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Documentary, This Farming Life S02E05
The working day begins as the sun rises above the horizon and it ends long after the sun has set. Across Scotland and Northern Ireland, the struggles and triumphs of farmers and their families are documented to give a unique perspective into the lives of those providing the nation with milk, meat and more. Against a backdrop of some of Britain's most remote and beautiful locations, these farmers go about their day with unprecedented dedication as they tend to their animals, harvest their crops, and care for their own families, as they endeavour to keep everything on the farm running smoothly during often testing times.
#FarmingLife #ThisFarmingLife #Scotland

#FarmingLife #ThisFarmingLife #Scotland
#Documentary

Category

🐳
Animals
Transcript
00:00Across some of the most beautiful and remote landscapes of the British Isles.
00:07There's not many views like that. It's absolutely stunning.
00:10Scotland's farmers work day and night, producing our milk and our meat.
00:17Trying out new ideas.
00:20Buffalo doesn't want to do something. You're going to find it very difficult.
00:24And striving to turn a profit in tough economic times.
00:28We're struggling. We're definitely struggling.
00:32Over the course of a year, six very different families let cameras onto their farms.
00:39Everything that could have gone wrong there, went wrong.
00:42The idea of lying on a beach, bliss.
00:45To share their struggles.
00:47We have to get her out or she's going to die.
00:49And their triumphs.
00:52It's not about the paycheck. It's about the lifestyle.
00:58It's a new year in Scotland.
01:13A blanket of frost has enveloped the fields and hills.
01:19Nutritious grasses and vegetation lie dormant.
01:23At a time when many of the farmers' sheep and cattle are pregnant.
01:28Not bad mornings feed the girls.
01:33But with the shortest day now behind them, each minute of extra sunlight gives farmers cause for joy.
01:43And just have a wee check of the crosses here.
01:46It's a beautiful day and that makes all the difference.
01:48In the cycle of the farming calendar, it's the quiet time of year between breeding and birthing.
02:03Farming is all about the seasons and different times of year mean different things.
02:09Generally winter is all about keeping the animals warm, well fed and out of the worst of the weather.
02:15And then we can look forward to the spring when the animals can go out.
02:20But this winter has been a little bit different.
02:34On the east coast, in the rolling grasslands of Fife,
02:38pioneering farmer Stevie Mitchell rears a herd of 400 water buffalo for prime meat.
02:45They're getting ahead of me, so I better crack one.
02:48Stevie usually times his breeding cycle so that his calves are born out in the fields in the summer.
02:54Come on boy, come on.
02:57But this year, his breeding bull 007 was firing blanks, which has thrown everything out of kilter.
03:05We had a whole pile of cows not in calf.
03:08So these guys ran a different bull, so they're calving out a sequence of what we would have preferred.
03:14Stevie had to use another of his bulls to do the job instead.
03:18And now, for the first time, 30 of his cows are calving in a crowded shed in winter.
03:25It'll be a little bit more challenging with them inside.
03:27We normally like to calve with them outside with lots of space.
03:30But that's just what we'll have to deal with today.
03:33You okay? Good care.
03:35They're being looked after by Polish-born stockman Eddie.
03:39I came over to Scotland in 2006 and a friend, Stevie, looking for a worker working with Bavolo.
03:49You okay? You okay?
03:53Now coming up to nine years in September.
03:58So time goes really fast.
04:01Good care.
04:03All these different jobs every day. I like it, you know.
04:08Buffalo normally calve very secretly to protect themselves.
04:14Eddie has never seen one give birth before.
04:18This year, he's in luck.
04:22Right now I check if any gonna be cavern.
04:28And I see one right now gonna be cavern.
04:31I have to maybe we will pull help.
04:35I clean the nose right now.
04:52And leave a rest to a cow who can do.
04:57Good cow. Good girl.
05:00You okay? You done well?
05:04It's a healthy bull calf.
05:06Which is great news for Stevie.
05:08Very happy to come up to see.
05:10Eddie's filmed one of the calves being born.
05:12So it's quite exciting.
05:14It's very rare that we managed to actually catch one on camera.
05:17So this is the wee fella over here.
05:20Perfect little calf.
05:23And it's great.
05:24The sun's out today as well.
05:25So this is what you want for your first morning.
05:28Mum seems quite content.
