- 3 months ago
Landward episode 18 2025
Category
🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:00In the Scottish countryside, it's never dull. Welcome to Lambert.
00:07Hello from Appen of Dull near Aberfeldy in Highland Perthshire. It's an upland area overlooking
00:33the River Tay of grouse moors and hill farms. But it's also an ideal breeding ground for
00:39ticks. And as our climate gets wetter and warmer, the chances of them spreading disease
00:44is greater. In a moment, I'll be meeting the scientists trying to do something about that.
00:49But first, here's what else is coming up. Ready for action, Willie. I am coming.
00:55We meet AI Willie. He's been bringing new life to Caithness for over 50 years.
01:01285 days and we'll have the calf here. Shabazz is searching for a close-up. A very close-up.
01:09So how's that look? Yeah, brilliant. For the first attempt, I think it looks amazing.
01:13And Anne has to fess up when she joins the oyster harvest.
01:17This is a bad time to tell you that I'm allergic.
01:20Oh, yeah, well that's fine, I'll eat too.
01:22But first, as our climate changes, it has all sorts of consequences for our countryside.
01:31One is the increased risk of illness in our livestock, especially from insect-borne viruses.
01:37As you'll see, the effects are unpleasant.
01:47Walk up. Walk up.
01:49And sheep farmer Ian Duncan-Miller of Tyrenee Farm near Aberfeldy experienced them firsthand back in 2023.
01:57I came up, went to the gate and looked over.
02:02Oh, there's a dead sheep. Oh, look, there's another one.
02:05And before I was finished that day, there were seven or eight.
02:08Just like that.
02:12So I phoned the vet from the field to get the vet out and she confirmed what it was.
02:18It was lauping ill, a virus spread by ticks.
02:22The lauping, or jumping, a sign of brain damage.
02:27Cattle, horses, dogs and red grouse can all be infected.
02:32And in sheep, the mortality rate is up to 50%.
02:36Within 14 days, I had lost 70.
02:40Goodness me.
02:41It was quite devastating.
02:44And not just emotionally.
02:47The outbreak cost Ian around £25,000.
02:50Now, he treats his sheep with a poron pesticide.
02:55But he'd prefer not to.
02:58What am I doing environmentally?
02:59And I don't know the answer to that question.
03:02We know the porons, they kill the tick.
03:05What else are they killing?
03:06And I'm left with that question hanging in the air.
03:09For us in the industry, how much better would it be
03:11if we can control somebody's disease by a vaccine
03:14and utilising the sheep's immune system
03:16rather than relying on chemicals?
03:18Astonishingly, it is possible.
03:23This is the Morden Research Institute near Edinburgh.
03:27It's a charity funded largely by the Scottish government
03:30specialising in livestock health.
03:33They're trialling a new vaccine,
03:35which has turned out to be very effective.
03:37There is a problem, though, but it's not with the science.
03:41Of course, it's money.
03:44Creating and bringing a vaccine to market is expensive.
03:48And it seems there are just not enough potential customers.
03:52David, hi. How are you?
03:53Hi, Dougie. Nice to meet you.
03:54Dr. David Griffiths is part of the team here at Morden.
04:00The problem is that although laupingill is an important disease for hill farmers,
04:04in terms of the whole sheep industry, it's relatively low priority.
04:09So the animal health companies who usually develop vaccines
04:13don't see it as a commercially viable product.
04:16Usually, if we developed a vaccine at Morden, for instance,
04:20we would licence that to an animal health company, a vaccine manufacturer,
04:25and they would work out how to scale up production,
04:28and then they would take it through the regulatory process.
04:33Morden thinks the vaccine is so important for farmers like Ian
04:36that they're actually trying to crowdfund the three quarters of a million pounds
04:40they need to take vaccine production to the next stage.
04:44The Scottish Government has already pledged £100,000 in match funding.
04:51That will fund the transfer of our technology from a lab-based scale,
04:57which is half a litre or so of culture,
05:00up to maybe a thousand times that for commercial production.
05:05Even if the Institute is able to raise the money for stage one,
05:09it'll take three years and another £4 million before a vaccine gets to market.
