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Documentary, This Farming Life S02E12

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
#FarmingLife

#ThisFarmingLife #FarmingLife

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 were 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.
00:58Midsummer in Scotland.
01:13In Appen, on the northwest coast, daylight stretches for up to 20 hours.
01:20For some, it's a time for holidays and relaxation.
01:25Not so for Scotland's farmers.
01:29The job we do, it's all consuming.
01:31You live and breathe it.
01:33If you weren't brought up with it, you'd find it very difficult to doubt
01:36to the way of life, the job we do.
01:45Hill farmers David and Sandra Colthart keep 540 black-faced sheep across 3,200 acres.
01:53I don't chance.
01:54For them, summer sun is a valuable resource.
02:02When you have some good weather, you tend to try and get as much done as possible.
02:05So, we're just about to start the kind of main shearing spell.
02:10And we've got some sheep in which we'll hope to get done
02:13if the weather continues on over the next few days.
02:24Sheep are sheared in batches over a month.
02:27First into the shed are the hogs, young sheep with fast-growing fleeces.
02:43They're last year's lambs, and they don't have lambs till next year.
02:48So, this is the real start of the summer task, is the hog shearing.
02:52And then, in another month's time, we'll do their mother.
02:54Oh, gosh. Come on, Huggies, come on.
03:02Only the boss comes now, so...
03:04Need to be sure I'm doing something before Sandra arrives.
03:07Shearing is hot, hard labour.
03:10Oh, what a job.
03:15Sandra packs as David and neighbour Jamie clip.
03:19I'm lucky that we've got, like, a few guys around here
03:24that will help us when we need them.
03:26Because I don't think David would be a very happy camper
03:30if he's sitting in here in his own clipping today.
03:34Particularly as it's a year since he last sheared.
03:36When you're not used to regularly doing it, it's quite hard work.
03:41For me, anyway, it's quite a painful experience at times.
03:45Hogs since the...
03:46Are you hogs?
03:48Since the first time they've been clipped,
03:49they've got a lot of wool everywhere.
03:53Not such a good one to clip this one.
03:55Quite tight to clip the wool.
03:57The wool.
03:58You need a rise.
04:00Which is the new season's wool coming in
04:01to push the old fleece up.
04:04And between that, you...
04:06The shears go.
04:12Also helping out is David's nephew, Robert.
04:16Robert is what you call a croger.
04:18He catches the sheep in the pen,
04:19brings them out and turns it over.
04:22If you had to catch it yourself and turn it over,
04:24you'd be knackered halfway through.
04:25My trousers.
04:32Ah!
04:33Oh!
04:34Put the horns in my trousers.
04:36Get her off.
04:40Thank you sheep.
04:41Got any new ventilation?
04:42She didn't have before.
04:47There's 110 in this batch to get through.
04:49Maybe eight to three hours.
04:50Solid cupping.
04:52Just a professional cuppa
04:53could do that in no time at all.
04:58For all this work, there's little reward.
05:01Blackface wool is coarse,
05:03used mostly in carpets,
05:05and demand has fallen through the floor.
05:09It's actually terrible that there's...
05:12There's really not any money.
05:13It's almost more hassle than it's worth.
05:14A blackface fleece will fetch between 90 pence and two pounds.
05:24But however small the profit, shearing still has to be done.
05:29The animal's well for you.
05:32You have to remove the fleece.
05:34So you just grin and bear it.
05:36I'm getting there.
05:37Bags are getting fuller.
05:38I've probably lost about three pounds tonight.
05:44To date.
05:45Sweat.
05:46A holiday right about now would go down quite nicely.
06:00For 18 years, he's promised us a summer holiday.
06:04And we haven't had one.
06:05It's hard to watch it go on a holiday.
06:06It's hard to watch it go on a holiday.
06:10So that's probably...
06:19It's probably something that I want to do as well.
06:22Go on a holiday.
06:36130 miles south, on the Dumfries and Galloway coast,
06:51Stuart and Aylett Rowan are also working through the summer rain.
06:55Come on. Here you go.
06:57That's it. Get blown.
06:59They're persuading Geordie, the shaolet bull, to take a working holiday.
07:05Up.
07:07Psst.
07:09You go out the gate. Open the gate.
07:15Get on.
07:17Quickly.
07:19Oh, for goodness sake.
07:22Geordie's normally on duty at Stuart and Aylett's farm.
07:27Today, he's heading three miles down the road,
07:30to the partner farm run by Stuart's brother, Stephen.
07:34Basically, he just wants to stay out with the girls.
07:37I try to have a wee chat with him while we're up at the gate,
07:39but he kind of looks at you like, shut up.
07:41Most men.
07:46The Rowan family has run dairy herds for six generations.
07:51Milk is their main business, but they also breed some beef cattle.
07:55And to produce good beef calves, you need to cross dairy cows with a strong beefy bull.