05:31So I'm gonna go in and have a wee look.
05:35New buffalo mothers can be particularly dangerous
05:37when they're protecting young calves.
05:39Look at that.
05:41Back off.
05:43Stevie got between a buffalo and her calf before.
05:46and was brutally attacked.
05:48I'm not quite sure.
05:50So he's learned to be cautious.
05:52Maybe not a great idea.
05:54I'm coming out.
06:00It's okay.
06:02Just come across there quite meaningfully.
06:05Sort of suggesting that I'm not welcoming the pets.
06:07So I think we'll just leave them to it.
06:10One down.
06:12And plenty more to come.
06:14And one down.
06:20One down.
06:21It's a little soft.
06:22One down.
06:24One down.
06:26One down.
06:28One down.
06:29A hundred and twenty miles west.
06:30On the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides.
06:32You two.
06:33Just a pain in the neck.
06:34in the inner hebrides new entrant farmers janet and alistair taylor also have pregnant livestock
06:43to look after getting there on their 700 acre farm their free-range sheep will eventually lamb out on
06:54the hill right then see if this works but today the plan is to bring the whole flock in to separate
07:02the ewes from the tops what we're going to do is we're going to shake the bag at them they'll come
07:09running to us and we'll just use that to bring them into the shed hopefully everything with sheeps
07:16hopefully the ewes have been out with the tops or rams for seven weeks and the hope is that they're
07:30all in lamb ready girls janet and alistair don't want to spend money on pregnancy scanning
07:40but they have invested half of their total profits from last year's lambs on a new gadget
07:48our new electronic reader this is our first time out using it this is going to make life easier
07:54the record keeping is going to be easier it's a big part of farming is the record keeping
07:58all we'll have to do is run the reader down and read each sheep's number we can say what medicines
08:04they've been given and then we plug it into the computer and it does all our medicine records for
08:08us it represents quite a significant investment for us because it was over a thousand pounds for
08:15the whole thing together we've got a computer software program we've got stick reader we've got the tablet
08:21but high tech and farming don't always make good bedfellows
08:28well the software on this and that scans it scans the tags when i when i press the button this reads
08:36the electronic tags that are in the sheep's ears and it sends it to the tablet if we can get it to work
08:42where's the instructions who needs instructions oh live dangerously okay add animals let's see how that
08:55goes
09:02and then what do i do to get her number though wait you need to link these two things don't we oh is
09:07that what's happened oh farming and technology
09:11unable to connect to the reader it says connect yeah it just said unable to connect to the reader
09:25do i need to go and get the instructions
09:26i don't know where they are right i'll see if i can't work out while you're finding the instructions
09:36with the help of the manual purple the system is now up and running
09:43white the electronic reader will also help janet and alistair track how all their use are performing
09:50from one year to the next purple we'll be able to see who's having good lambs and who's having
09:57slightly poorer lambs and that way if there's a yard that's constantly producing quite scrawny wee
10:03lambs we can know her and get rid of her and promote the ones that are producing big fat lambs
10:10sounds a bit ruthless saying it does just get rid of that sheep because it's not performing but she'll
10:14get a good couple of years because sometimes they have a bad year so that it it'll be a performance
10:20record throughout the year so we'll build you'll see a pattern so we'll see a pattern so if there's
10:24someone who's not doing it then then we'll be thinking of getting rid of them that's it as long
10:30as numbers allow yes as for the tops their job is now over until next year they look like they've been
10:40working hard which is what we want but the fact they look like they've lost some weight so
10:44a good sign the exertions of topping mean these boys can lose up to 15 percent of their body weight
10:53owen was an eight-month-old virgin when he was first introduced to the ladies
10:58yeah he's trying he's certainly very interested
11:05and there are signs he's embraced his new role
11:08yeah it was like this one here that's got green on her bum will be owens so she'll be having an owen lamb
11:16hopefully harold's just going around now asserting his dominance over everyone again
11:22making sure they all know that he's in charge even though he's the smallest of them
11:26the tops won't have to work again until november
11:36come on then everything is now down to the pregnant girls come on
11:45these ewes are the fifth generation janet and alistair have raised
11:48and they see these hills as their home it's a traditional method of farming called hefting