05:16But by then, there may be more potential customers.
05:20As our climate changes, tick numbers are increasing,
05:24and experts believe lauping ill is on the rise.
05:27From an inland upland farm here in Perthshire
05:34to another sort of farm on the north-west coast of Mull,
05:38where Anne is bringing in the harvest.
05:40For farmers who use a combine to bring their harvest in,
05:52the biggest factor that comes into play is the weather.
05:55But here in Mull, harvesting is all about the tides.
05:59On Loch Cooan, near the village of Derwyck,
06:07Gordon Turnbull is a very busy man.
06:10He's getting ready to process 20,000 oysters
06:14that were harvested from this sea loch yesterday.
06:17But you won't see much of the farm they came from right now,
06:21as it's currently underwater.
06:27Good morning, Gordie.
06:28Hi, Anne.
06:29Nice to meet you.
06:30Nice to meet you.
06:31How are you doing?
06:31Good, thanks.
06:32What have we got growing out here, then?
06:35We've got three to four million oysters
06:37at various stages of their life cycle.
06:39Just a few, then?
06:40Yeah.
06:41When would you harvest them, then?
06:43Well, we work on spring tides,
06:45so this week now is key.
06:47You get about two weeks a month that we can get to them,
06:51and so we do all our work in that intense period.
06:53Excellent.
06:54Sounds like there's quite a bit of work going on inside.
06:56Yeah, come and have a look.
06:57Perfect.
06:57When the tide is high, there's always other work to be getting on with in the shed.
07:09These are Pacific oysters.
07:12They're a species that's great for aquaculture.
07:15They're grown in hatcheries, and we grow them on from here over three years,
07:19and they're a great, robust product.
07:23And while they need a few years to grow, they're not always ready for selling at the same time.
07:29Well, right now we're washing and grading these oysters for market,
07:35and then anything that doesn't make the size goes back in these baskets to grow.
07:40So this pile here, they're marketable, but we'll sell them during the next month.
07:46These baskets are to return back to the sea, so these grow on for another six months.
07:51And Gordon's workforce get a helping hand from this sorting machine.
07:55The machine we had before could only do 4,000 an hour.
07:59This does 13,000 an hour.
08:00It's been a game changer, really.
08:02Wow.
08:03Still quite a lot of manual labour in it, but it helps a lot.
08:05It weighs them to within a gram, and it counts them for you,
08:08so you know exactly what you've got after you've done this.
08:10With the sorting complete and the farm starting to emerge,
08:16the oysters that need to spend more time growing need to be put back into the loch.
08:23Around 4,000 tonnes of Pacific oysters are produced in Scotland every year.
08:30These oysters will be sold to supermarkets, and Gordon wants a very specific end product.
08:38What are you looking for then?
08:39What would you say makes a great oyster?
08:42Well, I'm looking for this nice round shape, almost like a teardrop kind of shape.
08:47The deep cup, so there'll be plenty of meat in there.
08:50I like the colour of this one, and there's a very clean shell,
08:54so there's not much barnacles or anything else growing on it,
08:56so it would be a perfect oyster for me.
09:01It looks great.
09:02Look at that.
09:04Wow.
09:05This is a bad time to tell you that I'm allergic.
09:07Oh, yeah, well that's fine, I'll eat it.
09:09You go for it.
09:11You can do the taste test, you're obviously going to tell us your own oysters are fantastic, aren't you?
09:20He's going to tell us it's great anyway, isn't it?
09:22Oh, fantastic.
09:24Yeah, I'm too mean to eat that many, but when I do, it's a real treat.
09:28Oh, good.
09:29I'll have to take Gordon's word for it, but while they're growing here,
09:33the oysters also earn their keep cleaning the loch around them.
09:37I mean, there's so much research being done at the moment about the positive benefits they have to the water quality.
09:44We don't feed them, we don't use pesticides or anything.
09:46They just take their food from what's in the water column.
09:50So it's a very sustainable form of farming.
09:53Why do you think it's important to do this work then, this way of farming for oysters here in Mull?