08:04A shaolet will produce a good beef calf from a dairy cow.
08:09You know, it's just pure muscle and meat onto a feminine type animal, so the calf will be a good beef cross.
08:20Any calves born from him will be fattened for beef, male or female.
08:24Before he joins the new herd, Geordie's vaccinations need updating.
08:41Enjoy that.
08:42You might not be that chuffed if I rammed a needle into your bottom either.
08:51For most of the year, Stephen's Holsteins are served by artificial insemination, or AI.
08:58The cows carry sensors to indicate when they're in heat, so Stephen can monitor the breeding programme.
09:09But come summer, Stephen prefers to let nature run its course.
09:18For six weeks in the summertime, I choose to put a bull in with the cows.
09:23It just gets a few cows served that maybe wouldn't be getting served to AI.
09:29They just don't show any signs at all.
09:32And also, if you're busy maybe doing silage, it's nice just to be able to kind of forget about AI for a bit.
09:38And just know that there's a bull with the cows.
09:43It's afternoon milking, and Geordie's already causing a stir.
09:47You see this cow 148, you see how sort of sweaty she is.
09:53She's jumping on him just because she's in heat, and she's just excited.
10:02He doesn't seem that bothered to now, does he?
10:04But...
10:06Poor bull, he'll never get any peace.
10:11Stephen follows the herd back to the grazing.
10:14Come on!
10:19With 100 cows vying for Geordie's attention, Stephen's keen for him to get on with the job.
10:25Hopefully he'll be getting that 148 served.
10:29Aye, he's serving her there, I would say.
10:32He's knocked her right over.
10:34He seems to be getting on fine.
10:35Yeah.
10:53In Argyle, David and his dog Chance are heading into the hills.
10:57He's sorting out the sheep, ready for the next shearing.
11:13It's a lovely feeling of just kind of...
11:18The wheat comes off you because you enjoy doing it.
11:21You're away from the hustle and bustle down in the village, the farm.
11:25And it's just a lovely place.
11:27A very, very special place to us.
11:31The ewes with lambs have been gathered in from the high tops.
11:36The milk ewes are the ewes that have reared lambs.
11:39And because they've reared lambs, it's getting a wee bit more out of them.
11:42They're not ready to shear until probably, usually about the middle of July onwards.
11:46A ewes energy is spent raising its lambs, so its fleece is slower growing.
11:53These will be the last sheep to be sheared this summer.
12:03David has penned the sheep to ensure that all the ewes are paired up with their lambs.
12:08Lie down, stay there.
12:10But something's wrong.
12:17Heaven's sake.
12:21A ewe is trapped under a gate.
12:26Oh, hell.
12:28Oh, Carol, come on.
12:30Come on.
12:32Oh, you're all right.
12:34And it looks like she's been there for a while.
12:41Because there's quite a bit of dung from the sheep, she's been here probably since yesterday evening.
12:47The bottom bar on the gate is pressed against his back, and she'll have been struggling, and she'd probably hurt her back.
12:53David must assess her injuries.
12:58Stupid sheep.
12:59If the ewes seriously injured, she may have to be put down.
13:10Right, come on.
13:13There's nothing broken, but just her hawks are swollen, just because she was trying to dig in with her back feet into the ground like that, and just got stuck.
13:34Right, come on, girl. It's not very graceful, but...
13:37The pressure of the bottom bar on her back, and where her legs were, she'd probably bruised her nerves.
13:46Now, if she was going along there dragging her back legs without being able to move them, then that would be a more serious issue.
13:54But she's managing to stand.
13:55The ewes no longer in immediate danger, but her lamb is somewhere in the flock, needing its mother's milk.
14:07I'm just going to walk up there. They'll fill a gap here, and there should only be one lamb standing with a ewe.
14:21If he's careful, David can herd the other sheep away without scaring the lamb from its mother.
14:34The plan works.
14:35But that's her lamb all right. It's not a total disaster.
14:40It's wee things that give you a wee kick, reuniting with its lamb, giving her a gentle massage to help her.
14:48Well, it feels better than a gate, I can tell you that's what she said.
14:51David wants to leave the ewe and lamb alone in the pen to recover.
15:03But if he opens the gate, he risks the lamb running out with the rest of the flock.
15:09Which is when the traditional shepherd's crook comes in handy.
15:13The crook's curved head is designed to catch a sheep, or lamb, by its neck or leg.
15:28Oh, you awful brute.
15:31At least that's the theory.
15:36Easier said than done.
15:44Oh.
15:52Hey, whammy.
15:54Right.
15:56Stick comes in handy at times.
15:59It's now Chance's job to flush out the flock, leaving the injured ewe in the pen.
16:07Lie down. Sit there.
16:10Lie down.
16:12Lie down.
16:14Lie down.
16:16The ewe and her lamb are safe.
16:19But for David, the job's not done yet.