11:58so through the years as they've been born on the place they've become what we call hefted to the
12:04place and that's so the ones that were born on a specific hill they then know that as their home
12:09and we'll want to live there and stay there and not go wandering off
12:14nice to see them out the hill yes they look happy don't they they do they look happy glad not
12:21to be contained anymore much rests on a content flock janet and alistair's farm only brings in money
12:29when they sell their calves and lambs so hopefully all the ewes are pregnant be nice to have a lamb
12:36for every sheep but that'll never happen well that might happen just have to see because we've got
12:41different tops and yeah things you just don't know what's going to happen they'll just have to wait
12:48until the spring
13:01a cold front has descended on scotland
13:06the spring
13:08freezing temperatures sweep the country bringing snow to fife
13:14on stevie's farm more buffalo have given birth and the maternity shed is filling up fast
13:23eddie's keeping an eye on them
13:27i check if any new calf born
13:30if need they need need some bed then you know give our first straw
13:37and a new calf has just been born
13:41last thing cow is here just just born right now
13:45see
13:48maybe five minutes ago and the last mom
13:55it's another bull calf
13:57but something is wrong
13:58baby buffalo should be up and drinking milk within the first two hours of birth
14:10it's been longer than two hours and this little fellow is showing no signs of getting up
14:15and with the snowy conditions stevie is worried
14:20it's incredibly uh delicate at the moment
14:28what do you think
14:30i would definitely have expected it to have been uh up on its feet it's looking a little bit fragile lying there
14:40i'm a little bit concerned about it
14:42the way the snow's coming in it's not ideal so
14:49yeah definitely need to get it away from this corner
14:51the calf's coat is still wet from his birth
14:59and as he hasn't taken on any milk his life is in danger
15:04he needs to be moved to shelter further back in the shed
15:07we're going to make this into two pens
15:10right
15:10and get three gates
15:13one two going that way one going that way and it'll just strengthen it up a bit
15:18right okay
15:18and uh lots of rope thanks eddie
15:28once we get into the wee pen and so on and it's uh dry and uh had a belly full of milk and then we can relax
15:40it's down to mum and calf now but obviously it's important it does get up and have a drink but
15:45it's generally buffalo calves are and mums are ex-brilliant at that it's never usually an issue
15:54the calf must stand in order to feed
15:59come on little one you can do it well done
16:04well done
16:05oh you want to kind of just go in and help it but the truth is it needs to do it itself
16:21it's pretty good job done really good it looks perfect very well done
16:27the calf is now four hours old and still hasn't fed
16:30it's heavy the first milk or colostrum is packed full of antibodies that he desperately needs to
16:38build his immune system let's get mum if she coming you're all right lass
16:46now just need to let them be and and let hopefully careful rest up and then get the energy to get up on
16:54its feet on its own and have a drink
16:59i think the best thing actually at this stage is for us just to to leave them to it
17:18so much about successful farming is knowing whether to intervene
17:22or leave the animals to follow their natural instincts
17:30it's a complex relationship between farmer and animal using knowledge and experience built up over
17:37many years
17:49on the west coast in appin
17:51your chance see you go boy good lad
17:54hill farmers david and sandra coltart keep a large flock of hefted black-faced sheep
17:59probably looking for cats scared of cats
18:04the ewes have been separated from the tubs and today it's time to return them to the hills
18:10the sheep are looking well we do some yesterday after we took the tubs off and they're just going
18:14home now so they'll be looking forward to getting back onto their own bit of ground
18:18should be in quite a simple job dogs are happy to get a bit of work as well so
18:22so david's not too hung over today either so yeah i've got chance and sandra's got june two dogs
18:33that do what they're told so there's not going to be a lot of yelling or anything like that so
18:37well they usually do what they're told so keep things nice and civil june stop eating that
18:43the hill park is a large fenced area between the farm and the hilltops
19:00trekking through it involves a steep climb of 300 meters feel the pace there
19:06with their animals spread over 3 200 acres of rough high terrain david and sandra are no strangers to
19:16long hikes break time santa break time you serious
19:24stand the plan is to drive the ewes up to a gate which leads to the open hills
19:30sheep are just nicely moseying up to the top there
19:34oh i think i'm hearing david somewhere down there
19:42you're awfully slow david
19:45what's keeping you you are just taking in the view absorbing the beautiful scenery we live in
