Cows swimming from the Irish mainland to offshore islands have gone viral on TikTok and Instagram, racking up millions of views, and now travelers are booking trips to Connemara specifically to see it happen. It may look like a spectacle to outsiders, but for the farmers of Connemara, it is simply how summer grazing works. Cattle are loaded onto boats and guided to swim the final stretch to offshore islands, and the practice has been part of the landscape here for generations.

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