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Documentary, This Farming Life S02E07
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...
00:14...producing our milk...
00:16...and our meat...
00:18...trying 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...
00:36...let cameras onto their farms...
00:39Everything that could have gone wrong there, went wrong.
00:42The idea of lying on a beach. Bliss.
00:45...to share their struggles...
00:47We have to get her out or she's going to die.
00:49...and their triumphs.
00:51Thank you!
00:52It's not about the paycheck. It's about the lifestyle.
00:58It's March.
01:08The days are growing longer.
01:11And the strengthening sun...
01:14...brings the promise of new life.
01:16Yeah, I think spring is in the air.
01:20They're certainly full of themselves. It's a good sign.
01:23On the Isle of Mull...
01:33...off Scotland's west coast...
01:35...the snow has melted from the mountaintops.
01:39Come on, Nick! Come on!
01:42And new entrant farmers, Janet and Alistair Taylor...
01:46...are enjoying the start of a new season.
01:48This is the fifth spring we've had here.
01:52And every spring's different.
01:54I love that the spring marks the end of winter.
01:59I'm not keen on winter.
02:00I like the longer daylight.
02:02And, yeah, I love the fact that we're producing the future on the farm.
02:07We've got the lambs and the calves.
02:09Getting everything ready for that is exciting.
02:13Janet and Alistair are tenants of a 700-acre farm on the south-west of the island...
02:20...where they're slowly building up their flock of 130 breeding ewes...
02:25...and small fold of Highland cattle.
02:30Beep, beep, patience. Beep, beep.
02:32I like the way.
02:33This morning, they're feeding their seven pregnant cows.
02:37Patience, you'll have to watch your head.
02:40Yeah, everyone's names...
02:45That's Hermione, over there.
02:48Morag here.
02:49Morag and Katie's just behind her.
02:51They're named after the storybooks, Katie Morag.
02:54And then behind them is Hazel, who's named after my sister.
03:01She's an H. All the H's are the same bloodline.
03:06And then we've got...
03:08Goldilocks.
03:09If all seven cows produce a healthy calf, it could mean an extra 2,000 pounds at the sales this autumn.
03:18They're all in calf, so the bull did a good job.
03:21As long as Janet and I can do our jobs right and keep the calves going, shouldn't have any problems.
03:30Hopefully, all the calves will come out nice and easy.
03:33All the mothers will have plenty of milk.
03:35And we dream on.
03:37And we dream on, yeah.
03:39No farmer can afford to lose lambs and calves.
03:44I mean, us more so.
03:45We have less stock.
03:47But things can happen that you can completely unexpected.
03:51I get very anxious about it.
03:52You know, they're big animals and if they're stressed because they're having problems or if their calves are having problems,
04:00they're having problems.
04:01Yeah, I worry about them like anyone does.
04:06These highland cattle will carve out on the hills.
04:09They could give birth at any time, but nature has some helpful hints.
04:19Her udder will fill up with milk and it will get quite firm just before she calves.
04:26And with cows like this that you can really get a pat on and you can speak to,
04:30they've got two tendons that run down either side of their tail here.
04:34And they, about 24 hours before they calve, will go slack.
04:39So ones like her that you can scratch her tail, it's great.
04:43Because you can sit and feel them every day and then you'll feel when they just relax off.
04:46And then that's it, sort of 24 hours and she'll calve.
04:49I'm pretty sure Goldilocks here is going to calve first.
04:58She's uncomfortable and unhappy and she's very, very, very loose in her back end.
05:05It's not an exact science and Alistair's predictions don't always come to pass.
05:11It wouldn't be the first time that I've thought someone's going to calve and then someone else calves first.
05:19Over on the mainland, in the mountains of Argyll.
05:38That right, she's like a wee scratch.
05:40Oh, she says, that's good, that's good.
05:42In there, that's better, that's just perfect.
05:44Hill farmer David Coltart is also waiting for his cows to calve.
05:51Just moving stuff around so I can start cleaning these pens, ready for the cows calving.
05:57There's one or two that are pretty close.
06:00So I just don't want to be caught out the non-glamorous side of farming.
06:06Look at that rubbish.
06:08Unlike Janet and Alistair's hardy Highlanders, David's beef cows spend the winter indoors.
06:20In his shed are 42 expectant mothers who could calve at any moment.
06:25It's quite handy, I can walk behind after I feed them and I can get an idea how they're changing.
06:33Because I'm just clocking, every day I'm in, just watching how they're changing themselves.
06:38Like some of these cows, it's a second calver, she's starting to slack it up.
06:43She's a wee bit away but her vessel's starting to fill up, or udder I should say.
06:48Keeping an eye on his cattle is a full-time occupation.
06:53So David's rigged up his shed, Big Brother style.
06:57Having the camera up there makes a big difference because Sandra can have it on the computer in the house
07:03and she can constantly monitor it.
07:05When I'm doing my lambing rounds, Sandra's covering for me in the shed here too.
07:09I can see it moving around, looking at me at the moment.
07:13Wife Sandra can keep an eye on him.
07:16Hi dear, I'm not in the pub, I'm still here.
07:22Yes, I can see you David.
07:28Back at the house, Sandra's on cow cam vigil.
07:32They're not exactly the most exciting thing for somebody to be wanting to watch online.
07:36A lot of other things people could be looking at.
07:38Exciting enough for us, so I was like,
07:41so what are you doing, sitting watching cows on my laptop?