19:53and after an hour of climbing you need a hand fit no the ewes reach the gate
20:00they want to go back to their own bit of hill and they're there for their whole lifetime on the farm
20:06so they raise their lambs there and then and the female lambs the ewes lambs will go back to that
20:11part of the hill sheep are gregarious they have a strong instinct to stay together for protection
20:17that's why they always follow a leader even if that leader makes the wrong decision
20:22when they open the gate the sheep know where to go they'll just run out the gate themselves so
20:27they'll just wait to be let out yeah
20:30they want to go home let's get back to the hill ladies
20:35chance come here come by come by with the gate now open all the sheep have to do is step through
20:42come by but the you at the front gets another idea come by come by come by come by come by come by
20:56things are not going to plan get up get up get up come by chance come by come by
21:02the flock is off back down to the farm here here here here come by come by here here here get away get
21:15away lie down lie down lie down
21:25trusty sheepdogs chance and june swing the sheep back to the open gate
21:29june's away out there june's around them june's behind them good girl
21:38daddy now daddy good dog
21:42now they just need one girl to lead the flock through it
21:48oh come on they're going to go sandra
21:54they'll go
21:59there they go
22:08lie down lie down
22:14there they go they're all heading up to their own little bits now
22:19they normally go through that gate just automatically but whatever reason they decided
22:37today not to to do what we thought they'd do and there's one brute they decide to lead the rest of
22:43them and if one sheep goes the rest will follow so but anyway a wee bit excitement at the end
22:51that was great sheep are all happy now they're heading off to their homes
22:56it's one of the nicest jobs it's when we do let them out and they actually string away they take their
23:01own me tracks up to their own part of the hill and they just know their own way back it's just like
23:07migrating salmon trying to find the burn that they were born in
23:14hefted sheep are wedded to the land they're born on
23:19even when there are green pastures available below
23:22these ewes will head back to the far inferior rough terrain of their birth
23:26this homing instinct is passed on from ewe to lamb across generations
23:35the sheep their ancestors were even the same hills you know 100 years ago 150 years ago
23:41and intrinsic is the same throughout the hill farms of scotland
23:44so that's it right pour my coffee in coffee and a brisket plan for the afternoon
23:57i think i'll be burrowing the dog's bed today
24:14it's late afternoon in fife
24:29the little buffalo calf is now seven hours old stevie's back at the shed to check on him
24:35has it been up in its feet yet no i think we maybe try
24:42the calf won't survive if he doesn't take milk within the first 12 hours of his life
24:49this always since it was born there's been someone just not quite typical of a buffalo calf
24:55no i don't fight it eddie you know it's a big strong healthy calf but it's just a bit
25:01slow and uptake of what it should be doing come on we won normally it's just a very natural instinct
25:09but i had it there holding it in the right place and it was kind of thinking about it but
25:13it didn't take on any milk but um just gonna have to persevere a little bit there's milk
25:20so close come on we won come on we won
25:34you have to want it you do we fell
25:38hey that's how we survive i need to drink come on please please
25:43i'm starting to get a bit concerned we definitely need to get some milk into it
25:53i think what we may have to consider doing is stripping some milk into a bag and then
25:58putting a tube down cafe's throat to to give it some milk
26:03i hate doing it though i'd rather it just had a drink natural
26:08it's definitely not looking too good for the wee fella at the moment
26:10it needs to have milk in its tummy
26:16the calf urgently needs his mother's colostrum
26:24eddie you try and i'll start milking right
26:28you okay yeah
26:31no watch eddie watch watch watch watch right just take the calf away eddie right
26:40i'll fill milk so we need we need about three of these i think back in the day this is how they
26:51milked all cows before they had milking machines why stevie can feed the calf himself
26:59there's any left you can have it for your coffee eddie no
27:04but he'll need to put a tube down its throat to its stomach
27:09they don't like it get put in their throat funnily enough and uh my experience with buffalo
27:14when they let out i'll kind of cry out for help um as nice as mum has been she might attack me so
27:21we're just going to put her on another pen
27:30it seems quite an unnatural thing to do for this wee calf but if it didn't get this it would die
27:34it's simple as that it needs milk ideally within six hours but um at least with 12 hours otherwise it
27:42wouldn't survive
