IMAGES DAVID WYLIE
GREAT
EIGHTS
David Wylie visits R Whittaker Farming & Forestry in Jedburgh to find out more about the company’s new Ponsse Buffalo 8W forwarder and Ergo 8W timber harvester The Buffalo’s Active Crane is fast-acting and precise.
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AUTUMN 2021 FORESTRY MACHINERY
R
Whittaker Farming & Forestry is based in Jedburgh and its owner is Robert Whittaker. Robert’s father and his grandfather had been involved in farming, so it was in Robert’s blood to start his own business with a small flock of sheep and to study agriculture at the University of Edinburgh. After completing his degree, he got the opportunity to rent some farmland in the area of Jedburgh. From his first single sheep – bought with his student loan – he quickly built a flock of 1,200, comprising of 1,100 Lleyns and 100 of his prize Charollais pedigree flock at the turn of the millennium. As a tenant farmer, he was running his business without any subsidy and, more