07:44Oh, how exciting.
07:46So what will you do after that?
07:47Oh, I'll sit and watch cows on my laptop.
07:49Right, that's what you'll do most of the day.
07:51Well yeah, in between everything else, I'll sit and watch cows.
07:53Either that or go over there and do something with them.
07:56Are you hungry David?
07:58My breakfast, I think it's about 10 to 12.
08:07Corned beef, cheese, ranch dressing and mustard.
08:10Mmm.
08:12And I'm starving.
08:13Tasty breakfast.
08:14At cabin time, excuse me, you eat on the go.
08:20Because if something happens in the shed,
08:22it might not be back till 7-8 o'clock.
08:24Yeah, try and grab something and run.
08:25Yeah.
08:26Even then, get to dinner and then go back to the shed.
08:30We're not quite at that stage yet, so I'm just building myself up.
08:33Like a bear for hibernation.
08:35Yep.
08:36Stuff your face because you might not eat for hours, right?
08:38Everything looks fairly quiet, but then that can change in a hurry.
08:53Nature won't be rushed.
08:59Two days later, the first birth of the year.
09:04There we have.
09:05There's a cow safely in the pen with a new cabbie.
09:24So, just need to make sure that the calf sucks.
09:31So, I'm just going to leave it in peace,
09:33and I'll watch it with the camera from the house.
09:36Great.
09:37First calf.
09:3890 miles south-east in Kirkoddy in Fife.
09:55Maverick farmer Stevie Mitchell breeds buffalo for their premium meat.
10:01His business depends on a production line of new calves.
10:08He's hoping new bull on the block, Heineken, has got the latest batch of females pregnant.
10:15It's amazing how much he loves to get a wee pet and say hello whenever we're around.
10:20Four months ago, Stevie selected Heineken from the beef herd and put him to work impregnating his cows.
10:31Easy now.
10:32But for a young two-year-old virgin, it was a daunting task.
10:42Well, it's a big question at the moment.
10:44It's not getting beat up anymore.
10:45He seems to have found his place in the group.
10:47But Eddie and I have been debating all for the last couple of months whether or not he's been doing anything or not.
10:57Stockman Eddie is with the buffalo every day and has doubts about Heineken's prowess.
11:03He's very friendly, very quiet beast.
11:07But I never see if he's working at all right now because maybe he's working through the night.
11:14He never knows.
11:19It's possible he's just a little bit too young still, but it's really important he has got these guys in calf,
11:24so quite nervously waiting for the vet coming to give us that answer.
11:29Aye.
11:31You and Steve, how are we doing?
11:33Local vet Ewan McKay will scan the cows.
11:38The stakes couldn't be higher for Heineken.
11:43We'll give him every chance, but if he's not got any of them in calf,
11:46then unfortunately he'll be away for burgers.
11:54Yeah, I'm trying not to really contemplate that too much till, yeah.
11:58I'd like to say positive.
12:00Hopefully that's not going to happen.
12:02He's a nice lad.
12:04That's what you want because that's, he's the future, you know.
12:07He's, in years to come, you know, with his females that will be entering the breeding herd and that sort of temperament.
12:15You know, it's so important when you're, you know, especially with animals with horns like this,
12:20that you have animals that are cooperative and friendly and not aggressive by nature.
12:25And he's definitely not aggressive at all by nature, which hopefully that will come through in his progeny.
12:31Why are you looking so sad today?
12:33Why are you looking so sad today?
12:35You could flush your eyes, haven't you?
12:38Since a near fatal attack five years ago, Stevie is determined to breed tameness into the herd.
12:44We've turned him into a big, big, big lump, haven't we?
12:53Put a lot more, um, into selecting animals with good temperament.
13:00I think it's, you know, just for the safety of everybody, eh, we're a lot more ruthless.
13:05We've kind of got a bond with them now, so we, eh, we would hate for, eh,
13:12not to be able to stay and be part of the herd.
13:15So we just need them to, these cows to be in calf.
13:20I don't think I've ever been as nervous.
13:2321 female buffalo are being scanned today.
13:28Vet Ewan is familiar with the process, less so the species.
13:32This is, er, are very much our only buffalo client.
13:36But yeah.
13:37So, no, buffalo's is very much out there for our usual, kind of, female animals.
13:41But we're just kind of extrapolating the cow a wee bit.
13:46Eh, this is an ultrasound scanner, so the image, this basically sends some sound waves,
13:51eh, that then bounce back all the different, sort of, structures inside the buffalo,
13:54and goes back to this little receiver here, and, er, the image goes through onto my goggles.
13:58So the probe goes in the buffalo's bum.
14:03The signal only goes so far, and the further it goes, the worse the image.
14:07So, er, the easiest way is to go rectally, cos that's the, the womb just sits right below the, uh, the rectum, so.
14:12It's the moment of truth.
14:25She's about three months.
14:26Hey!
14:27Can you see the image there?
14:28You can see it there, actually.
14:29That's the foetus there.
14:30But you can see his backbone there.
14:31Three months means it must have been Heineken, so.
14:32He's got lead in his pencil by the looks of it, fingers crossed.
14:33It's all good?
14:34Yeah, all good, Eddie.
14:35Let's see how the rest of them finish up.
14:36It's a good start for Heineken.
14:37So she is, from the scan anyway, she's, she's not a cat.
14:38That's the bladder there, but.
14:39You can see the picture there, that's a womb there.
