THE McGoverns from Clogher know better than most how the isolating nature of farming has the potential to lead to devastating tragedy.
A year ago this month Sean McGovern suffered a heart attack on his farm that left him requiring two stents.
During his slow recovery over the last 12 months, his four daughters have had to step up to the mark and keep the farm going in his absence.
And although the huge responsibility of filling their daddy’s wellies has come far earlier than any of them could have expected, they have relished the challenge while being mindful of the reality that there is more to life than farming.
Clodagh, Eimear, Caiomhe and Orlagh along with their father are driving home their farm safety message in the latest series of UTV’s popular TV show, Rare Breed.
They are all acutely aware that if Eimear (22) hadn’t been with Sean on the morning of February 7 last year, he may not be with them today at all.
“If the last 12 months have taught us anything it is that you only get on shot at life, and it is so important to look after your health,” she told The Impartial Reporter this week.
“Daddy had been suffering pains the night before he took his heart attack. But like a typical farmer, he didn’t say a thing to anyone.
“We don’t live on our farm,” she explains, “It is three miles from our home in a concrete lane. So every day he would be there by himself. It was only because we had been down with TB and valuers were coming out to look at the cattle that morning that I took a couple of hours off work to be there with him.
“The reality is, if I hadn’t been there, he wouldn’t be here today.
“There was nobody else about other than me and him.”
Sean was bringing one of the bulls out when he started to feel unwell.
“He told me he didn’t feel great,” Eimear recalls, “I asked him what was wrong.
“He said to me: ‘I’m taking a heart attack’, and just at that he took a few steps back and hit the ground.
“I got him into the car and took off his wellies because he seemed so uncomfortable.
“I don’t really know how I managed to help him up -- daddy is bigger than me so it was a struggle.
“I got him to the house because I knew the ambulance would never find the farm.”
In the last year Sean has had to learn to step back from his way of life and allow his daughters to take the reigns.
“I’m sure the last year has felt very long for him, but he has to take time to get better,” says Eimear.
“I think now he has realised that there is more to life than farming.
“We were in middle of calving at the time, and before the heart attack, that would have been his main priority. Not any more.
“So many farmers have ailments or pains and they don’t want to worry anyone about them. But from our own experience, we would advise them to get themselves checked out or talk to someone and let them know that they are struggling. It’s also really important to make sure that someone knows where you are when you are out on the farm.
“You could spend an entire day on the farm and not see anyone -- if anything happened to you, no one would know.”
While their father recovers the sisters have become a great team.
“We have always been out on the farm from we were no age, but having daddy there meant that we always had that reassurance that what we were doing was right.
“When he was ill we had to just get on with it ourselves. We all had to just pull together for daddy and some times it felt like we were never out of the wellies, but at least we had each other. 
“And since taking it all on, we have seen things around the farm that we think could be changed or potentially improved.
“We have bounced ideas off daddy and he respects our opinions and trusts our judgement.”
With the farm now clear of TB, Eimear says she is looking forward to her favourite time of the year: the agricultural show season.
“I had my first show in Newry at the age of three showing a bullock and I have loved it ever since. Farming is in our blood,” she adds.