16:25What was ideally going to be a nice quiet day, is a trip to Oban to get stuff, some anti-inflammatory.
16:32That'll just a wee bit of painkiller, basically, just to...
16:36And she'll be fine.
16:38She's just very sore.
16:41That could have happened out on the hill.
16:44And the only thing you'll find, maybe, is some bones and a fleece.
16:47I don't think she truly appreciates what we've done today.
16:52Hey, Chance, what do you think?
16:53In the far north, in Sutherland, the sun is shining.
16:54But for Highland Caen, the sun is shining.
16:55But for Highland Caen, the sun is shining.
16:56But for Highland Crofters Robin and Penny Calvert, the sun is shining.
16:57And the sun is shining.
16:58In the far north, in Sutherland, the sun is shining.
17:05In the far north, in Sutherland, the sun is shining.
17:22But for highland crofters Robin and Penny Calvert,
17:26it's not yet time to make hay.
17:28A wet winter and dry spring has delayed the growth of the meadow grass.
17:43We're in the last week of June now.
17:45I mean, by some years, by this time of the year, we've actually had a hay crop out.
17:50But as you can see behind us, we're still waiting for this meadow hay to grow a lot.
17:53I've got a suspicion that we've lost an awful lot of the nutrient last winter
17:56with the volume of water we had.
17:58It's coming, but it's nowhere near where it should be.
18:06These are natural upland hay meadows,
18:09an increasingly rare and important habitat.
18:13Rich in herbs and wildflowers,
18:16late cutting allows the flowers to reseed and regenerate.
18:21Right, we'll go and get the pony.
18:22With the hay cut on hold, Robin takes a rare opportunity to relax with highland pony Jojo.
18:30A nice sunny afternoon for a change.
18:33It's not blowing too hard.
18:35And there's not an awful lot happening at the moment,
18:39whilst we're waiting for the grass to grow before we start cutting for hay.
18:43Good girl.
18:45Come on, my baby.
18:50That's a good girl.
18:51Good girl.
18:51Wonderful.
18:54When do you come, Jo?
18:55When do you come?
18:57When do you come?
18:57Right, time to give you a big brush up now.
19:03You look back on the old records,
19:05this place has been a lot, a lot of horses here over the years.
19:07All working.
19:09I mean, this one doesn't have to work for a living.
19:11She just...
19:13It's pure entertainment.
19:13But, you know, they are an intrinsic part of what the croft was.
19:20I've had her about two and a half years now.
19:24It's a bit of an indulgence, really.
19:28You know, anybody can have a diesel engine.
19:30But, you know, the horses are what have been on the crofts for centuries.
19:40I'm impressed I couldn't do that.
19:42I was really sure enough.
19:44Good girl.
19:45Come on.
19:46This way.
19:54Well, he said that he's going to get a horse.
19:56I didn't even know he rode.
19:57I've lived with him for 50 years.
19:59Well, 40 years, anyway.
20:12I've been've filmed here.
20:27Good girl.
20:28Good girl.
20:30It's wonderful, yeah, it really gives me quite a funny sort of buzz, as far as, you know,
20:49this is the old road I've been to the Croft, I mean the road we would normally use is a
20:53relatively recent one, and I mean this road's been here for hundreds if not thousands of
20:57years and the horses that have been up and down here over the years. It's a wonderful feeling
21:03of continuity, and that's one of the things I like about the Croft, is that it keeps the
21:06continuity of the generations going.
21:08Pennies out on foot, foraging for some of the Croft's hidden treasures.
21:28It's called Eyebrite, and if you boil them up, it makes some sort of an eye tonic. Just about
21:41everything that grows on these crops has been used for one thing or another. You've got bugle,
21:46you've got clover, yarrow, valerian, birdsfoot trefoil, and here's some purple field gentians.
21:54Gilly! Gilly, gilly, gilly, gilly!
22:00So the first project we did when we took over the Croft was building this bridge.
22:06The Croft was abandoned when Penny and Robin arrived 25 years ago. Since then, they've transformed it.
22:18When we took this place on at first, it was an absolute wilderness. It was covered in rushes,
22:24it was covered in bracken, there was no hay parks, there was no fencing, nothing like that.
22:30We've got it going very much in the direction of how the Crofts used to be run. As far as we can,
22:35we use it to sustain ourselves in food and fuel and all this sort of thing.
22:48Penny's searching the birch woods for chanterelle mushrooms, her favourite delicacy.
22:55Because we've run the Croft, we've learned a lot. Just being able to nip out and go and get enough
22:59for supper is really great. These are chanterelles. Aren't they the most delicious colour?
23:07You can tell they're chanterelles. The markings go like an umbrella right the way through.
23:11They don't have two parts. They don't have a lid and a stalk. Utterly delicious.
23:16I've known them sell at Harrods for about 23 pounds a kilo.
23:22You can get it wrong and pick a false chanterelle, which is poisonous.