14:40There's no fluid in it.
14:41There's nothing in it.
14:42But not such good news with cow number two.
14:43Yeah.
14:44There's no blood.
14:45Yeah, it looks it, fingers crossed.
14:46It's all good?
14:47Yeah, all good, Eddie.
14:48See how the rest of them finish up.
14:49It's a good start for Heineken.
14:50So she is, from the scan anyway, she's, she's not a cat.
14:57That's the bladder there, but.
14:58You can see the picture there, that's a womb there.
15:02There's no fluid in it.
15:03There's nothing in it.
15:04But not such good news with cow number two.
15:08She should be a bit more in cat.
15:25She's, she's not actually.
15:27Not in cat at all?
15:28Well, there's nothing in the womb.
15:32Heineken's not safe from the chop, yet.
15:38Take care.
15:39Come on.
15:40Come on.
15:41Come on.
15:42Come on.
15:43Come on.
15:44Come on.
15:45Come on.
15:46Come on.
15:47Come on.
15:48Come on.
15:49Come on.
15:50Come on.
15:51On Mull, a new calf has arrived.
15:55But Alastair's lost his bet.
16:00It's not Goldilocks, but Morag, who's given birth overnight.
16:05Morning Morag.
16:11It's healthy, happy, strong.
16:14It's what we want.
16:18It's a great relief to have the first one out.
16:23Yeah, it's all fine and healthy.
16:28Hopefully they'll all be so easy.
16:32Oh, it's had a poo. It's a good sign.
16:36The rest of the girls won't be far behind.
16:40We'll be like an anxious parent.
16:47Now carving has started.
16:51Janet and Alistair are preparing for another batch of imminent births.
16:56The spring lambs.
16:58Janet, you'd really enjoy this.
17:01We're just clearing out the shed, ready for making our maternity ward for the flaming years, hopefully.
17:10It's less than two weeks. Countdown's on.
17:15No.
17:17Prepping the pens involves a bit of make-do and mend.
17:21The plan here is to make this stack of pallets and those pallets and any other pallets we can find into the pens for the maturity ward.
17:28I'm going to take this and have a look and see.
17:31We should really, you know, when we do it.
17:32I know.
17:33We should write down how we did it.
17:35No stealing the baler's fine.
17:37Good girl, you're going to tie it up.
17:39You've got a string, good girl.
17:40Do you want some string?
17:44Yeah.
17:46No, you can't do that.
17:48Why not?
17:50Well, A, it's tiny.
17:52And B, I've got nothing to hang my hay hex on.
17:56So why don't I just drill two holes in it and screw it to the pallet?
18:01Because then I can't use them anywhere else.
18:03And I don't think they'd survive that.
18:05But they always fall down.
18:06No, they don't.
18:07They do?
18:08No, they don't.
18:10Crazy yows make them fall down.
18:14If we had fancy gates or fancy, you can get purpose-made ones, that'd be amazing.
18:22But we don't have the money for that, so you just make do with what you've got.
18:27Yeah.
18:29But, oh!
18:31Right there.
18:32Let's go and have a cup of tea.
18:34A bit of cake.
18:35Yeah, cup of tea.
18:37All right, Rusty.
18:42The coming lambs will provide half of the farm's income this year.
18:46But until then, money's tight.
18:50What are you looking at, Alistair?
18:52I'm looking to see how much it would be to buy some hay hex.
18:56Not that I really think that we're going to buy any, but it's always nice to know what I can't afford.
19:01It's £47, including that, for one...
19:02That's still a lot of money.
19:03That is, if you bought...
19:04Five or six.
19:05Yeah.
19:06It's a frighteningly expensive type of year.
19:07And you kind of have to laugh about it a bit. I mean, we're struggling. We're definitely struggling at the moment. It's at the back of your mind. It's worrying you all the time, but we're just trying to hold on and just keep going and that's all you can do.
19:22The list of things that we'd like to buy is huge. Actually, the cows, I need a new ring feeder for the cows. They're getting too many cows for that one ring feeder.
19:38So we're going to...
19:39So...
19:40That's that. That's it spent.
19:41That's it. It's gone.
19:43Not even started into the spring and we've already worked out.
19:45We've not even had the lambs that are going to make the money.
19:47Yeah.
19:50Back to work.
19:52For the farm to ever make money, they'll have to increase the livestock they sell each year. It's a long game, with no guarantees.
20:01Preparations for the spring baby boom are also underway in Dumfries and Galloway. Carving happens all year round at the dairy farm run by brothers Stuart and Steven Rowan.
20:20It ensures that 320 cows keep producing milk.
20:24But once a year at springtime, life on the farm becomes even more demanding, as they also have over 500 sheep to lamb.
20:36Everything's just about to kick off because the grass is starting to grow. It's about to start lambing and a lot of the dairy cattle will be going outside to graze grass.
20:49Come on, girls. Come on.
20:50With lambing about to start, Stuart needs to bring the pregnant ewes in from the fields.
20:55Come on, then.
20:57I'll wait up here until you get them up.
20:59Oh, God.
21:00I'm going to lose my wellies.
21:02He's persuaded wife Ailet to help round them up.
21:05Come on, then. Come on.
21:08Come on, Ailet. Keep going.
21:10Maybe I should have got the dog. It might have been foster.
21:13Oh, she's got up of gear now.
21:23Move it.
21:31Come on.
21:39Come on, sheep. Come on. Come on, then.
