It was a funny kind of morning. There was a dense fog sitting on top of us. The freedom afforded by the expansive view of the fields and rolling landscape was firmly shut out. I felt stifled, but not enough to risk peoples’ lives and go to my holiday home, if I had one. Not enough to insult every care worker, nurse, doctor, cleaner, administrator, HSE employee and laboratory technician in the country.

What has made people so selfish, in a time when selflessness is the one thing that will triumph over this virus?

Not enough to offend every person that is working to keep us all in food, post and other services. Not enough to take gardaí away from pressing business or risk the health and lives of our highly skilled cheese makers and milk processing people. Not enough to consign even more precious people to death.

What has made people so selfish, in a time when selflessness is the one thing that will triumph over this virus? We have to stay put to starve it.

If it was a monster that we could see looming large; would we continue to disregard the advice and feed it even more people to allow it to grow and become more ferocious? No. We would batten down the hatches, fortify our homes, arm ourselves and wait it out until the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) said it was safe to move about.

The next few weeks will be tough, but we can do this

I genuinely do not understand the mentality of people who are travelling unnecessarily to other places over Easter. The next few weeks will be tough, but we can do this.

Let’s stay at home, armed with plenty of soap and hot water, so the monster doesn’t even know we exist. If we have to move, let’s do it cautiously and never get too close. It can’t see you and will only catch you if you come into the range of his two-metre-long arms!

Busy day

As I walked from the yard to the house the droplets of dew on the freshly grazed paddock to my left were glistening under the fog. I was in a sort of bubble, things coming into view as I walked. Of course COVID-19 was in my head. The new figures, the implications. Here on the farm, we’re firmly into our human COVID-19 routine: social distancing and washing hands as if we never did anything else.

Diarmuid is an expert at coaxing cows to do his bidding

That day, there was a big job on to metricheck the cows to see if any infections lingered after calving. My son Colm was in the crush carrying out the check on each cow. My husband Tim was recording over two metres away. As for my other sons, Philip was working well away from others and Diarmuid was alone in the collecting yard feeding in the cows to Colm. Diarmuid is an expert at coaxing cows to do his bidding.

On days like that, I’d make a great big lunch for the team and we’d have a big discussion around the kitchen table bringing everyone up to date on all aspects of the farm. I love these lunches. But not that day. COVID-19 meant that the boys did not come in for their lunch.

When we meet, we stand apart, have a short and business-like conversation

In fact, these days, the aliens looking down on us must think that the O’Leary’s are having one unholy row; such is the distance between us.

When we meet, we stand apart, have a short and business-like conversation and move on quickly. We also make a strange gesture with our arms that we call the virtual hug. We hope that it helps Diarmuid to understand. It took him a while to get it. He can now be heard to shout: “Stand back, Dad!” when Tim might be threatening to steal something nice from his plate.

Farmers understand disease

At the end of the day, farmers do understand how disease spreads and the importance of isolation. We’re no stranger to viruses on farms either. From COVID-19 I’ve relearned the importance of soap.

I’m not skimping on the washing up liquid when washing calf feeders and buckets so if viruses are lurking there, I will obliterate them.

That same morning, the news of the death of country singer/songwriter, John Prine from COVID-19 was announced in Nashville. It prompted me to listen to his songs that day. So although we’re away from each other, we still have the music. We can and must keep going.