23:26So you've got to be careful that you don't get the wrong ones.
23:32The chanterelles are a precious resource.
23:35And Penny's disappointed with the picking.
23:39I came down here six days ago and it was just one sea of mushrooms across.
23:48And now there aren't any. I could have filled this basket.
23:52Somebody's come for a walk around the wood, which they're perfectly allowed to do.
23:55They've seen the funguses and they've come back with buckets and gathered the whole lot and not left us with any.
24:03Nature gives you enough for yourself for picking. It doesn't give you enough for making money out of it.
24:09And that's what the nuance is, that they should leave a little bit for somebody else.
24:13And they've not. They've wiped it clean.
24:15Penny was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease three years ago.
24:24It means her energy levels run low.
24:26I've done a lot today and I haven't had an afternoon sleep.
24:30It's a blooming nuisance.
24:37We're both getting older and I think it's now time to maybe just slow down a wee bit both of us as well.
24:45I mean, I'm getting older and I've got a lot of rheumatism in the hands and this sort of thing.
24:48I haven't got the stamina he used to hold, the strength he used to have.
24:52But we've still got the enthusiasm for the place.
24:56We love this place to death. We're hefty to it. It's part of us.
24:59But bottom line, you know, without your health, it's nothing, is it?
25:14Farming has an ageing workforce.
25:18In Scotland, the average age of a farmer is 59.
25:24And the number of younger farmholders under 40 is dropping.
25:28The future of farming depends on new talent coming in.
25:35But the availability of land and the cost of stock and equipment can be prohibitive.
25:51On the Fife coast, one young farmer has gambled his future on some very untraditional farm animals.
25:59Water buffalo.
26:08Driving round them at this time of year is definitely the number one perk of the job, you know.
26:13Especially when they're clearly well acclimatised to being out in the fields in Scotland.
26:17You know, they absolutely love it. You can see they're caked in mud.
26:20They're growing like, I mean, these calves were just babies when we put them out into this field.
26:26And now they're big, sturdy, strong calves have done brilliantly well.
26:29So it's a very rewarding part of the job.
26:34In just 10 years, Stevie Mitchell has built up Scotland's biggest herd to over 400 head.
26:40And created a new customer base for his buffalo meat.
26:46I think we've really conquered that now. We've won awards for our buffalo meat.
26:50And we've got regular customers buying it week in, week out.
26:55Hey, this is where the front of my pickup gets down.
27:01Stevie's doing well.
27:02But to beef up his business, he's turning to another buffalo product.
27:07Cheese.
27:10I think most people associate buffalo with famous buffalo mozzarella from Italy.
27:15And I just think it would be an absolute amazing opportunity to produce buffalo mozzarella.
27:22But from Scotland, there's a huge demand for it. We get asked all the time for buffalo mozzarella.
27:30It's an ambitious plan.
27:33He'll need a new milking herd, a creamery, and to house it all, a bigger farm.
27:39He's put in a bid on the perfect place, and it's right next door.
27:43It's a scary amount of money. You know, it's a serious, serious project.
27:48I'm mortgaging myself to the hilt and putting every penny and every hour that I work at into this.
27:55It is a gamble to an extent.
27:58Added to that, Stevie comes from a long line of stockmen.
28:02He may know his beef, but has no idea how to make cheese.
28:07So he's planning an educational excursion to the masters of mozzarella.
28:13Couldn't go and visit Italy, which is obviously the home of buffalo really, certainly in Europe.
28:19It'll be a great chance for me to speak to some Italian buffalo farmers in my brilliant Italian.
28:24I guess I'm looking for a little bit of reassurance that what we're stepping into is going to work out.
28:34In the southwest of Scotland, the Rowan family has already gone for boom or bust.
28:53Stuart's herd of 140 Holstein cows now provides milk for Rowan-branded cream, milkshakes and doorstep deliveries.
29:05Today, he's delivering milk to his favourite customers.
29:12Come on, girls.
29:17Grunt, grunt, come on.
29:18His three pet pigs.
29:24They love a bit of milk, so they get their chops right on it.
29:28These two iron pig, they're very close.
29:35You can see how sort of low their belly is and how prominent their teats are.
29:39How many piglets do you think are in there?
29:43How many's in there, eh?
29:48Two pigs are about to farrow or give birth.
29:50Stuart's wife, Aylett, is preparing a maternity pen.
29:55The perils of straw in the bra.
29:58It's horrible.
30:01Putting the two pigs in, getting ready to farrow, so very close.
30:06So we'll make them a nice bed and get them inside just in case.
30:14Right, up the yard.
30:16Come on, then, let's go.
30:17Kill one.
30:18Kill one.
30:19Tummy full of little piggies.
30:25They tend to go off on their own, nest down a bit, get a bit more restless.
30:29They're uncomfortable. Sort of like a human, basically.