27:43it's a tricky procedure that can go badly wrong i know it's not nice that's it that's it
27:54milk could miss the stomach and pour into the calf's lungs come on baby come on
28:01okay right we're in yeah we're poor easy we want
28:16up you go
28:22go ready go straight up
28:24it's okay
28:31you're pouring yeah okay you're okay just give it all
28:41okay
28:48oh oh that's hard okay
28:54i feel a lot happier at least it's got a belly full of milk
29:04i'm not gonna lie i was absolutely breaking it there i have seen that go wrong too
29:10at least you've got all the good stuff inside you now
29:16it's nine hours since the calf was born
29:19you hop over and i'll pass it over to
29:21now he has milk in his stomach his survival rests on his natural instincts to stand and feed on his own
29:30it's tough to give it time now just have to keep our fingers crossed that it recovers
29:51well
30:02while carving normally happens in a seasonal pattern on buffalo beef and sheep farms
30:08it's an ongoing event on some dairy farms
30:10in the low-lying pastures of Dumfries and Galloway in the southwest of Scotland
30:20dairy farmers Tracy and Stephen Rowan are preparing the maternity ward for the next
30:28batch of pregnant cows you just get straw everywhere like and I mean every
30:34you go home at night there's straw in your wellies you get undressed at night and there's straw in your
30:40underwear yeah the family dairy business needs a constant supply of milk so their cows carve all
30:50year round quite often the day you pick to do this you quite often find that there's somebody decides
30:57to carve that day so they're standing out there with their legs crossed and then as soon as you
31:01open the gate to let them back in there's one that pops a calf out right away I'm going to go and get
31:08the kids right okay okay Tracy never forgets to go and get the kids occasionally if it's my job and
31:18I'm working away you lose track of time and you're like oh no you're late but I don't think I've ever
31:24completely forgotten all right I think that should do them so let them back in oh they just come in
31:33here for the last sort of two and a half weeks before they carve it's just a lot easier for the
31:39cows when they're sort of hip heavily pregnant to let them lie in there nearly sped in it's a
31:45familiar routine for Stephen and Tracy their herd produces around 200 calves a year see how she's
31:54just got her tail up I'd be fairly sure she's about to start the process of carving this is her first
32:03calf so you're not wanting the calf to be too big but usually you're as well just to kind of give them a
32:09bit of time you don't want to rush in too quick seven-year-old Andrew is back from school he's
32:21showing signs of following in his parents footsteps you finished yeah right we'll go and check that
32:31the cow that's carving yeah yeah you're not scared of the cows are you no no it's like a dog it's like
32:39a dog yeah but you don't bring them in the house yeah no the cow Stephen spotted earlier has begun to
32:48carve it's coming yeah she's doing really well the nose is coming out and the front legs and then
32:58when the head's going to come out and in the front legs and then and then and then it'll probably stand
33:05up and it just will come out and then we'll see if it's a boy or a girl because it can just be
33:12anything it might be a boy it might be a girl a girl or heifer will go on to join the milking
33:19herd if it's a boy its future is more uncertain can I go in so when it comes out right okay just be
33:27very careful nice and quiet this is always quite a tense moment I find you will allow her to get
33:37on with it and it's coming but you're almost like is it alive yeah I think it is but you just gotta let
33:44let them get on
33:45is it alive Andrew is it airways clear enough clear away the straw from its nose lift its nose up a wee bit
34:03you want me to come and check maybe just give a wee pull will we
34:11come on there you go girl right let's have a quick look the calf is out oh right but something's wrong
34:23come on come on come on come on come on oh
34:38it's a bull no there's no life about it no it's dead that's not good I don't know what's happened there
34:57I can't feel any no oh dear no there's no life in it unfortunately
35:11it can happen um but yeah it's not nice as Andrew
35:20you can't really put a big impact on it because it's always got to happen
35:27you have to have some dead calf some alive calf it's just normal because it's got to happen
35:35for the mother life carries on
35:39she should be fine that'll be her part of the milking herd now
35:45um yeah she's probably quite oblivious to all a that she should be okay just kind of feel for a bit
35:56as for the calf his future on the farm was already limited by the fact that he's a boy
36:03we're hoping for heifer calves hoping for girl calves as much as possible
36:07most of the bull calves we do rear them too and they do end up as beef but if you had a very small
36:17bull calf very occasionally we would make the it's a very difficult decision but occasionally we would
