with this is...
07:20Some mornings, I don't know,
07:22she gets up and keeps going.
07:24And as a result,
07:26she makes it easier for the rest of us.
07:29So that's admiration and love.
07:31And yeah, she's great.
07:35I'll have lived 67 fabulous years
07:39on the 22nd of May this year.
07:41And you can see the legacy of my family
07:44and the whole lot.
07:45And I'm so proud of what we have achieved.
07:48And I've achieved so much.
07:51We will cross each bridge as we come to it.
07:54And I know Tim will be holding my hand.
07:56I know they'll all be there.
07:58And I just want to live my beautiful life
08:01here in this beautiful place
08:03for as long as I can.
08:11That's it for part one.
08:12Coming up after the break,
08:14water-soaked farmland in the southeast.
08:16These sheds were all underwater, Stephen.
08:19And the calving boxes here,
08:20the main cattle shed.
08:21It was up to the lower bars and the gate there.
08:24And rescuing wildlife in Kildare.
08:38The heavy rains over the last weeks
08:40wreaked havoc in Enniscorthy
08:42with many homes and businesses flooded.
08:45Further upriver,
08:47farms were also dealing with the rising waters.
08:50The farmers along this stretch of the Slaney
08:53are at pains to point out that
08:55as bad as things were for them,
08:57the town clearly suffered much more.
09:00But the floodwaters did cause serious damage
09:03to their lands.
09:05Julian Ashmore and his father Winston
09:07run a beef and tillage farm
09:09on the banks of the Slaney.
09:11These sheds were all underwater, Stephen.
09:13The calving boxes here,
09:15the main cattle shed.
09:17Sharmina was up to the lower bars
09:18and the gate there.
09:20The livestock were standing in the water?
09:22Standing in water, yeah.
09:23Wow.
09:23And we had to get them out of the sheds,
09:25higher ground into a pen,
09:27clean the whole thing out,
09:28and re-bed it.
09:29You're just helpless.
09:31There's nothing you can do.
09:32Just watch the river rising
09:34and you're just seeing,
09:35will it drop by nightfall?
09:38Winston is the third generation
09:40of his family to farm here.
09:42He can recall just once
09:44when the flooding was as bad.
10:02The water in the farmyard was just part of the problem
10:05facing Julian.
10:09This entire 21-acre field
10:11was also underwater.
10:14So I'm walking on it now
10:15and it's sloppy,
10:17but it's beginning to seep out a little bit.
10:20A little bit, yeah.
10:21What impact has the flooding had
10:22on your plans for this field?
10:24You'd hopefully trying to get
10:26spring barley into it there
10:27around mid-March.
10:29But if this weather continues,
10:30it's going to be much later.
10:32Had this field been plowed,
10:33we would have had a lot of damage.
10:35No doubt about that,
10:36it would have washed the soil away off us.
10:38That's always the worry.
10:40There's very little you can do really here.
10:41Maybe put an earthen bank
10:43around the farmyard
10:44to stop the water coming in.
10:46But the fact that it's a floodplain,
10:48you're just helpless, really.
10:51Further down the field,
10:52straw and debris in the hedgerows
10:54give a clear indication
10:55of how dangerous the flood levels were.
10:58You can see where the water level was, Stephen.
11:01Shermine, it's up to my shoulder there,
11:02so it must be nearly five feet.
11:04So the level of straw here in that tree,
11:06that was the height of the water?
11:07That was the height of the water, yeah.
11:09That's nearly the height of me.
11:11Julian's immediate problem
11:12is serious disruption to his sowing.
11:15But other local farmers
11:16are concerned with harvesting.
11:19Pad O'Toole is a neighbouring farmer
11:21and my colleague
11:22at the Irish Farmers Journal.
11:24For veg farmers in particular,
11:27it's been a really trying time.
11:28They have to get out
11:29in their fields every single day.
11:30And there's a lot of vegetables
11:31in Wexford and Wicklow in particular,
11:33where farmers are literally
11:34going out into the fields
11:35and harvesting by hand
11:37because they can't get any machinery
11:38into the field.
11:40Another big challenge
11:41caused by the floods
11:42is the spreading of slurry.
11:45The season opened in mid-January.
11:48We've had rain every single day
11:49since the 13th of January,
11:51so it's not safe to spread slurry
11:53and tanks are starting to fill up.
11:54People who have a month's extra storage
11:56over what is required
11:57are now running out of storage.
11:59We need a change in the weather
12:00and none is forecast.
12:03Further inland,
12:05tillage farmer John Murphy
12:06hasn't had to deal
12:07with rivers bursting near banks,
12:09but the incessant rain
12:11has literally saturated his land,
12:14placing his winter wheat crop
12:16in jeopardy.
