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From the Wellies - July 06

The Highland Perthshire NFU Branch had its annual outing on the 7 June.  Thirty members enjoyed a trip to Scotsheep which was held at Wellheads Farm in Huntly.  Scotsheep features displays by all the sheep breed societies, trade stands, sheep dog trials, a farm tour and various technical seminars and displays to inform and education sheep farmers, young and old. 

One of the most disappointing aspects of the day was the risk assessment carried out on the tractor trailer farm tours.  For safety reasons, no one under sixteen was allowed on the tour, which seems a bit bizarre as most of the youngsters who had taken a day off school to attend the event would be well used to travelling on quad bikes or tractors and trailers. 

On a more encouraging note Stewart Kennedy of Borlick Farm Aberfeldy came a very close second in the Young Shepherd of the Year competition.  This tests competitors on clipping skills and other sheep husbandry tasks. Luckily for Stewart his £200 prize money was in the form of a cheque so he didn’t have to spend it on the way home buying everyone a drink! 

Our day at Scotsheep was rounded off by a very good meal in the Glens Hotel in Newtonmore on the way home.  The menu contained all the usual choices apart from lamb or mutton, so perhaps we, as sheep farmers, need to pay as much attention to getting sheep meat on the menus as breeding and feeding it!

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Still on the subject of farm visits we recently hosted a busload of French agricultural students who were on an exchange visit to Oatridge Agricultural College in Broxburn.  The college they attend in France is one of a number across the country which takes students from about the age of 14-15 years onwards.  As well as mainstream subjects, students study all aspects of agriculture. 

They are mainly farmer’s sons and daughters and this is seen as a very good way of preparing them as farmers and rural workers of the future.  The main difference they remarked upon was the size of farms in Scotland. 

Many of our farms in this country are made up of smaller farms which have been amalgamated into larger units over the last 30-40 years.  Farms in France seem to have more farmers living on or working smaller units.  This means that farmers and rural workers make up a much larger part of the electorate and the French Government seems to treat them as a much more important part of the electorate that the UK Government treats us.

The students had visited a number of farms across Scotland and were pleased to see Scottish farmers using Charolais and Limousin sires in particular.  Both these breeds were brought to the UK from France. 

The Limousin is now the most popular beef sire used in the UK due to easy calving and quality carcase characteristics.  France of course, is also famous for its wine and as a token of appreciation for the visit, we were given a couple of bottles of its finest.

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Farmers are hoping for some dry weather at the moment to get on with sheep clipping and hay making. 

Sheep clipping contractors can very quickly get behind schedule if the weather is not co-operating.  Anyone looking for a weather window of 5-6 dry days for hay making has been frustrated lately by localised thunderstorms, so let’s hope for a dry and sunny end to July.

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