36:22just call a few of them at birth because they're just no value whatsoever and nobody nobody wants them
36:30we try not to um we try and keep most of ours we really do i'd keep them i'd keep them all
36:37i'd keep a lot of them um but it comes down to finance the money
36:45it's a situation no one wants and something steven's taken on as a challenge
36:53he uses technology to improve his chances of getting far more heifer calves than bulls
36:59when a heifer comes into season steven uses artificial insemination to impregnate her with special semen
37:13the semen was sorted into male and female and then it's getting quite common now on dairy farms that
37:22farmers just buy the the female sex semen to inseminate their cows with
37:27so you've got a high chance of breeding heifer calves for replacements so that's me just pushing
37:34the end of the gun to push the semen out now so that's all done a fifth of all dairy farmers now use
37:43sexed semen which ups their chances of getting a heifer calf from 50 to 90 percent and now steven's labor
37:51ward is full he'll soon find out if his investment has paid off
38:11further northeast in fife it's a new day and stevie and eddie are keen to see if the struggling buffalo
38:18calf has made it through the night
38:25the calf was born yesterday it's looking fine absolutely fine right now
38:44the cow that have good fat from the mom get up by self no problem
38:57it's doing really well
39:00it's absolutely brilliant it's up on its feet and stretching doing all the things you'd expect of a
39:06healthy calf very happy aren't you a wee one it's like a completely new calf but uh such a relief that
39:15it's looking like it's going to be absolutely fine it's actually it's running around complete transformation
39:21and had we not tubed that calf it would never have lived it was but uh it's nice to feel like we've
39:32we've saved a life
39:51in the west on the isle of mole alistair and janet have made another big purchase for their fledgling farm
39:57they've parted with the remaining thousand pounds made from selling last year's lambs
40:04on another new bit of kit
40:09we've got a bale trailer which will pick up a wrapped bale it goes on the back of the buggy
40:16it's an investment for us this it's it makes things easier um the tractor that we use isn't ours
40:22we've borrowed it from the farm that we manage um so we're just trying to you know make our own way
40:29so we've got the buggy and then we're just buying all the attachments for it which everything's a bit
40:33smaller but it's easier on the ground anyway the bale trailer has come flat packed now all alistair has
40:42to do is build it two hubs hitch a pin and shackle
40:55no instructions
40:58probably wouldn't read the instructions anyway
41:01just trying to set it out like it's meant to go which i think is like this
41:05so this bit here there'll be a ratchet that lowers that down and then we can pick up the bales and
41:12then ratchet it back up
41:14only slightly concerned that the galvanizers filled the hole so i'll have to get the lump hammer and
41:21knock them out and i've just discovered well these two look the same one slightly bigger than the other
41:31i don't know if that's a mistake or that's intentional these are the big long bolts that
41:37need to go through because it needs to go all the way through the frame but they don't fit in the hole
41:44i have to say for the thousand pounds that it cost me to get the bale trailer i'm a little bit
41:50disappointed in the quality control some assembly required i still need to drill out the galvanizing
41:58for some of the front bolts and work out why there's two different size bolts and try and
42:04work out everything else so hopefully we'll get something sorted
42:15further southeast on the mainland in the lowlands of dumfries and galloway
42:20stephen and tracy are in the maternity ring
42:23so the cabin pens is a bit busy this morning there's a well the white cow they are calved that
42:31white calf by herself just about an hour ago this lisa cow she calved i think it was about three o'clock
42:39this morning she calved herself and had this little black kefir calved and one that we're just going to
42:46carve steven's been artificially inseminating his pedigree cows with sexed semen in the hope of
42:53getting female calves today it's good news so far because these two heifers are the result of this
43:01special breeding program and now he's hoping for a third but this first time mum needs some help
43:09so we've got this young heifer into the crush there and i'm just going to probably need to use the
43:17calving jack to cover because it's time it was getting out and it seems a wee bit tight
43:23i've checked it's coming the right way but the water bags already burst so you don't want to leave
43:28them too long after the water bags away all right try giving it a pull all right one two three
43:48it took high-tech methods to get the cow in calf
43:52now stephen needs an old school tool to help it out
43:56it's just like uh do you know when women are given birth and they use like like clamps or like
