Meet the

Ken Brown. Highlanders – truly a match made in Heaven!! It is a magnificent setting greatly enhanced by the woodland with views over the whole vale of Leven. mixture of arable, permanent pasture, hill ground and Craigowmill is now 600 acres consisting of a surely must be the future in the current world climate. policy is to be as close as possible to 100% grass fed which Aberdeen Angus and a handful of Beef Shorthorns. Our cows together with a herd of 60 Native (pure Scottish) in retirement, we have a more manageable fold of 40 50 cross highland cows put to an Angus bull. Nowadays, BSE. At one time we had 200 pure cows and a herd of after 1996 when it was difficult to sell highlanders due to The Craigowmill fold grew during the 1990’s particularly and was dam of the prolific Eoin Mhor 8th. fold where she featured in many pedigrees at their dispersal 6th of Craigowmill had a major influence at the Mottistone Cladich lived to be 23 years of age. Her granddaughter Molly unfortunately were non breeders but the yellow Molly 22nd of David Fellowes – red, yellow & white. The red and white heifers from Cladich and soon thereafter bought 2 more privately from We bought our first heifer calf at Oban in October 1989 us although I am sure you can guess who is in charge! more. Since that day the Fold has been a partnership between were. In typical female style she said that she wanted one or creatures grazing in a field and wanted to know what they on her return told me that she has seen some very impressive highlander after Eva went on a trip through the Highlands and daily commute over the Forth Bridge! We decided to buy a 1989 when I started a business in Edinburgh and had a was still working in London. I commuted at weekends until Eva and myself bought Craigowmill Farm in 1983 while I was at university and he decided to sell the farm. farm in West Lothian. Unfortunately, he fell seriously ill when I highlanders until 1950 when we moved to a mixed commercial My father farmed near Falkirk, where I was born, and kept were not registered after the 1950’s. at Gartlea until relatively recently although they end of Loch Lomond. There were highland cattle eventually settling at Gartlea at the southern a fold of Highland Cattle from the early 1900’s On my mother’s side her uncle John Christie had there for a number of generations before that. Edinburgh) in 1765. The Browns had been farming grandfather, John Brown of Dolphinton (South of clock which was made for my great-great-great long way. At home we have the family grandfather I come from a farming family which goes back a

important than that!! is not just a matter of life & death, it is much much more Finally, with respect to Bill Shankly, keeping Highlanders Listen to advise but make up your own mind! 8. Best advice for a newcomer into Highland Cattle. I listen to advice but make up my own mind. 7. Best and worst advice you have ever received. nowhere like it and we still miss them over 20 years on. in general and Highland Cattle in particular. There was Rigg Fold where we learned so much about farming Our days spent with Archie & Nancy Howat at the 6. Abiding memory? as possible, at the very least the sire & dam. seeing an animal in the flesh with as many of its relatives from buyers and sellers alike. There is no substitute for cattle via social media and the lack of interest in Pedigrees The biggest change has been the promotion & sale of 5. Changes over the years, good and bad? even at 14 years old Siusan Ruadh 22nd was the better cow. Ruadh 26th was Champion out of a total sale entry of 205 but boys at the Society Sale in February 1994. Her daughter Siusan Siusan Ruadh 22nd of Leachy – Brought out by the Mackay from the Rigg Fold. Female - Princess Dubh 7th of Rigg – Best female woodland at Balmoral; a sight never to be forgotten!! even more impressive marching towards us out of the For me he was untouchable in the show ring but Bull - Prionnsa Dubh of Craigowmill – Stock bull at Balmoral. 4. What is the best animal you have ever seen? at UK Sires described him as ‘A Gamechanger for the Breed’. here in the UK and wherever his semen is available. Rob Wills bull with his remarkable growth rate and he is breeding well Seumus Dubh of Craigowmill. There has never been a highland 3. What is the best animal you have ever bred? without assistance, grass diet, fatten easily, top quality beef. Easy Keep. This is easy calving, vigorous calves suckling work with? 2. What qualities do you like about the breeds you to fit the modern-day requirements for beef cattle. a close second with their remarkable traits which seem to me incomparable for eye appeal. However, our Native Angus are A field of highlanders is such a magnificent sight that they are 1. What are your favourite breeds? Q & A

President - Ken Brown (Craigowmill Fold) MEET THE.....