12:17John, it's fairly wet underfoot here.
12:19It is that, Steve, yeah.
12:20So would this be a wet field as such?
12:23It would be heavy land,
12:25but I've had winter corn here
12:28several times and I've never seen
12:29as much water boiling up.
12:31At this time of the year,
12:32this crop looked lovely
12:33all the way up along
12:34until, I suppose,
12:36maybe three weeks ago.
12:37The further we walk into the field,
12:40the worse the conditions.
12:42The soil is after breaking down
12:43and slumping as well.
12:44You see the stone coming up through.
12:46The amount of rain that's falling,
12:47I think, is the problem.
12:48I mean, that's pure silt.
12:50That's going to end up in the river.
12:51Surely that'll have knock-on effects
12:53for subsequent crops
12:55in this part of the field.
12:56Well, it definitely has done
12:58the soil structure no good anyway.
13:00Like, you still would be very worried
13:02about what that crop is going to yield.
13:04And do you think,
13:05what's going to come with that?
13:06Do you think it's that crop gone?
13:07You're looking at 38 acre fields,
13:09five acres going out of it.
13:11There's a big loss.
13:12Since early January,
13:14a series of low-pressure systems
13:16brought persistent rainfall over Ireland,
13:19culminating in Storm Chandra.
13:21These patterns are a result
13:23of changes to the jet stream,
13:25an air mass high above Ireland
13:27influencing our weather.
13:29Climate change means
13:30such extreme weather events
13:32will now become more likely
13:34and more intense.
13:35Mary Burke is a professor
13:37in geography at Trinity College.
13:39So what we've got is a flood season.
13:41That's getting longer.
13:42And what I mean by that is
13:43the floods,
13:44the soils will become saturated
13:46earlier on in the season
13:47and last longer.
13:48So that whole wet winter phenomenon
13:51is with us now
13:52and we have the data to show that.
13:55It seems there is little farmers can do
13:57to protect their lands
13:59from incessant rains.
14:00And there is only limited protections
14:02to combat rivers
14:04overflowing into their fields.
14:06They will likely need to consider
14:08how, what, where
14:10and when they sow in the future.
14:13But farmers may yet have
14:15a potentially big role to play
14:16in protecting their townie cousins
14:18into the future.
14:20Mary headed up a pilot project
14:22called Slow Waters
14:24which looked to demonstrate
14:25how nature-based solutions
14:27on farmland
14:28can help reduce flooding
14:29in residential areas.
14:32What we're looking to do
14:33is maybe ask for a piece of their land
14:35and it's a small piece of their land
14:37to be used for one or two days
14:39every year
14:40to hold back the floods a little bit
14:42from getting to the river
14:43as quickly as it is right now.
14:44So we want to start way up
14:46at the top of the catchment
14:47and work our way down
14:48taking a little bit of each field
14:50and putting in structures
14:52that are very natural.
14:53We're using soil
14:53to build low walls.
14:55We're using maybe willow
14:57to make it a bit harder
14:58for the water to run
14:59along the river bank.
15:03Mary hopes that more farmers
15:05will adopt measures
15:06used in the Slow Waters project
15:08as a natural alternative
15:09to hard engineering solutions.
15:13But as things stand
15:14there is no financial incentive
15:17to do so.
15:19I'd like to see proper studies done on it
15:21before anyone loses any land.
15:24Like a farmer's land
15:26for a long number of years
15:28especially along the River Slaney
15:30it's prime tillage land.
15:31I don't believe that one measure
15:33will stop the flooding
15:34along any river.
15:35I believe it's a lot of measures.
15:43It's 8am on a quiet Saturday morning
15:46but another busy day
15:48lies ahead for the staff
15:49and volunteers
15:50of Kildare Wildlife Rescue.
15:53I'm here to follow them
15:54as they rescue and rehabilitate
15:56sick and injured animals
15:58and return them to the wild.
16:01Could I have somebody
16:02to do the aviaries
16:03to kind of get you to do those?
16:06First order of business
16:08is to check on all the patients.
16:10From birds
16:11to hedgehogs
16:12to bats.
16:14But each day
16:16also sees new arrivals.
16:18Our feathers are
16:19in really bad condition.
16:21Volunteer Alice Kavanagh
16:22is in charge of triage
16:24this morning.
16:26We have less than
16:27100 patients right now
16:28but in the busy season
16:30we can have up to 700 animals
16:31here at a time.
16:32Wow.
16:33Yeah.
16:33We see a lot of pigeons
16:35and gulls.
16:36They are the birds
16:37that interact most frequently
16:38with humans
16:39so they're the ones
16:40that come into trouble most.