30:33It's not warm enough at nights for the piglets when they're born.
30:36And if they're out in the big field, if one sort of wanders off, it's just...
30:38They need to be in a more enclosed area for the moment.
30:43There's probably no pig for a week now we've brought her in.
30:48The pigs are a hobby.
30:49That could be getting out of hand.
30:53Once they're here, they are cute and they're quite fun to watch.
30:55But why we're having piglets, I have no idea.
30:59It's the last thing that we need to be doing is doing all this.
31:01On David and Sandra's farm, another pet project has recently borne fruit.
31:15Sandra's mare, Mabel, has a month-old foal.
31:18Today is his first day at school.
31:26Today's little lesson is going to be showing him that people are to be trusted and not to be terrified of.
31:32He's going to be scared to start with.
31:36Come on, Mabel.
31:39Highland ponies are one of two breeds native to the Scottish Highlands and Islands.
31:44Coming up, Mabes.
31:45Sandra's been breeding them for 22 years.
31:49Come on, little guy.
31:56We have two young men on the other side of the gate hoping to get lucky.
32:01That's the father of the foal.
32:09That's your son.
32:11What do you think? Are you proud of him?
32:15If the foal's to grow into a good riding pony, he must first get used to people.
32:21I'm going to do another side of the gate.
32:23Well, no, probably from behind because he's less offended if you're at his bum.
32:26Just gently, gently, gently.
32:31The foal we need to associate handling by us is not a bad experience,
32:33so we have to be quite careful that we don't push it too far or don't give him a fright.
32:39It's been really sweet.
32:40Oh, yes.
32:42Wow, are you enjoying that?
32:43Are we scratching it?
32:44Oh, that feels good.
32:45Oh, that feels good.
32:47Yes, yes, that feels good.
32:51You always know they're relaxing when they start giving a reciprocal
32:54scratch like that with their mouth.
32:57Slowly touch near his head, so he gets used to getting his head touched,
33:01but you have to do very slowly, small steps.
33:04You can tell when he's nervous, his bum starts shaking.
33:08Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
33:10It's all right, buddy.
33:12It's all right. It's okay.
33:13Whoa.
33:14His head, they don't like their heads being touched.
33:17Man, he's sweating.
33:18Yeah, he's nervous.
33:19That's a good boy.
33:20Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
33:22Go back over there.
33:25You can see he's getting ready to spook.
33:26Just hold on a second.
33:28Take the hand off him.
33:33Horses are herd animals, hardwired to run at any sign of danger.
33:41There's only so much you can do with young animals,
33:44and then they actually start switching off and they stop learning.
33:47And sometimes it's better just to leave it on a good note,
33:49where he's happy and he's calm.
33:51The main thing is that he is accepting being handled,
33:54and he's starting to trust.
33:56I'm not the big bad farmer you thought I was, eh?
34:00Are you?
34:09Come on, bring it going.
34:10Stuart's also indulging his softer side with a pen full of new piglets.
34:16This one's got seven, and that one did of nine, but then she lost one.
34:28There was one tiny wee one, basically, that didn't make it, so she's got eight still.
34:31They literally do grow every day. It's amazing how quick they get bigger.
34:36Quite entertaining, they're fun. They either fall asleep all rode up on their mother,
34:40or with a teat in their mouth. They literally just drop off to sleep,
34:43or you find them stacked up in a pile two or three deep.
34:47There's one in the bucket here, inside here.
34:50What are you doing?
34:54They're like cheeky wee kids, basically.
34:56They're just a bit of fun. I just quite enjoy having them. I just, eh,
35:02always fancied having a pig for some reason.
35:04Today, these little piggies are getting their first injections.
35:16Right, Elliot, come on, go.
35:18An iron dose to prevent anemia.
35:25It's like taking your children for their injections.
35:27It's okay, shush.
35:37The noise is a lot worse than the reality.
35:43Smile for the camera.
35:49Just one more.
35:52Are we finished?
35:57Oh, jeez.
35:59Just a hand, come on.
36:04Right, is that last one?
36:08Go.
36:11Right, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
36:15It's all done successfully.
36:17Well, he didn't inject his wife.
36:18Yeah, I know. I didn't manage to jog Elliot, so it's a bonus.
36:23Because if you thought the pigs were loud,
36:25Elliot would be even louder, I'm sure.
36:27I would hurt a lot more, and he would suffer the consequences of that.
36:45Campania, south-west Italy.
36:48A far cry from Fife.
36:50Home to 280,000 buffalo and the motherload of mozzarella cheese.
36:58Stevie dreams of becoming Scotland's first buffalo dairy farmer.
37:04And he's come up with a cunning plan.
37:07Mixing buffalo business with the other love of his life.
37:11I have managed to sell this trip as a wee holiday for my fiancee Sarah to come as well.
37:20And it's not Sarah's first buffalo-themed break.