09:59For me, it's got it all because it's producing a good quality food, a unique Scottish product.
10:07It's not having a bad impact on the environment.
10:10In fact, it could be improving it, providing support from two local families.
10:15And, you know, we're in top-end supermarkets, so, you know, from a small place like this, I think that's quite good going.
10:22Now, from one type of high-end fare to another, Wagyu beef.
10:34Arlene's in North Lanarkshire, finding out how the Japanese breed has developed a taste for a Scottish staple.
10:43Behold the tatty.
10:45I love a tatty.
10:46Chunky chips, gnocchi, vodka.
10:49But it seems there is no end to what this versatile veg can be used for.
10:58Here at Gain Dyke Head Farm, just outside Airdrie, these Wagyu cattle are tucking into some silage with a side order of spuds.
11:08There's an awful lot of tatty's in their feed.
11:10What is going on?
11:13So that is the core of our diet.
11:15We've got high starch, which helps weight gains, and also we've got high water, which means the meat is actually quite juicy.
11:22And the meat is what it's all about.
11:25Farmer Yasmin Brown takes on these cattle at nine months old for finishing the last stage of beef production, maximising weight gain and beef quality to increase their value.
11:36What I'm noticing is they are rifling through the rest of the fibre to get to the tatties.
11:47They clearly love them.
11:49Yep, definitely.
11:50But when they arrive, they've never even seen a tatty.
11:55So when they first come in, we'll give them less potatoes, and then they'll gradually introduce themselves to it.
12:02And then eventually, by the time they understand what a potato is and they like it, then they're eating up to 25 kilos a day.
12:10I'm a fan of a tatties, but that's a lot.
12:16The potatoes are wonky.
12:18They're odd shapes, meaning they'd be rejected for sale in supermarkets.
12:23We get them from our local factory, five miles up the road, so you get meat out of waste potatoes.
12:30And a premium meat at that.
12:32Wagyu differs from the more usual beef breeds because of the high fat content within the meat, visible in the marbling.
12:41When you look at it, if you look at a steak, it's very white, which is the fat veins that go through it.
12:47There seems to be more in Wagyu than any other beef.
12:51High starch, it encourages the fat cells to come forward.
12:53The fat melts during cooking, keeping the meat juicy and enhancing the flavour.
12:59But for Yasmin, it's important because the price she gets is set not just by the weight, but by the quality of the marbling in the meat.
13:09So the way we get paid is all down to your marble score, so there's a special camera that gets used.
13:14Right, so it doesn't matter what they look like on the outside.
13:16No, so your normal beef breeds are all, you get paid for the shape of them.
13:21These, you've no idea what they're going to be on the inside, so it's all due to the inside of them and how high quality your steaks are.
13:31So how do you ensure that they are developing as they should?
13:35Well, we regularly weigh them.
13:37We weigh them every four to six weeks to make sure our diet is working.
13:41Do you have cattle being weighed today?
13:43Yeah, we're weighing something now if you want to come see.
13:45Ah, yeah, I'd love to see that.
13:46Yeah.
13:46So this is an app that we use to keep track of all our animals.
13:54Everything has obviously got its ID tag and all their numbers are on this app, so we can follow them all the way through the chain.
14:01Okay, so which one have you got coming in now?
14:03So this first one was 640 kilos about a month ago.
14:08Right, and I can see you can show the curve upwards, which is what you want to see.
14:13Yeah, so we'll see what weight it is today.
14:15Okay, let's let the first cow through.
14:20Right, 640.
14:23And we're looking at 668, so that's good.
14:26Yeah, it's good.
14:2728 kilos.
14:27Yeah, it's put weight on.
14:29So our main aim is to make sure it's constantly growing.
14:32Right, and that trajectory is still on the right track.
14:34Yeah, it's about the weight gain, then to do.
14:38If Yasmin can match the weight gain with a high marble score, then she's quids in.
14:44Not bad for adding a few spuds that didn't quite make the grade.
14:53The scenery here in Perthshire makes for a spectacular photograph, but there's always more to capture.
15:00Shabazz is armed with his camera now in Sildingshire to tell us more.