16:44Outside rescue coordinator
16:46Pierce Stokes
16:47is bringing in
16:48yet another injured bird.
16:50It's a buzzard
16:51that's come in
16:52from just outside Athlone.
16:54It was found
16:55on the side of the road
16:56in shock.
16:57Soaking wet.
16:59Yeah.
16:59Hello mister.
17:02Alice needs to examine
17:03the buzzard.
17:05Based on information
17:06from a member of the public
17:08it's thought its injuries
17:09may have been sustained
17:10two days ago.
17:13The mouth looks good.
17:15The eyes look good.
17:17So he's not doing
17:18any grabbing with his legs
17:19which isn't a great sign.
17:23Any theories
17:24as to what's going on?
17:25Probably a collision
17:27with a vehicle.
17:28The vet will
17:29do a full
17:30check on him later.
17:33Kildare Wildlife Rescue
17:35is a registered charity
17:36largely relying
17:37on public donations
17:38for support.
17:39We'll dip her feet.
17:41All volunteers
17:41receive training
17:43in animal handling.
17:45Centre manager
17:45Dan Donagher
17:46is preparing breakfast
17:47for an animal
17:48recovering from surgery.
17:50We're just going to
17:51pop it in this side.
17:54How's he doing?
17:55He looks okay.
17:56Yeah he's doing really well.
17:57The vet checked him
17:57on me last week
17:58and did another x-ray
18:00and it's healing really well.
18:01I had a plate
18:02put on the leg.
18:03A metal plate?
18:04A metal plate yeah.
18:05And that'll heal
18:06and then it'll be removed then.
18:08So what's the likely
18:10timeline on this guy here?
18:12So another two weeks
18:13cage rest
18:13then he'll move
18:14to an outside enclosure
18:15for some exercise
18:16just get back
18:17using his limbs again
18:18for about another
18:19two, three weeks
18:20and then release
18:21back into the wild.
18:24I'm going to have
18:25a closer look at him
18:25and see what's going on.
18:27The Wildlife Rescue Centre
18:29shares some medical facilities
18:31with a veterinary practice
18:32next door
18:32which allows the animals
18:34here to get expert care.
18:36Vet Katerini Vati
18:37volunteers at the centre
18:39in a free time.
18:40She's here to check
18:41the buzzard
18:42admitted earlier.
18:44When birds
18:45typically get hit by cars
18:46one of the first things
18:47that does happen
18:47is they tend
18:48to break their wings.
18:50So there seems
18:51to be quite
18:51a bit of swelling there.
18:54I'm just going
18:55to carefully open it
18:56and see.
18:58There's a bit
18:59of laxative there
19:00and I can feel
19:02some crackles
19:03so I am concerned
19:05that he has a fracture.
19:09So it's quite
19:10a strong pain relief
19:12because as you can
19:13imagine a fracture
19:13is very painful for him.
19:15Is that going
19:16into his chest?
19:17It's going
19:18into his chest muscle.
19:19Yeah.
19:21Katerini also
19:22inserts a cannula
19:23so that fluids
19:24can be given
19:25to stabilise the bird.
19:27Once he's stable
19:28we can x-ray him
19:30and find out
19:30exactly
19:30what's going on.
19:34When the animals
19:35are sufficiently recovered
19:36they're moved
19:37to the outdoor pens
19:38to allow them
19:39to acclimatise
19:40before they're released.
19:41The raven
19:43was found
19:43in Wicklow
19:47so he was unable
19:48to fly
19:48when he was found.
19:49They are quite impressive
19:51aren't they?
19:51They are very big
19:52and they're very clever.
19:55There are also
19:56stables here.
19:57One is currently
19:58home to some cygnets.
20:00So we have some swans
20:02in here.
20:03So these might have been
20:04picked up on the canals
20:05or...
20:06This time of year
20:07most of our cygnets
20:09are coming in
20:09because they've
20:10crash landed somewhere.
20:12So they're leaving
20:13their families
20:13and trying to find
20:14their own territories.
20:16With the wet roads
20:17they often mistake
20:18the roadways
20:18for canals
20:19or waterways
20:20so they end up
20:20crashing on the streets.
20:24Back in the surgery
20:26Katerini has turned
20:27her attention
20:27to a kestrel
20:28brought in a week ago
20:30with a fractured wing.
20:32An x-ray
20:32is required
20:33to check
20:34on its progress.
20:35So what we do
20:36is we place them
20:37in a box
20:38and we use a gas
20:41to anesthetize them.
20:43And we always
20:44keep the box
20:44covered as well.
20:47Once the kestrel
20:48is sedated
20:49it can be safely x-rayed.
20:51We're just going
20:51to give him
20:52some oxygen
20:52while we're
20:53x-raying him.
