SKILLY STORY IS A HEART-WARMING TALE OF TRIUMPH OVER HEARTBREAK AND ADVERSITY

摘要

Joan McMurray owns the pedigree Skilly herd, based at Dromore in County Down, and has been running the business with help from her two sons since her husband, John, passed away in 2011. "Prior to John's diagnosis with motor neurone disease in 2008, I did help out on the farm. But I wasn't heavily involved in either the day-to-day running of the herd or the wider business - John did it all," she says. "It was his whole life and his passion, right up until the end. Even when he was unable to walk, we still found a way for him to get down to the yard so he could watch the cows being milked. "John loved his cows and he loved the farm. So when he was too ill to work it was never a question of selling up, I knew I had to get out there and do it for him," she adds.