15:11Landscape photography is my thing.
15:13So big, wide, open spaces like this is what I get really excited for.
15:18And the bogs of Flanders Moss National Nature Reserve are the perfect place to capture something special.
15:27And it seems I'm not the only one with that idea.
15:30Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there.
15:32No, it's okay.
15:33Nice to meet another photographer.
15:34Nice to meet you too.
15:35Well, you don't seem to be doing the type of photography that I'm doing.
15:37While I'm eyeing the wide angle, Paul Fraser is looking for the close-up.
15:42The very close-up, capturing the smallest creatures with his macro lens.
15:49What I'm doing is taking pictures of all the insects and all the different bugs here.
15:53It piqued my interest.
15:54Do you mind if I join you to have a wee nosy?
15:55No, that would be great.
15:57Viewers of a nervous disposition look away now.
16:02Paul's award-winning pictures capture startling images of the environment's tiniest inhabitants
16:07in remarkable detail.
16:11And it was lockdown in 2020 that got him focused on the small stuff.
16:17I used to do wildlife photography and then we couldn't go anywhere.
16:21So I had to turn my attention to different subjects.
16:23And one day I just noticed that there was lots of insects in my garden.
16:27So micro photography really opened up a whole new world for you then?
16:31It really did, yeah, for myself and for my kids actually.
16:34So we had this garden which effectively ended up becoming like a safari.
16:38We had all these different insects and different sizes and shapes and things that we took for granted
16:44like ladybirds and little butterflies just became completely different under a macro lens.
16:50They are quite hard to take.
16:52As you know, insects move and they don't tend to stay still very long.
16:56But for me, what makes a really good macro photograph would be being able to look right down at the animal
17:03almost like a portrait.
17:04So you're looking at their eyes and kind of being drawn into the picture.
17:07And I think it just adds a bit more character to the actual insect itself.
17:12But spotting your subject isn't easy.
17:15Oh, Paul!
17:16Paul, I found something!
17:19Just a bit of fluff.
17:20Paul, on the other hand, has had years of practice.
17:27Shabazz.
17:28I found something over here you think you'll be interested in.
17:31Oh, fantastic.
17:32Better luck than me.
17:34This here is one of our leaf beetle larvae.
17:37And they kind of look a little bit like gummy worms.
17:40I'm going to come in nice and slowly.
17:42I'm going to get the subject in focus.
17:45And then I'm just going to take my shot nice and gently.
17:50Like that.
17:51I'll show you here, as you can actually see the picture.
17:54Oh, wow.
17:54Okay.
17:55I'm not promising I'm going to get anything as good as that, but I'll give it a go.
17:58Awesome.
17:59Let's give it a shot.
18:00This was your leaf here.
18:01Okay.
18:02I'm just going to flip this one over.
18:03Yeah.
18:06Get my fingers out of it.
18:07And just go in.
18:08Just come in nice and slowly and then really close, yeah.
18:11And it will start to come into focus.
18:13There we go.
18:14I can see you.
18:16All right.
18:16Try and get as creative as I can.
18:18It's much harder than it looks.
18:20You made it look easy.
18:21All right.
18:22I think we've got something here.
18:23We go.
18:24And.
18:26So how's that look?
18:27Yeah.
18:27Brilliant.
18:28For the first attempt, I think it looks amazing.
18:30Well done.
18:30Oh, thank you.
18:31I'm not going to win any awards.
18:31I'm pleased with that.
18:32I think you'll do great.
18:34I'm no match for the master.
18:38The macro photography that started as a way to engage his children during lockdown has made Paul think
18:44again about insects.
18:46People often look at charismatic species like your lions and your tigers and bears and look
18:50at everything they bring to the environment.
18:52But we kind of forget these unsung heroes in the insect world.
18:55And when we look at insects, they play key roles in pollination.
18:58And they also do things like pest control.
19:00So they play really key roles in ecosystems.
19:03But they're often overlooked because they're maybe not as photogenic.
19:08And there are many more pictures he wants to take.
19:11Even in the beetle family alone, there's about 300,000 species.
19:17So I know that I'm never even going to photograph every single one of those.
