In a caravan on a Co Kildare farm, singer-songwriter Cathy Davey tunes her guitar and begins to play the chords as she sings “Mildred, Mildred, Mildred, lovely little sleepy girl,” swapping her audience of thousands for two rescued turkeys.
The two birds, Mildred and Alfreda, arrived at My Lovely Pig Rescue more than a year ago.
They were raised on different commercial farms and were saved from slaughter last Christmas as they were both deemed “defective” due to severe damage to their feet.
“It just happened that these two girls were lucky enough to be around someone who cared, who tried to find them a safe place,” says Davey.
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She is the manager of My Lovely Pig Rescue and owns the farm alongside her husband, Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy.
Mildred and Alfreda enjoyed roaming the farm. They spent their days facing the trees, singing, eating grass, picking at stones, resting, taking naps and following people around, looking for affection.
But in early November, there were a number of outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian flu on turkey farms across Ireland. Since then, there have been five positive outbreaks in counties Carlow, Meath, Monaghan, Laois and, most recently, Cavan.
As a result, a compulsory housing order for poultry and captive birds was announced by Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon, coming into effect on Monday, November 10th. It is still in place.
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Since then, Mildred and Alfreda have been forced to remain indoors, in a caravan, with access to a covered polytunnel during the day.
Davey noticed the birds were feeling down due to being kept inside all day. “They’re more desperate to get into your arms, they’ll chase you to the door because they don’t want you to leave,” she says.
She says all animals will go off their food when depressed, and their immune system will “take a knock”, making them more susceptible to infections.
“As soon as the avian flu came, they did get a little bacterial infection in their tummy, which was resolved easily enough, but it was a clear indication that they really, really missed going outside.”
The turkeys also stopped singing once they could no longer get out. So instead Davey brings music to them.
Davey co-founded the My Lovely Horse Rescue centre, of which My Lovely Pig Rescue is part, with sisters Deborah and Martina Kenny, and has been writing songs for and singing to many of the different animals at the farm for some time.
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My Lovely Horse Rescue was named after the song that featured as Ireland’s Eurovision entry in Father Ted and was also recorded by Hannon.
She describes singing to the animals as a “nice way to spend time with them. They really love the acoustics and harmonics. It’s something new for them.”
While being serenaded, the turkeys, Alfreda in particular, fluff up their feathers, a sure sign of happiness, says Davey.
My Lovely Pig Rescue has been operating since 2020. It cares for 145 pigs as well as sheep, goats, donkeys and turkeys.
“We like to highlight the issues that farm animals, especially intensively reared farm animals, have to endure, and the injuries that results from intensive breeding, but mostly just to give them a good life,” says Davey.
They do not know how much longer the housing order will go on for but in the meantime, Mildred and Alfreda will receive personal concerts, cuddles, tickles and constant care from Davey, supervisor Tara Daly from Co Meath and farm volunteers.