21:41Well, thanks for appearing.
21:44Who's getting by them?
21:46You.
21:47Right. You shutting the gate?
21:49No, I'll just let them run wild again.
21:56We have a perfectly good sheepdog and we have a cod bike and a buggy.
21:59And he's got me running around a field in the heat.
22:02Don't do heat.
22:04Although the idea of lying on a beach, sipping pina coladas, bikini, good books, sunglasses,
22:10nobody to have a go at you, just, that sounds bliss.
22:15And then here's three together.
22:17Stuart needs to pen the sheep according to the number of lambs they're carrying.
22:22Splitting them off, three, two, ones.
22:26Green on their backs, three.
22:28No mark on their backs, two.
22:30Reds, one.
22:32That's the theory anyway.
22:36Dealing with cows day in, day out is a bit woolly, handling sheep.
22:41Oh, yes, it's fine.
22:44Would you like me to come and help you, dear?
22:47Oh, forgive me.
22:49Stand back a wee bit a minute.
22:55Don't lose it.
22:56I'm not going to lose it.
22:58There you go.
23:00What's the problem?
23:01Fine, easy.
23:03These things make my day.
23:05Make it all worthwhile.
23:07Come on.
23:09It's only 56 of them.
23:12Yeah.
23:13Still another 500 or something.
23:15So...
23:17Not quite job done yet.
23:19That's a start.
23:22Right, must be lunch time now.
23:27Keeping sheep on their poorer land helps the Rowan's weather downturns in dairy prices.
23:33But in a bid to gain back control in a volatile market, the family has embarked on a bold venture.
23:44Good afternoon, Rowan's Davey.
23:46Branding their own milk for sale direct to doorstep customers.
23:51Would you like to sign up with ourselves?
23:52Now then, we deliver on a Tuesday, a Thursday and a Saturday.
23:57Right? No, that's not a problem at all.
23:59In just over a year, the business has grown to 1,000 customers.
24:03But running it is taking its toll.
24:06Erm...
24:08No, don't know. What am I doing?
24:12This is what happens.
24:14What do you do first?
24:16Everything needs done and what do you do first?
24:20It's a time management issue.
24:22I don't have the time to manage it.
24:24I'd love to say I'm totally on top of it, but I'm not.
24:28And the more information of this that I store in my head, the less of everything else gets stored.
24:34Like, I don't remember to take my children for their swimming lessons.
24:37Don't remember to deliver the eldest to a birthday party that he was meant to be at.
24:41Erm...
24:42Yeah, my entire head is just jammed up with Rowan's dairy.
24:47I just, there's got to be easier ways to make money.
24:50And I would actually quite like to see some of it.
24:54Not a lot, just enough.
24:56A couple of quid would be nice.
25:01Right now, the business barely breaks even.
25:05They'll need another 1,000 customers to make the work worthwhile.
25:12Back on the buffalo farm near Kerkoddy in Fife, the future of Stevie's new breeding bull is still uncertain.
25:27Of the four cows scanned so far, only one of them is pregnant.
25:32If he hasn't managed to continue his bloodline, he'll be back to the food chain for young Heineken.
25:37Both for his sake, but also, er, it's very important as a business that these guys are in calf and that that conveyor belt of life is sort of progressing.
25:49So, eh?
25:51I'm confident. Hopefully.
25:56He's got 17 more chances to prove his muster.
25:59So, she's in calf.
26:03In calf?
26:04Yeah.
26:06So at three months?
26:07You can see the foetus there.
26:09Yeah, pretty much the same as the other one.
26:11And there's a wee heartbeat there as well. You can see we flick her kind of left of centre.
26:15Uh-huh.
26:16That's his heartbeat.
26:18Brilliant.
26:19So, she's in calf.
26:29Again, about a few months.
26:31Brilliant.
26:36In calf again.
26:38A few months.
26:40Ah, yeah.
26:42Not saying too much till it's finished, but I'm so far very, very happy.
26:45Yeah, she's in calf.
26:48Yay!
26:54Job done?
26:55Yeah, thank you very much.
26:56You happy enough with that?
26:57I am very happy with that.
26:58Happy days.
27:0016 of the 21 cows are carrying Heineken's calves.
27:05I'm delighted. I just couldn't have asked for much better, to be honest.
27:09He obviously has been getting in at night and doing his stuff, so it's been great.
27:14Because we've just literally not seen any action, so to speak.
27:19But as long as he's doing the job, I don't care how he does it.
27:24You do feel a little, sort of, maternal kind of, you know, I really like Heineken and I'm just so pleased that he is going to be here to stay.
27:38In Argyle, grass is beginning to grow in the valleys.
27:54But the surrounding mountains are yet to turn green.
27:59There's not enough nutrition for heavily pregnant sheep.
28:08With lambing just weeks away, it's time for hill farmer David to gather in his flock to see who needs extra feed.
28:17But in the shed, his cows have other ideas.
28:23Well, we've been getting ready for gathering. She just popped out a calf, this beast, so...
28:28All great plans.
28:31Right, just watch her.
28:33So I just need to get another pen ready for her before we go.
28:36Up here, come on.
28:38Oh, cabbie.
28:42Oh, there she comes.
28:44Sandra was going to be coming with us, but it's better her watching the shed when we're away.
28:50And my brother Alistair, if there's anything in the cabin, he can put in the pen when we're up the hill.
28:56Just at times, you know, you have to go and do jobs.