19:20So it kind of keeps me going knowing that I'm going to hopefully find something new every day.
19:25I think the world is actually my oyster.
19:28And there's so much I can do with macro photography.
19:31And if I can help insects along the way, that would be the key.
19:34Now, AI seems to be the buzz phrase of the moment.
19:48But there's a man who's been offering AI to farmers for the last 50 years.
19:54I'm hitching a lift in Kaithness to find out more.
19:57This is Willie Mackay, better known round here as AI Willie.
20:07He's also something of a social media sensation.
20:14More on that later, though.
20:24How are you, Willie? How's it going?
20:26Oh, great, yes, singing along here.
20:29How's the button? Can I turn that music on?
20:30Yeah, sure, sure, sure, sure, sure I can.
20:32I'm not a massive fan of loud music myself.
20:34Oh, gosh, they're rousing Scottish music.
20:39Tell me about your job, then. What do you actually do?
20:42Well, I'm a AI technician, actually.
20:45That's the official title.
20:47And I've been doing this for, I mean, my 56th year now.
20:5056th, started in 1970.
20:52And it's been really, really good. Really good.
20:55Since Willie won't actually say what he does, I'll have to tell you.
21:01It's artificial insemination, not artificial intelligence, he's talking about.
21:06Bringing high-grade genetics to the livestock of northern Scotland.
21:10What first attracts you to the job?
21:15Well, we're looking for an AI man to go to Wick and Keithness to inseminate cattle.
21:19I says, what's this AI, anyway?
21:22He says, well, look, I'll tell you what.
21:24Don't worry about it.
21:25But the thing is, you've got a new car every year.
21:27A new car.
21:291974.
21:31I'll take a job.
21:32That was worth the milk marketing board.
21:36And Willie's been crisscrossing Keithness ever since.
21:40He went freelance in 1986 and has lots of loyal customers.
21:45Where are we heading today?
21:46We're heading down to Smirrell today to Croft down in the parish of Latherham.
21:50Come on, girls!
21:51Calling in the cows is farmer Ian Black.
21:56One has come into season.
21:59She's ovulating, ready for insemination to get pregnant.
22:04Nice to meet you.
22:04Nice to meet you, Diggy.
22:05I kind of believe they actually galloped down to say hello to you.
22:08They're like resources, eh?
22:09They certainly are.
22:09They're nice and quiet, this one.
22:11Right, so...
22:12Makes them easy to handle.
22:13Absolutely.
22:14So, no need for a bull, then?
22:15No need for a bull up here and up.
22:16We've got what we call the flying bull.
22:18Willie Kai.
22:19It's been added for 56 years now, coming to the Croft.
22:22Goodness me.
22:23He's been coming to the Croft for 56 years?
22:25Yep, continuously.
22:26Every year, 56 years.
22:27It was a novel thing when it started off first of all,
22:30but the good thing we use in AI is you can get the cream of the crop,
22:34selection of bulls, at a fraction of the cost.
22:37But the best thing about it is Willie's service,
22:39because when the coo's ready, she's ready.
22:41Give him a phone and he'll come at 8 o'clock in the evening,
22:45early, early mornings.
22:46When she's ready, Willie's there.
22:50So, what's in there?
22:51Well, there's about 1,000 straws of semen in here.
22:54Uh-huh.
22:54Frozen solid.
22:55Some of them have been in there for a good number of years.
22:57And once they're in liquid nitrogen, they're in there indefinitely.
23:01The great thing is, the farmers have a selection to pick from.
23:04And they can have the pick of quality bulls.
23:06Okay.
23:07Throughout the country.
23:08So, in here today, Ian is wanting a Sext Heriford heifer.
23:12So, here's the straw.
23:14I've identified it here.
23:15And we're going to take the straw out now, of a temperature of 192 below zero.
23:21Right.
23:21Goes into a flask of warm water at 35 degrees for about 30 seconds.
23:27Uh-huh.
23:27Gets the sperm going.
23:30Gets them live, ready, to be inseminated into the cow.
23:33This straw, believe it or not, contains about 8 million sperm heads.