37:22Because we've been to Ireland and Amsterdam now, so, yeah.
37:29We have had the odd holiday, it wasn't, er...
37:32It wasn't involving buffalo.
37:35Yeah.
37:35Well, one, we went to Singapore.
37:38Yeah, one.
37:39Today, they're meeting buffalo breeder and mozzarella maker, Giuseppe Moresi.
37:46You know the...
37:50Oh, the noise, the moo.
37:52Yeah.
37:53Lincoln?
37:53The roar.
37:54Yeah, yeah, yeah.
37:55Rrrr.
37:55Rrrr.
37:56Rrrr.
37:56Rrrr.
37:57Rrrr.
37:57Rrrr.
37:58Rrrr.
37:59This is the...
37:59Probably it's different from Scottish.
38:01I find with my buffalo, they know when strangers are here.
38:09Yeah?
38:10It changes their personality.
38:11Yeah, yeah, yeah.
38:13I think if Giuseppe was here in himself, the buffalo would be more relaxed and less...
38:16Probably, I mean, they are...
38:18Because it would be...
38:19They recognise the human, yes.
38:20Yeah.
38:22Mediterranean buffalo is famous in the world for the best milk to produce mozzarella.
38:28In the south of Italy, a lot of tradition in mozzarella production and buffalo breeding.
38:36We're seeing a man who's obviously one of the best in Italy at keeping buffalo and so
38:41getting the chance to ask lots of questions, it's great.
38:47So, what are these guys eating just now?
38:49This is...
38:51This is a mixture of mixed silage and hay,
38:57straw, straw also, yes, straw, and a little concentrate.
39:02They are all pregnant here, waiting for the new baby.
39:10To keep the milk flowing, the buffalo carve all year round.
39:16Buffalo are stronger and more destructive than dairy cows, so their milking parlour is reinforced.
39:21Every day, Giuseppe sends 875 litres of milk to his small state-of-the-art creamery to be turned into 225 kilos of mozzarella cheese.
39:34It's exactly the sort of facility Stevie wants to build back in Fife.
39:45We warm the milk at 40 degrees and after this passage in this machine, the milk goes into this tank.
39:52Good skills are to know the moment when we make mozzarella, yeah.
39:57We have to know the exact time we're starting to produce.
40:03Incredible, eh?
40:04And after three hours, three hours and a half of maturation, with hot water, 95 degrees, we cook.
40:13And then with the machine, the bowls of various sides.
40:17This 25, yeah, 50, 100 grams.
40:21More than I feel they do by hand.
40:31Giuseppe's team have been making cheese for over 20 years.
40:37Amazing.
40:39Oh, I don't think I manage.
40:51I give up.
41:00No, just see if he can't do it either, I'm not so mad.
41:04I feel a bit better, I was quite concerned there.
41:17Stevie's in buffalo paradise.
41:19What do you mean?
41:21Two days of tours and tastings.
41:23It's really good, eh?
41:29And it's inspired him.
41:33This trip's definitely given me loads to think about, but most importantly,
41:36it's given me the confidence to go and build this business plan.
41:40We could do this.
41:43I'm not sure we could create the warm climate consistently enough as they do here in the south of Italy,
41:48unfortunately, but it's certainly put the bar very high to what to strive for in the future.
41:56Back in Scotland, the weather is playing havoc with the harvest.
42:21An early morning shower has put a dampener on Robin's plans to start the final cut of hay.
42:29He assesses the damage with neighbouring crofter John MacDonald.
42:43It's just a bit tacky, isn't it?
42:44Hello.
42:45It'll be all right, so let me get it well wrapped.
42:46It's quite green, I think.
42:47It's quite green.
42:49Come on, girl.
42:53Come on, baby.
42:53Here you go.
42:54Good girl.
42:54It may be too damp to store as hay, but they can still make an excellent winter feed for their livestock.
43:01So this hay was cut five days ago, something like that.
43:05It's now been turned a couple of times, so it's just off grain.
43:10It will be baled and then wrapped to make haylage rather than hay.
43:13It's not going to be dry enough for that.
43:15A lovely halfway point is haylage.
43:17Between silage and hay, the cattle absolutely love it.
43:20It's sweet as a note, if you get it right.
43:32Robin's in his tractor, spreading the cut hay into rows.
43:37John's brought his baler.
43:41Sharing equipment and labour is traditional on these highland crops,
43:45where the land is less productive and profits are tight.
43:50It's not our crofter, isn't this?
43:52This belongs to a widower crofter who doesn't cut her own hay,
43:55and the deal is that we cut this between us, split the costs on that,
43:59and Charlotte gets a certain proportion for herself for a sheep and a bit to sell,
44:03and we split the rest between us, and it works very nicely.
44:06It's just reciprocal profit, that's all, you know.
44:08It's rather nice.
44:16Hay-making's great, you know, when you're looking at rows of hay
44:19and it's all working and the machinery's working.