20:55And seconds later
20:57we can view
20:58the results.
20:59We can see
21:00his fracture here.
21:02Is it that
21:03darkened area there?
21:05That's exactly
21:05it.
21:06Now that is
21:07a fracture
21:07that's healing
21:08that shouldn't
21:08interfere with him
21:09flying.
21:10I would at least
21:10give him
21:11another couple
21:12weeks
21:12just to make
21:13sure that
21:13all that healing
21:14has finished.
21:18Back outside
21:19Pearce is collecting
21:20a buzzard
21:21and a swan
21:22who are both
21:22fully recovered
21:23and ready
21:24to go home.
21:26But before
21:27we leave
21:27the centre
21:28I wanted
21:29to check in
21:29on how
21:30the injured
21:30buzzard
21:31who came
21:31in this
21:31morning
21:32was doing.
21:33Alice.
21:34Dara,
21:35welcome back.
21:36How's
21:36our buzzard
21:37doing?
21:38So
21:39unfortunately
21:40Dara,
21:41the buzzard
21:41did not
21:42make it.
21:43Oh man.
21:43If he'd
21:44gotten to us
21:44sooner
21:44we might
21:46have been
21:47able to
21:47give him
21:47a better
21:48chance.
21:48He's one
21:49of the
21:49unlucky
21:49ones.
21:50He's one
21:50of the
21:50unlucky
21:51ones.
21:51We
21:51helped
21:5213,000
21:53animals
21:54last year
21:54so
21:55we're
21:55bound
21:56to see
21:56some
21:56that
21:56don't
21:57make it
21:58and
21:58unfortunately
21:59this is
22:00the case.
22:02It's a sad
22:03moment
22:04but I take
22:06heart from
22:06the fact
22:06that we're
22:07about to
22:07help two
22:07of the
22:08lucky ones
22:08to be
22:09returned
22:09to where
22:10they
22:10belong.
22:11Definitely
22:12the best
22:13part of
22:13this job.
22:16All right
22:16this is
22:17good a spot
22:17as any.
22:18This is
22:18where we're
22:18going to
22:19do it.
22:19It looks
22:19good to
22:19me.
22:20It looks
22:20safe.
22:21First
22:21up the
22:22swan.
22:23And you
22:23can let
22:23go now.
22:25There you
22:25go.
22:26Have a
22:26nice life.
22:30Instinctively
22:30he just
22:31wants to
22:31head for
22:32the water.
22:32Exactly.
22:34Look at
22:34that.
22:38Then it
22:39was the
22:39turn of
22:40the buzzard.
22:46There you
22:47go.
22:47Oh.
22:48look at
22:49that.
22:50He
22:50wasn't
22:51too long
22:51making up
22:52his mind
22:52was he?
22:53Exactly.
22:53Absolutely
22:54magnificent.
22:55Not a
22:55bad day's
22:56We always
22:56do a
22:57fist bump
22:57after that.
22:59All right
22:59mission
23:00accomplished.
23:04Well
23:04that's it
23:05for Air
23:05to the
23:05Ground
23:06this week.
23:06Coming up
23:07for you
23:07next week
23:07a bright
23:08future for
23:08pig farming
23:09in Tipperary.
23:10You will
23:11always have
23:11your ups
23:11and downs
23:12in it.
23:12You'll
23:13have that
23:13in every
23:13sector
23:14in every
23:14walk of
23:14life.
23:15You take
23:15the good
23:16with the
23:16bad and
23:17we always
23:17see the
23:18more positive
23:18side to
23:19it.
23:19Putting
23:19native
23:20breeds
23:20back on
23:21the menu.
23:22You happy?
23:22Very happy.
23:23And there's
23:24no spices
23:25or anything
23:25on it.
23:26Just a
23:26little bit
23:26salt and
23:27pepper.
23:28Yeah.
23:28The flavor
23:28is of
23:29the meat.
23:30And Stephen
23:31is in
23:31Wexford
23:32finding out
23:33if it
23:33could be
23:33the center
23:34for wine
23:34production.
23:35We made
23:36a lot
23:36of research
23:37soil,
23:39climate,
23:39and we
23:40decided that
23:41Wexford
23:41would be a
23:42very good
23:42place to
23:43grow grapes.
23:44Don't forget
23:45that this
23:45program will
23:46be repeated
23:47on Sunday
23:47at lunchtime
23:48after the
23:49farming weather.
23:50You can
23:51follow us
23:51and contact
23:51us on
23:52social media
23:53and you
23:54can hear
23:54more farming
23:55stories on
23:55Countrywide
23:56this Saturday
23:57morning on
23:58RTE Radio
23:581.
24:15RTE Radio
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