23:38And one of them is looking for an egg inside the cow.
23:40Okay.
23:40And I'm going to put it into the insemination gun.
23:45Cut the seal off.
23:46There goes a couple of thousand sperm heads.
23:49Now, this plunger here will push the sperm out into the reproductive tract.
23:55Be careful where you point that, for goodness sake.
23:57Okay.
23:58Ready for action, Willie.
23:59I am coming.
24:00Good, lad.
24:01Okay, Willie.
24:02I'll let you go into the business.
24:03Okay.
24:03Let's do it.
24:04Let's go.
24:05Ian has already chosen the breed, specific bull, and sex of the calf.
24:10We've got a heifer calf in the straw for you.
24:13Favourite bull.
24:14Daffy?
24:14Yes.
24:15Perfect.
24:15Here's the bird.
24:16Favourite bull.
24:17So, Ian, this is good.
24:19We've done most of them already this year, haven't we?
24:23So, there we are, Ian.
24:24That's the job over.
24:25That's her.
24:26Job done.
24:27Good show.
24:28285 days, and we'll have the calf here.
24:30We'll get her in the book.
24:31Great.
24:32Well done.
24:32Get her on the calendar.
24:33Super.
24:33Perfect, Willie.
24:38So, Willie, all the cows in the field behind us,
24:40are yours.
24:43Yes.
24:44Oh, yeah, I'm the insemination father of them all.
24:47They all come out of the liquid nitrogen container over the years.
24:50It's really rewarding, you know.
24:51I mean, the procedure for AI is virtually the same when we started in 1970.
24:56Absolutely.
24:57But the variety they have now, the farmers, it's just fantastic.
25:01And they've got sex semen available now.
25:03If they want a heifer calf or a bull calf, they can get all that through AI.
25:07Now, it's usually around this time that I have a go.
25:11But I'm relieved, to say the least, that no further work with the plunger is needed today.
25:18However.
25:27As I said earlier, Willie's an internet hit,
25:30racking up thousands of views with his weekly tune from the spoons.
25:35And it can't be that difficult, can it?
25:37So, you're good with your hands as an inseminator,
25:40but you're good with your hands as a musician as well.
25:43Well, um...
25:44Where did this come about?
25:46Ten pence each in a charity shop.
25:48Uh-huh.
25:48And this came about, because I used to go to Boffy Nights.
25:51Now we're on our sixth year of playing the spoons every Saturday night.
25:55Okay.
25:56What I want you to do is to hold your hand out as if you're going to shake somebody's hand.
25:59Uh-huh.
26:00And you tuck your thumb right into the palm of your hand,
26:02and you put a spoon down each side of your thumb.
26:05Uh-huh.
26:05You take your three fingers round, the pinky's free.
26:07Aye.
26:08And you get this gap here.
26:11Oh, we're halfway there already.
26:13Good.
26:14Very good.
26:15I'll leave you to it.
26:16Don't worry about the blisters for the first three weeks.
26:18You'll be all right.
26:19I've got another job to do, so I'll carry on.
26:22Thank you very much.
26:22Bye for now.
26:23I've got a lot of work to do, I reckon.
26:27What do you reckon?
26:28Yeah, rubbish.
26:30Rubbish.
26:32That brings us to the end of this programme.
26:43If you'd like to watch it again,
26:45or maybe catch up with some of our previous episodes,
26:48go to the BBC iPlayer and search for Lambert.
26:51Now, here's what's coming up next time.
26:54No roads, no electricity, just sheep.
26:58Anne watches her step on remote Gumetra.
27:01I haven't seen it properly.
27:06Rosie travels back in time to uncover Scotland's ancient loch dwellers.
27:12And Cammy meets Spot the dog.
27:15The robot dog.
27:16Please join us for that and much, much more if you can.
27:21In the meantime, from all the Lambert teams around the country,
27:23and especially from me here in Highland, Perthshire,
27:26thank you so much for your company.
27:28Bye for now.
27:28Bye for now.
27:37Bye for now.
27:40Bye.
27:42Bye for now.
27:45Bye.
27:57Bye.
27:58You
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