Archie McArthur

I was brought up on the family dairy farm in Mid Argyll at a time when mostly all the farms in the area had dairy cows. Hill farms were stocked with Blackface sheep and Highland,Galloway or more often cross cows originating from these breeds.

The county had many excellent stockmen and great pride was taken at all the shows and sales when their stock was being shown and sold. I remember a lot of respect and support given to fellow competitors from not only winners but losers too and this has always stuck with me.

As a six year old showing Ayrshire calves you learn pretty quickly to take whatever award you get with appreciation and not to bare a grudge, not so easy though at that age !

On leaving school I attended Lawers School of Agriculture in Perthshire and later enjoyed being a student at Elmwood College in Cupar. Whilst working at home, Young Farmers took up any spare time and although completely out my comfort zone at times I was encouraged to take part in many of the activities available, as with life itself, the more effort that was put in to the association, the more experience and enjoyment was received. Much of what was learned turned out to very useful in later life.

Towards the end of my Young Farmer days, I was awarded the Young Farmers Ambassadors Award and spent six months in Canada working on the prairies in Saskatchewan which I found both enjoyable and educational. I still remember the farmers who I met and the many bits of advice, friendship and kindness which they showed to me not to mention the things I learned and the friends I made.

Bhan Og 6th of Ormsary, 2-3 years old (Oct 1999), Champion, Dalmally at 3-4yo. Sold as in-calf heifer, Oban, October 2000, 4000gns. After that adventure, I began working on the local Ormsary Estate in Argyll where I was engaged as foreman on the large upland unit owned by Sir William Lithgow. Four years later, I was given the position of farm manager, married my wife Anne shortly afterwards and we hit the ground running.

It was whilst at Ormsary that along with a large herd of suckler cows, hill sheep and an expanding lowground sheep flock, I managed the herd of Highland Cattle which had been established by Alan Mac Kenzie in 1946. It was a time when the breed as a whole was lacking numbers and any sort of consideration in the market place. Cross highland females were in demand as suckler cows and many of the larger herds crossed Highland cows with beef bulls with the female progeny sold for breeding.

During my time at Ormsary, the cows were always fed on the low hill in the winter and ran with the bull on the higher hill in the summer together with the in calf autumn calving commercial cows.

Young stock were summered on the other unit we farmed at Drums in Renfrewshire where they grew on naturally on grass and away from any of the stock bulls at Ormsary. Bullocks were fattened there and we had a successful period of retailing beef from Highland and Shorthorn progeny.

Showing Highland stock was centered primarily at the Argyll county shows where getting a ticket with Highlanders was and still is as difficult as it was with good Ayrshires in my formative years.

We had a lot of fun over the years, we had good days and bad days but showed what was available at the time. Some years the results were good others not so much but seldom were we particularly hard done to. Showing livestock can be many things, it can be stressful, much work, great fun and rewarding. At times you may get a bit of luck getting awards not expected which you should grab with both hands. I believe the harder you work at it the luckier you will get.

Our main annual event would be the Highland Cattle Sales in Oban where we would take our in calf heifers for sale and just like the summer shows, we had good years and less successful years. I always went with heifers which were for sale and not necessarily for showing and am quietly proud of what we achieved. The three herds which I was ultimately responsible for were Ormsary, Inver and Carsaig and I was pleased to have all three herds produce breed champions at the sales.

During my Presidency of the Highland Cattle Society which I enjoyed very much, we held the first International Gathering of Highland Cattle Breeders during June 1995 to correspond with the Royal Highland Show.

Kate 2nd of Carsaig, Champion, Oban 2001, sold for 4000gns. Sire: Kirkibost of Ardbhan, Dam: Kate of Ormsary.

At the same time, the excellent council which I had at the time decided to launch an initiative to promote Highland Beef to try and increase income for breeders who wished to participate.

In order to do some breed promotion, we had a display of four Highland steers on the breed stand at the show. These were Ormsary steers which I dressed in a similar style to cross cattle for exhibition. This caused much discussion within our own membership but many commercial farmers and cattle breeders who visited the stand over the period of the show. It was one of the great enjoyable moments for me with the cattle. Not only was the exercise something different but also gave a serious message to people involved in beef production that there was more than hair and horns with the breed.

The steers were sired by the brindle bull Cathach of Millerston and their mothers were daughters of Jock of Balure and Brogach 2nd of Leys.

This was a very active period for my involvement with the Highland Cattle Society. My Vice President was the late William Thomson and the breed secretary was Hamish Wilson. We all got on well as team and as I have mentioned, I had excellent members of a supportive council and administrative staff during my term.

I have been asked on a number of occasions what my favourite animal was – I have two, both sired by Kikibost of Ardbhan.

The first would be the yellow Kate 2nd of Carsaig which was champion at Oban Feb sale in 2001, she was a lovely proportioned and balanced heifer with lots of character. The second would be Eva 6th of Ormsary which was a dark red winner of the first show held at Pollock Park. She had size and femininity and like Kate2nd of Carsaig had a beautiful head which she held up for all to see and became a favourite stock cow – I never sold an Eva female.

The best bull I bred would be Achad -Huilter of Ormsary a son of Hamish Mhor 2nd of Callachally He was a first prize bull when sold in Oban in 2005. He was a very correct red bull and was subsequently exported to Germany.

Best investment would be the bull Kikibost of Ardbhan which I bought privately from Mr McCrae who was a crofter on Skye. He was a bull who bred very well at Ormsary and Carsaig and produced some stylish females for retaining in the folds and gave us a good selection for showing and selling for a number of years.

I also should mention Brogach 2nd of Leys who I bought in 1986 when he was reserve champion in Oban and valued at 850gns. Again, he produced nice animals for Ormsary and Inver and in calf heifers were sold up to 5900gns … happy days.

I don’t have an animal which I would say was the best I have ever seen but one heifer which I very much admired was a black heifer from Millerston which was champion in Oban in 1984. She was one of the Una family and exhibited to perfection by my friend the late Jack Ramsay.

Who has most inspired me? or who inspires me. I would find it difficult to name individuals as I have known a lot of people from all walks of life not only in farming who were very genuine, gave sound advice and judgement and above all encouragement. I believe if you keep your eyes and ears open you can be inspired for many reasons by people, including some who you may not necessarily know.

As you get older, you begin to run out the senior generation who may have been an inspiration, but you are also in the lucky position of being able to observe capable young people progressing with success in their various careers which is great to see. I am particularly proud of some of my former work colleagues employed at Ormsary either casual or full time who are now in positions of responsibility and some farming on their own account.

Lynsey 7th of Ormsary, Champion, Oban, Feb 2007, 3000gns.

When I started work at Ormsary, little did I think that among all the busy parts of enterprise the Highland cows on the hill would be a catylist for meeting so many people from all walks of life. I have been very fortunate to have been asked to judge both Highland and Shorthorn cattle throughout the UK at county shows, exhibitions and bull sales.. No matter where you are asked to judge, be it the USA,Canada, Australia mainland Europe or the UK, the majority of breeders of Highland cattle must be among the most enthusiastic and friendly group to be associated with, I hope this does not change.

I retired in 2018 as General Manager for the Lithgow family after 41years of a busy and rewarding employment and are lucky to have our own farm for the family to enjoy. I am now very much on the back benches of the society but still enjoy my Field Officers duties and judging shows if asked which gives me an opportunity to meet members and friends. I hope you all have a successful and rewarding future with your cattle and get a bit of luck too!!

Achadh-Huilter of Ormsary.