28:59It's the time of year we take the sheep in at the same time as calving, so...
29:04So Sandra will be over here keeping an eye on the rest of them.
29:08But this one caught me off guard.
29:10With Sandra on calf watch, an hour later than planned, the gather finally gets underway.
29:16He needs to round up 150 hopefully pregnant ewes roaming wild six miles from the farm.
29:25Get your dogs.
29:27Come on, get up.
29:30Come on.
29:32We chance.
29:33A good hill dog like chance is invaluable in this rough terrain.
29:43But David has to keep a close eye on him at this time of year.
29:47Just being a wee bit canny with him.
29:52And with him being in lamb, just don't want to harass him too much.
29:57I hope they're in lamb anyway, but we'll find out just in a wee while.
30:00Don't count my chickens before they're hatched.
30:04As the dogs round up the sheep, a surprise is spotted in the flock.
30:10There's a wee lamb there, Jamie.
30:11There's a wee lamb there, which is, I don't know how that, I know how it got there, but it shouldn't be born at the moment.
30:22And it's not just one.
30:26So we just have to be very careful that she doesn't mis-mother the lamb, so we just have to be gently with the sheep going down the hill here now.
30:34With over a mile still to go, it's a dangerous journey for such young lambs.
30:41The ground is boggy and treacherous for animals so small.
30:47Robert!
30:49Hey, Robert!
30:51Is there not sheep down the other side of that?
30:55The wee lamb fell on the burn.
30:58It's quite a deceit wee bit, and luckily Jamie heard it when he was passing.
31:00Now he's sitting in a pool of water, so...
31:03Just like that, that wee lamb could have gone.
31:10And things are now quieter back at the farm.
31:13What, what?
31:15Ah, we're just about 20 minutes away.
31:21Right, okay, right, cheers, thanks.
31:23That was Sandra, I've seen another calf in the shed.
31:30So I should go away more often than the calves would probably come.
31:35On the home straight, the second twin's hitched a ride too.
31:39They lost its mum coming down, so just lifted it up.
31:43She'll pick it up in the shed again.
31:45Boobie soles.
31:49First lamb, yep.
31:53Oh God, that sound will be sick of it, but two months' time.
32:02These lambs are lucky.
32:03In the inhospitable highlands, life is fragile.
32:13As many as 40% of newborns can die.
32:19Birthing in the wild is fraught with danger for mothers too.
32:34Even hardy native cattle breeds can get into trouble.
32:39On Mull, Alistair is checking on another new arrival.
32:53A second newborn calf.
32:56Oh, looking good today.
33:00Goldilocks has given birth.
33:03But it didn't all go to plan.
33:06Far too much excitement and drama yesterday.
33:09As predicted, Goldilocks calved eventually.
33:13And being young and foolish, she chose a bad place to try and calve.
33:20Janet and Alistair were on their daily patrol
33:24when they spotted Goldilocks lying contorted on the ground.
33:29My first thought was that she might have been dead.
33:32What must have happened when she was calving
33:38is she managed to get her horn dug into the soil of the ground
33:42and rolled sort of on top of her own head.
33:44That was her trapped and stunk there.
33:49Alistair managed to roll her out of the ground.
33:52But then she was dangerously stuck on her back.
33:56She's obviously quite panicky about her being trapped.
34:08And not very good on her feet, so then she was falling over.
34:11So I was having to hang on to her and try and hold her upright.
34:14It's quite a stressful time for her and for everyone else involved.
34:38Adrenaline takes over and you just have to get on with it and deal with it.
34:55Goldilocks and her new calf are lucky to have survived.
34:58I'm sure she's sore today from it.
35:03But other than that, she seems none the worse though for wear.
35:08If it had been a big calf and she couldn't get it out,
35:13I mean, that probably would have killed the pair of them.
35:15If it had stunk like that.
35:17On a small farm struggling to break even,
35:19the loss of a single animal can be a financial disaster.
35:24I'm feeling a lot more relaxed now that I've got two out.
35:27It's always that worry before they start calving,
35:29worrying what size the calves are going to be.
35:32But now seeing the calves that are coming,
35:34they're just a perfect size for coming out.
35:39It's been a dramatic start to spring,
35:42but the signs look good for the rest of the mums.
35:44Whoa!
35:48Did you have music light this morning?
35:50I did have my music light this morning.
35:52They had something to wake me up.
35:57So Janet and Alistair head to the beach
36:00to blow off some steam.
36:04Steady now, steady.
36:06With the rest of the family.
36:10No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
36:15Managing the balance of everything can be quite hard.
36:26It's a lot of different responsibilities
36:29and lots of different pools on you.
36:31Are you going to take some photos?
36:33Yeah.
36:39Recently, we've been spending too much time racing
36:41from one job to the next job to the next job to the next job.
36:45You seem off being an ass.
36:47We need to take the time just to enjoy where we are
36:49and what we've got.
36:51It's very easy to get caught up in the rush of everything.
36:55But really, it's nice to sit back and enjoy the sunshine.
37:00They're having a blast.
37:06They love the beach.
37:08Don't you, Dreesh?
37:09You love the beach.
37:11Yeah!
37:13I mean, we both love it.
37:16I love working outdoors.
37:19I love the challenges.
37:21Every day is different.
37:23I love working with the animals.
37:25I absolutely love working with the dogs.
37:26Ah!
37:28Ah!