Trustee Member - Jacky Harrison

I used to write articles for the Smallholder Magazine so rather than a Bio of myself I thought I would take an extract from the first article I wrote. It should contain humour, inspire and educate, give people confidence and be inclusive. You, the reader can judge whether I succeeded.

“I am writing this on a Virgin Pendolino train on my way to Scotland. So, what’s that got to do with farming you might ask? Well, this is a journey, a journey from knowing absolutely nothing about producing food to why I am on this train; its ups and downs, its funny side, its stressful moments (yes there are some), its obsession, its steep learning curve and the move into a completely different world. I make it sound like taking that first steps on the journey to Mars, it’s not - no anyone can do it, believe me.

We were reaching retirement age. I used to work for big multi nationals like Black and Decker and Prudential, running multi million pound computer projects; James was a chartered accountant. We wrote a list, we wanted a place with views and open skies, some land for the horses– not too much, south facing and a dwelling that we could ‘do up.’

Whilst I commuted into London, James searched the internet. One day I got a text ‘ I’ve found it’, a bit like the message I got a couple of years before – ‘You are getting married on May 12th ‘To whom’ I replied. I digress. (I do that).

The following weekend we were standing outside a cottage that hadn’t been lived in for a year. It had a smashed up green house, a mandatory railway goods wagon and behind the cottage were several ramshackled, hand built, corrugated iron sheds and a Nissan hut, serving, what we later learnt, as Norah’s chicken hut. We walked up the fields behind the house, at the top you could see Clee Hill to the East, Long Mynd to the North East, Snowdonia to the North West and the Welsh Cambrian Mountains to the South west; stunning. There was more land than we wanted and the whole lot was up for auction in 5 lots. The house was last, so to make sure we got it we offered for all the lots and, after some negotiation, we were proud owners of a squatters cottage, (the rumour is that if you could put up a roof and chimney up in a day it was yours), some old sheds, a lot of asbestos and 30 acres of land. We walked up the hill and looked at ‘our view’ and said we can’t sell this…. OK we will farm it. Knowing absolutely nothing.

We cleared some land to put up a farm shed and a wind turbine. We had made a decision to be as green as we could. The wind turbine was obvious, the top of the hill is at 1400 feet and the surveyor said ‘if you can’t generate electricity here you can’t generate it anywhere’. We bought a second hand caravan and moved into it inside the farm shed. To put up a farm shed (dry and flexible) was a decision made the day we walked down the hill in the driving snow. By then we had realised that the land was VERY poor. It was a mix of high, cold and windy fields, a steep dingle (valley)

Snowy view with cows and new buildings.

with scrub and lots of bracken, and an upland wild flower hay meadow.

Back to the story. I arrived back from London, the day before my birthday. The next day, with my cup of tea in bed in the caravan came my birthday cards, there was one from Jura and Fidra. We had talked about farming and Highland Cattle but not bitten the bullet. This was it. ‘When are we collecting them?’ I say. ‘Oh’ James says ‘they are here, in one of the fields close to the house’.

Wasting no time, we were in the field where James had left the two, two year old red Highland heifers, only to find NO HEIFERS! Typical, we had owned them for 24 hours and then disaster!

