Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Farming Country published by farmingscotland.com. Written by farmers for farmers. Scotland's only monthly farming magazine.
Citation preview
Farming CountryIssue eighty-nine • December 2012
Highland CattleAcross the World
Latest Machinery
Lamb Marketing– Coastal Lamb
Two Poultry Features
ArgyllshireYoung Farmers
£2.00
Eilidh MacPherson
3
Farming Country
EDITOR: Eilidh MacPherson Marbrack Farm, Carsphairn,Castle Douglas, DG7 3TE
Tel: 016444 60644Mobile: 07977897867
PUBLISHER - farmingscotland.com
ADVERTISING –Eilidh MacPherson – 016444 60644Alison Wood –Kirstin Norrie –
Cover - Highlander in Finland, by Heli Rosvall Text and photography by Eilidh MacPhersonunless otherwise stated
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
the Island.This month I contacted Highland
Cattle Societies from around theworld and some were very helpful inproviding details for my quest.
My first full interview and featureas a journalist was with the Chief ofthe Clan MacLeod and ManagerDavid MacDonald at DunveganCastle on Skye. It’s one I won’t forget as their heifer – Eilidh – wenton to win at Oban a couple weeksafter the interview. I still have thebottle of MacLeod of MacLeodwhisky that I was given!
Lesley Eaton has an interestingarticle on block calving on anAberdeenshire organic dairy farm. Asystem not often seen in Scotland,but practised widely in New Zealand,where the majority of dairies dry offfor three months and only ‘town supply’ keep milking year round.
Fiona Turnbull has two poultry features this issue - both make aninteresting read. Read all about theEccles family, who combine poultryrearing with equestrian vaulting,which they are hugely successful at.
Two new sales staff have recentlyjoined the team – Alison Wood andKirstin Norrie. So I am looking forward to the back up and possiblyhave a wee bit more time for writingarticles.
I would like to wish all readers andadvertisers a wonderful Christmasand New Year. Here’s hoping for adry, sunny 2013, with amazing prices– am I asking for too much?
Iconsider myself to have been verylucky to have been brought up ona hill sheep and beef farm on the
Isle of Skye. My Grandparents tookon the tenancy of the 5000acre peninsula from the ForestryCommission in 1930. In those daysthere were no fences and theHighland cattle had to be tended andkept away from the young trees,which bounded the property on oneside. The other sides had naturalboundaries; Loch Eynort, Loch Brittleand The Minch.
My Grandfather was a cattle dealer and an auctioneer, setting upthe first market on Skye and was thelast to drove cattle off the Island.
So from an early age I have had aninterest in Highland Cattle. My firstmeeting was in the byre at home,aged two. Dad had taken a Highlandheifer in and tied her in a stall. I wasfascinated with her fluffy coat andapparently stroked her and said‘Teddy Bear.’ The stirk just aboutclimbed the wall, while I was whiskedout of the way. Teddy Bear as shewas then christened went on to produce many a calf through my earlyyears.
It’s no longer all Highland Cattle athome, but there is usually some crossHighland blood in the cattle.Blackface sheep also graze the hill atKraiknish nowadays. The picture onpages 4 & 5 was taken fromKraiknish, looking over onto Eynort,where our family also runs SouthCountry Cheviots – the only flock on
Farming CountryIssue eighty-nine • December 2012
91 9
BeefHighland Cattle
2 02 1
DairyBlock Calving
2 62 9
PoultryTurkeysContract Rearing
49
SheepCoastal Lamb, Wool,Shearing, Grazing
3 63 9
Rural Round -UpPhotography, Cookery,
3 5 Young FarmersIn Argyll
3 03 4
Machinery
2 4 Monitor Farm
EDITORIAL