37:32I'm going to get wet feet!
37:34I've got sand on the feet.
37:36Despite all the new life arriving on the farm,
37:39Janet and Alistair aren't feeling broody themselves.
37:43We both kind of came to the decision together
37:46without much thought really that we both don't want kids.
37:50Much disappointment to mothers and mothers-in-laws
37:53and it's hard for people to understand that, you know,
37:57because that's, in society, in a way, makes you have kids.
38:02But it's just something that we're just...
38:04Certainly, certainly right now, you know,
38:07but it's always kind of been that way.
38:09Fortunately.
38:12Happy with what we've got.
38:14We've got our fur babies.
38:16That's why the dogs are so spoilt.
38:18They're the kids.
38:20Are you sure you're just picking up crumbs?
38:21You all had one now.
38:24Is it everyone?
38:26Do I get one?
38:27Do you want one to sit?
38:29No, I'm not sitting.
38:31I sit down and I'll not get up again.
38:33Janet and Alistair may not have plans
38:35to start a farming dynasty on Mull.
38:38Incoming!
38:40But in Dalbyte,
38:42school's out for the seventh generation of their own family.
38:45Aylett is picking up sons, Fraser and Fergus,
38:49plus their cousins, Andrew and Lucy,
38:51as sister-in-law Tracy's stuck at the farm.
38:55Well, the last time I heard from her, she was shouting at cows, so...
38:59Seven-year-old Andrew shows every sign of wanting to carry on the family business.
39:05Staying in for a little bit, getting changed and then going up to the farm and doing my job.
39:12Good job.
39:21Right, two buckets of big cake.
39:26It's every morning we do this, and every night.
39:29But we call it cake, but is it actually real cake?
39:32It's not cake. Yeah, no, it's not real cake.
39:34So it's a bit like Groundhog Day sometimes, because it's seven days a week.
39:38Right. Let's go.
39:47Come on then, keep going.
39:49There's days when you're like, when it's cold and you can't feel your fingers and you're wet
39:54and you just, oh, you would like to think of a nice, normal nine to five.
39:59But then, what we are doing is for the next generation, you know,
40:03as a family we probably sacrifice a lot.
40:05You know, we don't have the holidays or the time away.
40:09But you put your heart and soul into it, farm, and...
40:12I think it's either in your blood or it's not, and you just do it.
40:16You've got a bit of passion for it.
40:23He seems quite happy to work. We'll have to pay him, mind.
40:26Pocket money, doesn't he?
40:27It took him five pounds every month.
40:31It's quite good value at that.
40:34I get his board and keep mine.
40:37For all their efforts, the dairy earns as little as two pence per litre, sometimes less, on the milk they sell to wholesalers.
40:45Delivering their own brand milk may be their best chance to secure the farm's future.
40:52And their hard work isn't going unnoticed.
40:57We have been nominated for the Scottish Rural Awards 2017, and we are in the Rural Enterprise category.
41:05To be nominated as such a young business is quite an epic feat for us, actually.
41:10It's just beyond words, really, because we are now on a national platform against people who do what we do for way, way longer.
41:21We're just a wee, tiny family business struggling to survive, struggling to keep our head above water.
41:27And people who don't know us, people that aren't part of it, have decided that we're worthy of being looked at.
41:34It gives you a really good boost, actually.
41:36They'll be up against nine other rural businesses from across Scotland at a big awards night in Edinburgh.
41:45Whether or not we win anything is very different, but we need to wait and see.
41:49It's new for all of us, so watch this space.
42:06In Appin, David has started pregnancy diagnosing the ewes he's brought down from the hill.
42:17A colour green for yelled and orange for twins.
42:21The singles, they won't have any mark on them, so...
42:24Yeld sheep, the ones which aren't pregnant, will go back to the hills.
42:28The singles are going to be kept in for lambing, and the twins will be separated off and give extra feed.
42:37That's a twin there.
42:39And I've moved it about, there's another one there.
42:41You see, that's a lamb there, and that's a lamb there.
42:43He's already got a set of twins rescued during the gather.
42:47As the sheep funnel through, he's looking out for their mum.
42:49They're relatively new lambs, so maybe she'll have a wee bit sign of blood round her tail on that.
43:06Oh, yelled.
43:08That's a needle in the haystack.
43:12Finally, the family's reunited.
43:23You know that's its mother when it's allowing it to suck.
43:29Their mum will teach them how to survive out on the hill.
43:35Was that two?
43:36Yeah.
43:37Lambs born and bred on this tough land are vital to David.
43:42Every one of these wee lambs out there is a very, very precious commodity.
43:46Especially in these hard hills, because you can't buy new lambs to just stick onto them.
43:51They're bred onto their bit of ground, so keeping that hardiness there is the most important thing.
43:56Organically bred from the flock that's there is the best thing we can hope for,
44:00rather than have to try and buy in, because bought-in sheep, they're from different ground,
44:04often they just suit them, and they just don't do.
44:09As the last of the flock is scanned, the results are in.
44:14Out of 149 is scanned just now, there's 11 empty, 26 old?
44:2127 twins and the rest are singles, so 111% is the starting point.
44:26You know, actually, there's a set of twins in here, 28 twins.
44:30Nice end to a beautiful day.
44:35Great weather, the gathering went well, and the scanning went well.
44:39So, happy days.
44:44But before he can relax, David has to check on the latest cow to have given birth.
44:49Her ear's down a wee bit.