44:02the suction cup it's just an aid to a system
44:09once she gets the head out that's the the widest bit it usually it goes to plan after that
44:16it's just kind of helping put a bit of pressure on just now you can see it moving
44:20that's a girl that's it
44:31set glass
44:33big bud it's a successful birth there we go but is it a girl it's a heifer
44:48double checking out is a heifer a heifer calf
44:57that'll put me in quite a good mood now because that's three so i'm a quite good pedigreed cows
45:02that have all had heifer calves so quite quite valuable calves
45:08tracy will be shocked she'll see me smiling oh no i am i am i'm smiling that's a first and a fort
45:13native steven's female breeding program is working
45:27in scotland the winter weather can be cold and unpredictable
45:31but mostly it's wet very wet
45:43the western highlands are one of the wettest parts of europe
45:47rainfall here can be more than 4 000 millimeters a year
45:51and with rain comes mud
46:02but whatever the weather animals still need to be fed
46:09on the isle of mull it's time to put the new bale trailer into action
46:13it's a really clever design
46:21if this hole lined up just slightly better it would be perfect
46:27alistair and janet have to feed the sheep and cattle every day through the winter
46:33come on girls watch out
46:36i don't like the weather at all
46:37i'd rather cold and dry than this mud everywhere after a wee while slipping and sliding around in
46:46the mud you get quite sick of it come on girl watch your bum
46:55while janet feeds the sheep
46:59alistair takes the silage bale to the cattle feeder at the top of the hill
47:02or at least that's the plan
47:14looks like they're getting fed here
47:19the feeder that stops the cows trampling their breakfast in the mud is at the top of the hill
47:25don't do your backing
47:28if the silage will not come to the feeder
47:30then the feeder must go to the silage
47:34oh the water just pissing in my boot
47:38let's turn a bit more that way
47:43usually we get the silage bale up to this top flat bit which is a little bit better
47:47but just with the mud we couldn't get so high
47:55if we lose control of it going down the slope because it's quite steep it's a reasonably heavy
47:58thing it could be a bit exciting as long as it misses the buggy it'll be fine it doesn't run any
48:03sheep over
48:06a bit of that
48:11good shot no one's squished underneath
48:13in these rainy conditions the animals need the extra feed
48:21when they get wet like this and you can see it in her coat when they get wet and it penetrates it's
48:25been raining long enough that she's wet all the way to her skin now if you get a bit of wind it just
48:30gets them cold and it uses up a lot of their energy just staying warm then
48:33the mud got the better of the buggy this time but the bale trailer is a big success
48:42definitely the investment has been worthwhile with the trailer i mean in this work we are making a bit
48:47of a mess of the buggy but when we're having to come up here with the tractor you were making huge
48:52ruts through it and it was just completely unworkable
49:14in argyle snow is still lying on the higher ground
49:17david is also keen to deliver his hefted ewes some extra feed to help them through their cold patch
49:28during this last 10 days the weather's taken a turn for the worst it's got very wet
49:32and with the ewes they're probably they'll be two months away from from lamin so they need to get
49:39supplementary feeding going in from now on
49:41well this is a feed block it's got vitamins minerals protein the whole lot so that saves us
49:48going up every day so we could put one of them at different points in the hill once a week at this
49:53time of the year and the ewe will come they'll lick it and then they'll go on and graze some roughage
49:57so it's about three times the price of hard feed but it saves an awful lot of time
50:05david's 82 year old dad robin lives on the adjoining farm
50:09so the plan is to feed both flocks in one trip so we'll drop some blocks off at the bridge right
50:16and then we'll go up onto your side up past the hill park okay and put the the blocks out on your
50:20side right okay robin's been a hill farmer all his life and has no intention of stopping
50:30dad he's in his 80s and he still helps out on the farm where he can
50:33we tried to retire him off 20 years ago which would have been the absolutely the worst thing ever to
50:40do he was brought up on the farm from a young kid and if that's all you've done all your life
50:47to take that away then you're taking a big part of the life away but at least he can enjoy doing the
50:53things he likes and it's great he's still here to do it to get enough top-up feed to 250 ewes on both
51:01hill farms they'll need to put out six blocks spread out over 2 300 acres this is where the first block
51:08goes off we normally feed the ewes here so they come down here waiting for feed and then they draw back
51:18up the hill again
51:22putting the feed in the same place year on year means the sheep know where to find it