44:22It's just a good feeling, and you know then that you've got feed for the winter,
44:27so that your animals are safe for another year.
44:31The bales are wrapped.
44:35The plastic keeps the rain out and prevents the haylage from rotting.
44:39It's an old wrapper, isn't it? It's a very old tractor, but they both do this job perfectly, so...
44:58It's always nice when you get to this stage. You've got...
45:01There's nothing on the ground.
45:02You've got it all in the bale, you've got it all in the wrap,
45:05you've got it in the barns, you've got it in the sheds,
45:08and it can now snow for all I care.
45:18Take the battery off, otherwise it dies.
45:20It's been a good tractor, isn't it?
45:24We've passed its best now, but it's still a good engine.
45:26The croft is set up to survive another winter.
45:36But Robin and Penny are facing a less certain future.
45:39The big decision will come if Robin gets too arthritic.
45:48And having built up the croft, we've now got it up and running the way we want it.
45:54And if he cuts back on the work that he does on the croft, it'll get overgrown.
45:59And so the question is, do we cut our losses and leave it when it's really, really in its peak?
46:06Or do we sit and watch it crumbling?
46:08Because that's the reality of things as you get older.
46:15It's just a cause of discussion at the moment, but it has to be faced sometime.
46:22It's just a cause of discussion at the moment, but it's just a cause of discussion at the moment.
46:42On the Isle of Mull, Janet and Alistair Taylor are five years into their farming adventure.
46:48Like Robin and Penny, they took over a run-down property and are slowly building it up.
46:59This summer, they've raised 120 lambs and seven highland calves.
47:06Helping keep an eye on them all are their nine dogs.
47:09Here. Good boy.
47:20And it's dinner time.
47:22I'm making turmeric golden paste for the dogs.
47:25It's got turmeric and water and some black pepper in it.
47:29It's very good for their joints, especially the old dogs.
47:32The coconut oil gives them a great shine to their coat, so.
47:38They all get slightly different foods.
47:41I've got a board with all the instructions on it.
47:44That's mainly for when Alistair feeds them.
47:46There's joint supplements for everyone.
47:50And then anti-inflammatory ones.
47:52Seaweed and parsley for teeth.
47:56Oh, and stroppy bitch.
47:57For pip and bria.
47:59That's where I make Janet's tea out of.
48:01Yeah, I get a lot of that.
48:03It seems to keep them more hormonally balanced.
48:06Yoghurt for their digestion.
48:10Looks good.
48:11Oh, and someone can hear the food being made.
48:20Once it's done, we get peace.
48:23Their dogs eat like kings.
48:25But Janet and Alistair live a more frugal life.
48:30Their rented farm will only make £4,000 from livestock sales this year.
48:35So they have to take on contract work across the island.
48:38It's hard because, yeah, we're getting pulled in every direction.
48:42Because we want to be on our own farm doing things to help improve it and doing work here.
48:49But that's not where we make the money.
48:52The way it is, everything on the side is supporting the farm.
48:55And from the looks of the next couple of years, it's only going to get worse.
48:59The farm's going to start costing money and everything else is going to be supporting it.
49:03And I don't imagine Brexit's going to make land prices go up.
49:08I don't think it's going to be on the island.
49:12Janet and Alistair want to stay on the Isle of Mull.
49:15But to keep farming, they may have to leave.
49:22If we did look at moving farm, we'd probably look at a mainland farm.
49:28You instantly remove so many hurdles.
49:31You've not got the ferries.
49:32You've not got that added cost of everything you bring in and everything you put away.
49:38And the cost on feed and hay and things like that for the ferry is just huge.
49:41If it gets to the stage where we are struggling to survive, then something might have to change.
49:48I think some people might consider our income struggling to survive.
49:54See, I think we live really comfortably.
49:56I think we live comfortably.
49:57But when you think about the things that we don't spend money on, I mean,
50:00when was the last time we bought new clothes and things like that, you know?
50:04It would be nice to have a holiday, but...
50:08You'd miss your dogs if you went away.
50:09Well, yeah, the dogs have to come. They work as hard as we do. They have to come on holiday.
50:18A week's holiday may be out of the question.
50:22But well within reach is a stunning beach at the edge of the farm.
50:30Come down to the beach for the night and a bottle of Prosecco,
50:33steaks on the barbecue while we spend the night down here.
50:36Nice glasses.
50:55Yeah, you can get more in them.
50:57Yeah, you can get more in them.
51:07Across on the mainland, the long summer evenings give David the opportunity to take a break from the daily routine.
51:21And reflect on farming life.
51:23This place means so much to me. It's a very important part of my life.
51:32I could never give this life up unless through bad health or something like that.
51:38I honestly couldn't visualise myself doing anything else.
51:43But if there's one certainty in farming, it's the constant threat of change.
51:48The future for health farming at the moment is very much up in the air.