44:56I don't think she's right, actually.
45:01No, she's not right.
45:08I need to take that calf out.
45:11The half-ton cow could crush her calf.
45:23I think the cow is a big vessel, she made a lot of milk.
45:27I'm not sure, it could be a lack of calcium.
45:30She's staggering about there.
45:31So, right, I think I need to get the vet because she's quite bad.
45:40Hello, John.
45:42Hi, John, David Coulthard here.
45:45Hi, John, I had a cow calf here just a wee while ago.
45:49She's really staggering, she's got a huge vessel,
45:51and I think she needs some intravenous calcium or whatever,
45:56because she's staggering all over the place.
45:58David fears she has milk fever,
46:01a life-threatening condition caused by a dramatic drop in calcium levels,
46:06close to calving.
46:08It weakens muscles and can lead to heart failure.
46:11I phoned the vet,
46:14and he's coming straight up to get intravenously calcium into her blood.
46:17Normally speaking, we could get calcium under the skin,
46:21but it's going to be too slow to be absorbed into her.
46:24It needs it direct, or she's going to die.
46:27She'll die within a couple of hours if she doesn't get calcium into her bloodstream.
46:37So we're having a good day with scanning,
46:40so you're in a high,
46:42and then you're taken back down like that just in an instant.
46:45Working with animals,
46:50farmers get used to the fragile nature of their fortunes.
47:00In Dalbeeti, Tracey and Aylett are hoping that luck will be on their side tonight.
47:06Hello, hello, hello, hello.
47:12God.
47:14They're getting ready for the Scottish Rural Awards gala dinner.
47:19I was just going to stick a headband in.
47:21No.
47:23I was like, could you just put a headband in an Alice band?
47:25That would do.
47:27I've just got to the stage now where I'm just not bothered.
47:29I don't wear makeup.
47:31I don't go out that much, and now I'm getting the full works.
47:33I could get used to it though, that's the problem.
47:37They're shortlisted in the Rural Enterprise category.
47:41It's really exciting to be going,
47:44and to be part of the final ten is brilliant for a young business.
47:48So to get even recognition out with Dumfries and Galloway is a huge thing.
47:53If Team Rowan came away with an award, it would be amazing.
47:57It would be great.
47:58We're staying over.
47:59Yeah.
48:01We'll do a phone call home.
48:02We'll be back in two days' time.
48:04I think the chances of that are beyond slim.
48:07But no, it would be really, really good.
48:10And it would just...
48:12I don't know.
48:13The job's worth it.
48:14But when you're at it, so many hours, things like that are just nice.
48:18And it's just like, oh, well, actually what we're doing is good,
48:21and we're doing it well, and it's been liked and well-received.
48:25I think that's just... it's just the recognition.
48:28It'll be a girls-only night.
48:30As husbands, Stephen and Stuart, will be needed on the farm.
48:33Yeah, it would be nice.
48:34We could see, like, all four of us can go up together and share this experience,
48:38but the nature of our business is that we have to stay at home.
48:42Cows and kids isn't always mixed, and...
48:45So, yeah, we'll go and show face.
48:48I think we're better showing face, being the face of Rowan's day.
48:50LAUGHTER
48:53He's being pampered for the change.
48:56I'm sure the cows and calves will, like, appreciate it when I come back home.
49:00Of course.
49:07Oh, that's bad.
49:08Is that all right?
49:09Yes, no, definitely.
49:10Thank you very much indeed, ladies.
49:12Bye!
49:15I feel like a new woman.
49:17Ooh!
49:19Yeah.
49:20Back to the farm, and then we get to escape.
49:23Ooh!
49:36In Appin, vet John Blomfield has arrived.
49:41I'm happy John's here, definitely happy.
49:43Where is she, David?
49:44I'm back here, John.
49:45Let's see how we look then.
49:47He's got here within half an hour, but if the cow does have milk fever,
49:51every minute counts.
49:53I just knew the minute I saw her, her head was...
49:56her eye and her ear was slightly down.
49:58Yeah.
50:02She's short of calcium, so we're going to get a...
50:06we're going to get a bottle into it,
50:09which should mean she can stand up straight rather than...
50:11before they're alive with the price.
50:15So we're just going to run it straight into the vein,
50:19and hopefully she'll look a bit more cheerful.
50:24Without calcium, in a matter of hours, all her muscles would stop working,
50:30including her heart.
50:32I think at the moment, because her system's down,
50:34that she just doesn't really...
50:37She's not fully complementous at the moment.
50:39She's a particular cow who's made a huge amount of milk,
50:44and the body just struggles to readjust, essentially,
50:49once it's made all that.
50:53It's just a very...
50:55It's a soluble form of calcium that's going straight into her vein
50:59to restore her...
51:01the calcium level in her bloodstream.
51:05I think she'll be a bit brighter.
51:07She is, isn't she? She's looking a bit more...
51:10Yeah, if you just tie it on fairly low down, David,
51:12and then it'll just keep her laid down.
51:14I'll throw this other one under the skin, and then we'll...
51:16You can see that she's getting a little bit lively already.
51:22And the shaking, John?
51:24Yeah, the shivering's normal.
51:26That's just the muscles all coming back to life again.
51:28They certainly all start to shiver when the calcium gets in,
51:32and tells us we've hit in the spot, anyway.
51:35Once the calcium takes effect, she'll recover quickly,
51:39but will be disoriented and upset.