51:28well we're halfway up up the glen
51:32about two and a half miles up from from the house the sheep will come down from the face there
51:38and it's a wee bit easier for them to get it here rather than come all the way down the bottom
51:41that's why we put them up here
51:42just like their hefted sheep robin and david know every inch of these hills
51:53you know i'll enjoy the hills it's always changing as the seasons go along everything
51:58changes all the time it's nice and peaceful and you can do your thing and nobody bothers you
52:07when your kids it's a great place to go to adventure
52:09love to walk up the glen you know dad would take us up and mum would take us for a picnic
52:17a very special place when we were kids
52:27that hour going up feeding the sheep and coming back back down is one of the most pleasant hours in
52:33the in the working day i think anyway for me it is
52:36it's absolutely just a great feeling when you're out there i absolutely love it
52:46that's that way home got a cup of tea now
52:56sheep are just up there they've probably heard the bike so they know that there's a fresh block coming
53:02so probably as soon as we go the sheep will be down there looking the block
53:06and where one sheep leads others follow
53:20in fife stevie also grew up on his family farm
53:35family have farmed here for over 110 years so i was born in the village water tool which you can
53:47actually just see from here and then moved into the farmhouse as a small boy and then lived all my
53:54days on on clentery farm here so um yeah i'm born and bred clentery farm
53:59stevie's father was a highly regarded stockman but he tragically died when stevie was just five years old
54:13unfortunately sadly i didn't get a huge amount of time with dad but i've kind of been very much
54:18inspired by the stories and the information that's kind of been fed back to me from friends and family
54:23etc but he was he was he was madly passionate and cattle and all livestock to be quite honest and very
54:28talented at it uh that's definitely where it's my sort of born can instinct to to farm and to to work
54:37with livestock has come from
54:39and with his little buffalo calf that instinct has paid off skipping
54:50but it is just a good chunk bigger than typical calf and i think possibly explains why it was just
54:57a bit slower to be able to get its feet and get going but i've no worries at all and feel
55:06that we're more than equipped to go in with the rest of the the herd now and uh it's not going to look
55:11back it's it's absolutely brilliant just the transformation i'm so happy and i'm astounded just
55:17how the mum has evolved in all of that because she was so at peace with us to help and letting us milk
55:24her and everything and now she's kind of like right okay well my baby's fine get the road although we do
55:31still have to ear tag it it's okay mom buffalo quite quickly sends fear so if you're nervous and apprehensive
55:45they kind of try to intimidate you a wee bit but whereas if you just man up get on with it i know who's
55:52boss so thank you man up okay lass it's okay buffalo have quite strong veins running through the
56:03ends of the year so you've got to hit a spot where there's no veins i don't think a calf really feels
56:09it particularly when they're as young as this it's just one of these little things that has to get done
56:12well done there you go baby now it's time for the nursery pen
56:28well they've had a wee bit time to bond and this one's had time to fully recover so now um just
56:35putting them back with a group really um so we need there we need to be pens for the next the next lot
56:40they're coming through so uh it'll be fun for them too they get to play with all their pals they've
56:44got much more space to kind of move about
56:50but the little calf doesn't seem too sure about what lies ahead
56:55watch yourselves out i'll follow them up just
57:03easy now come on thank you two your heart's a little bit in your mouth
57:09the contrasting size between the cows and the babies is pretty massive come on here's mom
57:16just a little bit nervous but he's now got to kind of go and find his way in the in the herd now
57:25come on please pals
57:28okay you're not sure the buffalo are actually amazingly kind of good as a herd so that these are all mums and
57:36they will actually be quite careful of the new cavvies and i'm pretty sure all will be well
57:43it's just really nice to see all these lovely healthy young cavvies to be honest quite enjoy watching
57:48them and certainly beats being in office
57:51next time mel needs to save a bull that's trapped and in distress i just don't want to make it worse
58:09let's shut that gate now robin and penny have pony problems nothing's going to get fed because
58:16this damn pony hey watch this and go forward and david is called to a cow in a crisis
58:24well where we're at the moment is we have to get out or she's going to die
58:27and tell them to come in with that all sir
58:46so
58:57so
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