farmingscotland.com Issue 89

Farming Country Issue eighty-nine • December 2012

Highland Cattle Across the World Two Poultry Features Lamb Marketing – Coastal Lamb Latest Machinery

Argyllshire Young Farmers £2.00

EDITORIAL

Farming Country

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Sheep Coastal Lamb, Wool, Shearing, Grazing

Issue eighty-nine • December 2012

I Eilidh MacPherson

Farming Country EDITOR: Eilidh MacPherson Marbrack Farm, Carsphairn, Castle Douglas, DG7 3TE Tel: 016444 60644 Mobile: 07977897867 editor@farmingscotland.com www.farmingscotland.com PUBLISHER - farmingscotland.com ADVERTISING – Eilidh MacPherson – 016444 60644 Alison Wood – Kirstin Norrie – Cover - Highlander in Finland, by Heli Rosvall Text and photography by Eilidh MacPherson unless otherwise stated

consider myself to have been very lucky to have been brought up on a hill sheep and beef farm on the Isle of Skye. My Grandparents took on the tenancy of the 5000acre peninsula from the Forestry Commission in 1930. In those days there were no fences and the Highland cattle had to be tended and kept away from the young trees, which bounded the property on one side. The other sides had natural boundaries; Loch Eynort, Loch Brittle and The Minch.

My Grandfather was a cattle dealer and an auctioneer, setting up the first market on Skye and was the last to drove cattle off the Island.

So from an early age I have had an interest in Highland Cattle. My first meeting was in the byre at home, aged two. Dad had taken a Highland heifer in and tied her in a stall. I was fascinated with her fluffy coat and apparently stroked her and said ‘Teddy Bear.’ The stirk just about climbed the wall, while I was whisked out of the way. Teddy Bear as she was then christened went on to produce many a calf through my early years.

It’s no longer all Highland Cattle at home, but there is usually some cross Highland blood in the cattle.

Blackface sheep also graze the hill at Kraiknish nowadays. The picture on pages 4 & 5 was taken from Kraiknish, looking over onto Eynort, where our family also runs South Country Cheviots – the only flock on

the Island.

This month I contacted Highland Cattle Societies from around the world and some were very helpful in providing details for my quest.

My first full interview and feature as a journalist was with the Chief of the Clan MacLeod and Manager David MacDonald at Dunvegan Castle on Skye. It’s one I won’t forget as their heifer – Eilidh – went on to win at Oban a couple weeks after the interview. I still have the bottle of MacLeod of MacLeod whisky that I was given!

Lesley Eaton has an interesting article on block calving on an Aberdeenshire organic dairy farm. A system not often seen in Scotland, but practised widely in New Zealand, where the majority of dairies dry off for three months and only ‘town supply’ keep milking year round.

Fiona Turnbull has two poultry features this issue - both make an interesting read. Read all about the Eccles family, who combine poultry rearing with equestrian vaulting, which they are hugely successful at.

Two new sales staff have recently joined the team – Alison Wood and Kirstin Norrie. So I am looking forward to the back up and possibly have a wee bit more time for writing articles.

I would like to wish all readers and advertisers a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Here’s hoping for a dry, sunny 2013, with amazing prices – am I asking for too much?

9 Beef Highland Cattle 19 2 0 Dairy Block Calving 21 2 4 Monitor Farm

2 6 Poultry Turkeys 2 9 Contract Rearing 3 0 Machinery 34 3 5 Young Farmers In Argyll

3 6 Rural Round -Up Photography, Cookery, 39

Page 12 - 18 – Various Highland Societies Page 20 -

Lesley Eaton

Page 24 -

QMS

Page 26/27

Eccles Family

Page 28/29

Rebecca Lee

Page 30

John Deere

Page 31 -

New Holland

Page 34

H&H

Page 38 /39 Contributors’ own

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