51:41Watch out, David. You might need to...
51:43cheer her up a bit.
51:47She's quite strong, but I'm on the right side of the post.
51:50Yeah.
51:52Here we go.
51:54We'll get her tag out, did we? No.
51:56Good.
51:58Looks a bit more like...
52:01Yep.
52:02I think we can say we've fixed it based on...
52:06just looking at it, really.
52:09It's a...
52:11life's delicate balance.
52:13You don't have to go that low to die, really,
52:15because the heart's one of the busiest muscles in the body,
52:17and if it's struggling, it struggles as much as all the other muscles do,
52:21so...
52:23they can easily die if they're not managed.
52:25We calves looking for a suck.
52:28It was a remarkable difference in a matter of...
52:33barely five minutes.
52:36There we go.
52:37Calf's got a hole there, look.
52:39Yep.
52:41That was... that was a close shave.
52:44A very close shave.
52:46After... we had good scanning,
52:49and then...
52:50we almost lost a cow.
52:52So...
52:53that was farming.
52:55Some good days, some bad days.
52:57But luckily, the good day continued,
52:58because we managed to get a result there, so...
53:03A stiff ram would go down very well.
53:06Very, very well.
53:15Evening chores are in full swing for Stephen and Stuart in Dumfries.
53:32But in Edinburgh, the night's still young for Eilert and Tracey.
53:36The Scottish Rural Awards Gala Dinner is about to begin.
53:41I'm on the red carpet.
53:43You don't have to have taken.
53:45Very nice.
53:47Amongst the 400 guests,
53:49110 finalists will vie for 11 awards.
53:53Roan's Dairy is nominated in the Rural Enterprise category.
53:57That's pretty exciting.
53:59Like, we're there. Roan's Dairy is like there.
54:02I'm a bit nervous, but it's just because you're somewhere you're not familiar with it,
54:05but you're dressed up, but you're not in your usual, you know,
54:08waterproof somewhere you leave.
54:11Eilert and Tracey are representing the business,
54:14while Stuart and Stephen watch the livestock back home.
54:18I can tell you Stephen will be out in the shed looking to see who's bulling.
54:22That'll be doing his final check, kicking in silage,
54:26scraping it in and doing a final check for his girls.
54:28Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Dynamic Air for this evening's wonderful awards ceremony.
54:41I am Craig McCauley, a delight to be here.
54:43Well, there's ten people in the category altogether, but there is three places in the category,
54:49so there is a very slim chance that we could get.
54:53Or, as my son says, that means there's seven people going home with nothing, Mummy.
54:57So I was like, yeah, thank you for pointing out the obvious.
55:00It's their category next.
55:03We're in rural enterprise now, an extremely broad category, open to all businesses.
55:08A tricky one trying to find the finalists for this.
55:12Community spirit is important in the Scottish Rural Awards,
55:15and when a business supports and invests in the local community,
55:18it shows a forward-thinking approach.
55:20I feel sick.
55:21The top three are called in reverse order.
55:29Rural enterprise highly commended, Boo Varick,
55:33and here to collect the award, Sarah McLean.
55:40We're not getting anything in this category.
55:42The runner-up in the rural enterprise category is a farm diversification business
55:53that is really thought outside the box.
55:55The runners-up, Roan's Dairy,
55:58receiving the role of Tracy and Aylett Roan.
56:12Thank you very much.
56:35Oh my God!
56:37Did that just happen?
56:38I lost the words and I've got the cheeks.
56:43We did it!
56:52I didn't think sitting in the hairdressers this morning,
56:54like, getting our make-up and hair done,
56:56that would actually sit here and be holding her up.
56:58It might not make us any more money, but hey, I'm pretty chuffed.
57:02Probably won't.
57:04I'm sure the cows will really appreciate it when we show them tomorrow.
57:07Oh, I'll be sure they're shown in the morning.
57:09It's like, look girls, look what you've done.
57:11With the ceremony drawing to a close, there's little time to celebrate
57:16before the daily demands of the farm start again.
57:19We did it!
57:20By the time we get home, I've got to go out and do milk deliveries.
57:29So, there'll be enough time for me to go and get changed and have something to eat and then back out on the road again.
57:34I've managed to stay in heels for a good few hours now, so, yeah.
57:43How long can the eyeliner stay on tomorrow?
57:46That'll be it. When the hair comes down, they'll be delivering milk with the face, there'll be some kind of nasty shock.
57:50I'm totally going to feed calves like this in the morning.
58:00Next time, the farmers work flat out as the spring onslaught of lambing and calving kicks off.
58:07Obviously, as you can see from his head, it's very swollen and it's stone cold, his head.
58:16My childbirth was not that easy.
58:20It's a danger point.
58:25I've got to come quick fast now, so we're going to strangle it, sir.
58:28We're going to lose this calf. You're not careful.
58:29We're going to lose this calf in a clown.
58:59We're probably going to lose this m poodle.
59:02But maybe somebody can lay out doing it.
59:04We're going to lose some new things, too.
59:05You're probably going to lose this calf.
59:06I'm going to lose this calf, as you simply do something to re- commodities.
59:07That's why we're thinking.
59:11It went four years old, this wrapping you want stuff with aindiataver saved.
59:14And so I decided to meet many times to be Ki atac when you were a new plant or a new elder,
59:21and thought you were going to be an uncommon polit fifty three weeks ago.
59:23A genuine death item you referenced are for 96 years ago.
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