51:55And with Brexit, it's up in the air with farm support.
51:58It's farm support. It's a huge part of keeping us here.
52:01You know, we've got a couple of years left of that and we don't know what's happening after that.
52:08There's far easier ways probably to make money than doing what we do.
52:10You're not going to make a fortune doing it and the scenery doesn't pay the bills.
52:18From unpredictable weather to an uncertain economic climate, farmers must adapt to survive.
52:25The Rowan's dairy business was struggling financially.
52:37With milk prices low, they took a gamble.
52:40Investing hard cash and long hours in building their own milk brand and selling direct to doorstep customers.
52:47And it seems to be paying off.
52:49There you go. There's some fresh strawberries.
52:52And that is from a cream from our very own herd of cows down in Dumfries and Galloway.
52:57Tracey and Aylett are at the biggest showcase for Scottish farming.
53:01The annual Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh.
53:05Absolutely yum.
53:06We started pasteurising our own milk and cream just under two years ago.
53:10And this is our first year kind of showcasing at the Highland Show.
53:15Business is booming, basically.
53:17It proves that it's a business that has legs and can keep on going if we keep on investing the time.
53:23I don't know if we can keep going.
53:24Yeah, if we can keep on investing the time in it, then yeah, there's the scope for it.
53:28The people want the delivery back on the doorstep.
53:30And that seems to be where the business is definitely going to.
53:33The future looks pink.
53:40The Royal Highland Show runs across four days.
53:42Over 190,000 visitors mix business with pleasure.
53:49Among them are David and Sandra.
53:52So much machinery and so little money to buy it.
53:54It sure feels so big.
53:56You're walking miles, miles and miles to find stuff.
53:58Are we going the right way?
53:59Yep.
54:06In the show ring, reputations are made winning a Royal Highland Rosette.
54:13Mel and Martin Irvin are here with the best bulls and heifers from their pedigree herd of limousine cattle.
54:18Look, where's daddy? Look, there's daddy. Daddy.
54:22Can you join us at the limousine cattle judging?
54:27But this year, things have changed.
54:30Since Erin's come along, it's been a bit different.
54:33She's my responsibility, really.
54:36So she comes first, so I kind of have to play the mummy role first and look after her.
54:42But Martin will cook fine.
54:45I need Mel. I miss Mel.
54:47Yeah, because Mel, she's thinking like me and she can, it's what I need and it needs it done.
54:51I'm just kind of getting a bit rushed at the end here and I know he's as well-dressed as I like him to be.
54:56So we have the final results for the Livers and the Bull class, 276.
54:59Out in the ring, Martin wins third place.
55:03Third, number 663.
55:05If Mel has her way, it won't be long before another Irvin follows in his footsteps.
55:11One day she'll be out there and I'll be going from the ring cycle.
55:16Do this, do that.
55:23Nearby, flipping buffalo burgers, Stevie's also thinking about the future.
55:29The biggest change of his farming life is on the horizon.
55:36It gave us a lot of food for thought in Italy. It was an incredible trip.
55:40I think we definitely have room in the market for some Scottish mozzarella, no question about that.
55:45It's just a matter of trying to make that happen now.
55:47Back in Fife, Stevie's taken a huge step towards turning his dreams into reality.
56:02He's found the place where he can make mozzarella.
56:08But it's going to be a while before he can bring in the buffalo.
56:17A roofless buyer.
56:24You can still see the old stalls where they would have had the dairy cows totally chained up.
56:29I don't think this will be salvageable.
56:36After months of planning, negotiations and paperwork, Stevie now owns a dairy farm.
56:42We've actually got the old milking tank in here where the original dairy farm stored the milk.
56:53Bankhead Farm is next door to the land he rents for his beef unit.
56:59I think it's fair to say with everything here, we need quite a lot of imagination.
57:04We are hoping to obviously have the kind of retail and the farm shop kind of experience here.
57:10The actual cheese plant will be a modern new building.
57:13It's a very, very big investment.
57:22As much as we've got these lovely ideas, the fear is how we can turn them into reality without bankrupting ourselves, basically.
57:32I'm not maybe as daunted by it, but maybe I'm less realistic.
57:40Stevie and Sarah are taking a massive gamble.
57:47As well as breathing new life into an abandoned farmhouse.
57:50We're going to obviously be keeping these curtains.
57:52And the curtains.
57:53Glad they're throwing that at the deal.
57:57They must also buy a new milking herd, build a dairy, launch a cheese business,
58:03and sell more buffalo meat to pay for it all.
58:09It's the beginning of their next farming adventure.
58:14There's so much potential.
58:16There's so much here to get our teeth into and we'll do whatever it takes to kind of make this happen.
58:22We will produce Scottish mozzarella up here, that's for sure.
58:25Well, let's go.
58:39Now, for gonna give you a whole new hurdles,
58:41it's close to you...
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