Denis Lehane: The homesick Hereford from Castletownbere - no animal is without a weakness

No animal, or indeed human for that matter, is without some weak spot and my Hereford is no different, writes Farming columnist Denis Lehane.

Should a good songwriter or poet come strolling up the lane, I daresay a fine verse would be garnered for the animal and all his noble virtues.

If you will recall, a few months back I bought a Hereford bullock - the first I had purchased in over 50 years of cattle trading.

"A step up," was how the paper titled the news. And it sure was. A break away from the bony and lank Holstein bullock. Upping a gear from the bullock with Jersey in the blood, and Jersey on the frame.