OK let’s think about this, next door had got six calves that they were bringing on, that’s our nearest cows, everywhere else its sheep. When I say next door, I mean at least 5 sets of hedges away and 1 mile by road. Off we trudged and sure enough that’s where they were, not sure how they got there. They just wanted company. But what to do? Well we found Bronwyn and told her our predicament. First lesson – if you want just one animal from a group, don’t try and separate it out as they will just quickly double back to the herd a lot faster than you can run. Second lesson, teach them to come to you – a bucket of treats will do the job. Bronwyn’s calves were being fed with beef nuts so would come with the rattle of the bucket. So, with a shake of the bucket the eight babies trotted down to next doors farm buildings and into their yard. Off we trudged back to get the only transport we had which was a horse trailer and backed it up as close to the yard as possible. Mmm next problem no cow halters. We didn’t want to frighten them and we did want to be able to handle them easily in the future. So, we fashioned some halters and using food gently got halters on and quietly led them into the trailer and brought them home. Sounds easy, it is… eventually.

What now? If we put them where they had been surely they would only jump out again? The advice we had received was to put them somewhere enclosed and feed them there for a few days to let them get used to you. (This may all be common sense to those who have handled big animals for years.) So that’s what we did along with haltering them every so often and giving them a comb. A few days later we let them out and they stayed where they were put – what a relief. The horses weren’t too pleased at being chucked out of their stables though.

Old shed.

So, we learnt a few more lessons. Make sure you know the cattle you are getting are well handled, docile and preferably halter trained. We asked a field officer (Robin Chilton) to come for a visit to give us some tips. The best piece of advice we were given was buy an older show cow to give us practice and confidence in handling them. So that’s what we did, buying Princess of Killochries with calf at foot and in calf.

See what I mean about a quick learning curve. You start learning from day one and never stop!

And my top tips from the first article were…  When you move get to know you land before you make too many decisions  Get to know you neighbours, don’t be frightened of appearing ignorant and ask questions, people love to share their knowledge and talk about farming  Seek advice from experts both breed specialists and local experts  Read all you can and make up your own mind  Until you know your cattle one by one, move them en masse before haltering one.  Teach them to come to you  Handle them as soon as you can  Get an older show cow that’s use to being handled to boost your confidence”

We farm in the Welsh Marches. We have a fold of pedigree Highland Cattle, a flock of pedigree Badger Face Welsh Mountain sheep, Gloucester Old spot pigs, chickens, cats, dogs and horses. We are fortunate in having a small local abattoir nearby where our animals are slaughtered. And they are butchered at a local butchers. We sell meat boxes ‘at the farm gate’. We could sell more than we produce but we do enough to ensure the farm pays for itself. We show the cattle and sell breeding heifers if they are good enough, and occasionally sell some pedigree sheep.

Q&A

What care do you drive? An Isuzu DMAX or a Kia Cee’d

What is your favourite film? It has to be Paddington – both of them.

What is your favourite tipple? Well I do like good champagne, but red wine is more common!

Favourite Band? Dire Straits – listen to Mark Knopfler playing in Brothers in Arms, or Sultans of Swing; or maybe Meat Loaf, Tina Turner, Nina Simone…. I have managed to see these live but never Dire Straits.

Favourite Book? A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I say that if a human can imagine it, then we will eventually do it. Just think of Google translate and Babelfish. OK Google translate is not yet up to Douglas Adam’s Babelfish standards! If you weren’t in your current role what would you like to do? Go back to University and study genetics in lifestock or be a journalist and write articles on positive effects of farming.

Best Holiday? It has to be Canada in 2019. We tried to get ‘off the beaten track’ and managed to squeeze a couple of visits to Highland Cattle owners in Nova Scotia and British Columbia. The British Columbia visit in particular, gave you a feel of what it must have been like in the pioneering days. Or maybe our sailing holidays, pre cattle we had a small yacht in Cornwall and then up on the West coast of Scotland. If you learn to sail in the British Isles I reckon you can sail anywhere. There is a saying on the West coast of Scotland…..’If you haven’t hit a rock …you will’. I will say no more. Most memorable Highland Cattle Achievement? This has to be winning the Highland Championship at the Royal Welsh in 2015. We were in a bit of a daze, James because he was in the middle of chemo therapy, and me, because I didn’t really understand how big an achievement it was. The thing I like best though about showing, is talking to the public and farmers alike about the benefits of Highland Cattle and the supportive Highland community.