Glastonbury: The Udder Side

CHEERING

The festival could come and go.

I mean, it could go in a wink, couldn't it?

It's very open to fashion.

200,000 people might decide at some point it's not fashionable any more.

COWS MOO

But the farm and the cows and the tradition of the dairy is lasting.

You know, it's there for ever, really.

This farm is what I'm made of.

COW MOOS

Michael, is it true that you...

occasionally you would sing to...sing hymns to the cows sometimes

in the old days. Is that true or not?

Actually, my father used to sing hymns to the cows.

No, I didn't do that. No.

I played The Kinks to the cows.

-Er, Lola. You know Lola?

-What, you played Lola to the cows?

I have played Lola to the cows, yeah.

And I'd play it into the dairy itself.

With a long pipe.

So the bass was absolutely fantastic.

# Well, I'm not the world's most passionate guy

# But when I looked in her eyes, well, I almost fell for my Lola

# Lo Lo Lo Lo Lola... #

Smell that.

Lovely, isn't it?

# Lola, Lo Lo Lo Lo Lola... #

Naughty girl!

Michael, what's this field called?

Actually, this is the main arena.

OK? Look at the grass.

No fertiliser. It's all naturally grown grass.

It grows like rhubarb.

In fact, I shouldn't really drive over it, actually.

So 100,000 people can actually stand in this field at the same time

and watch Dolly Parton or The Who or something.

Or Kanye West, actually.

Kanye's the headliner this year.

Kanye's going to shock and please the crowds, I'm sure.

MUSIC: Runaway by Kanye West feat Pusha T

Ah, Finn. HE LAUGHS

Finn's there. It's always nice to see Finn.

Michael, how many cows are there at Worthy Farm?

Well, we've got 400 cows and 400 followers.

That's all the young cattle coming on behind their mums.

And it's quite important to me that the cows should actually

graze for at least 100 days a year.

And... Oh, there's John.

We've been grazing these fields for 150 years.

And I've milked my own cows for 40 years.

That's virtually nonstop, you know, but I also focus on the festival

and worrying about whether Primal Scream are going to play or not,

all that sort of thing.

I was waiting for the phone to ring while I was milking,

so I had to put a land line, wire it up to the milking parlour,

so that I could take the calls while I was milking.

So it's hardly focusing 100%...

..on the farm, is it? Do you know what I mean?

# I was blind, now I can see

# You made a believer out of me

# I was blind, now I can see... #

There's farm work, then there's farm work at Worthy Farm.

I get up every morning, what - about 4.15 in the morning?

Especially this time of year. It's lovely. Birds singing, quiet.

I tell you, I'd hate to be on a bloody...

commuter into Bristol or something where you've got to sit in the car for an hour and a half.

I feel sorry for those poor people. I couldn't...ugh!

Tried it once. Yeah, didn't like that. You can't consider it a job.

Anybody who says farming is a job has got it wrong.

It's a lifestyle.

Cos those cows are here and they need looking after

and checking 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

COWS MOO

So, Pam, have you got a favourite cow?

Yes. This one.

And she's called Jojo.

What do you like about her?

Well, she's just so friendly.

-Isn't he? Yeah.

-SHE LAUGHS

We'm here 365 days a year.

You know, come rain or shine, so you do get, you know,

you do get attached to them.

You don't like nothing happening to them.

Up, hey.

Up, hey.

It's a way of life to me.

All my parents, my grandparents, all been dairy farmers.

All Pam's family, all farmers.

It's a way of life, rather than a job.

I wouldn't know what to do.

Can you imagine doing anything else?

I'd like to work in Boots, you know, and smell nice all the time!

SHE LAUGHS

I mean, John and Pam would know every single cow.

They know their cows better than they know their grandchildren.

It's extraordinary commitment.

SLOW SOLO BANJO

SLOW SOLO BANJO

All right?

That is the best thing for this farm.

That heap of silage there, that will see us

through the whole year for feeding the cattle

and it's all covered with the sheets,

nicely protected from the sun and rain by the sheeting.

And Stephen does that to perfection. Look at that. It's so tidy.

This is why we win the Gold Cup, you see, because we're tidy farmers.

And now we come to the big one.

This wonderful Gold Cup, the NMR/RABDF Gold Cup, 2014

and the winner of the Gold Cup...

Please congratulate Michael Eavis!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

'It was a complete surprise when they called out Michael's name

'but I couldn't have been more chuffed for him.'

All his work he's put in over the last 60-70 years has come to fruition.

You can't beat that one little bit

'and the culmination was them calling out Michael Eavis' name from Worthy Farm. Fantastic.'

Apart from being married and having kids and that, whatever, that was the highlight of my work life.

Absolutely fantastic and it's been a lifetime ambition for me,

to win the Gold Cup. I never, ever thought I'd do it.

'He loves it. He wants to win it another two times now, at least.'

So yeah, we've got our work cut out now.

HE LAUGHS

Today, however, we're here to celebrate the Gold Cup.

I'd like now to hand over to Michael to talk about the farm.

Michael Eavis, thank you.

OK, thank you very much.

There's nothing better to me than to win this award.

I never thought we'd actually win it.

I tell you what, I'm going to win it again!

HE LAUGHS

I know Michael's been presented with the marvellous Gold Cup.

I'd just also like to present him with this farm sign.

-Oh, thank you.

-Fantastic. Well done.

Lovely, OK?

The farm always comes first, you know.

The festival comes second.

The rock 'n' roll and the glamour of all that stuff, you know,

it's not really in the same league.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I want to thank this wonderful man who's had us for 40 years.

Happy birthday, 20 years. He's here tonight. Michael Eavis.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you

# Happy birthday

# Happy birthday to you

# Happy birthday... #

Let's modulate to D flat.

-# Happy birthday.

-# Happy birthday to you... #

-Tell me, Michael, is it true that in 1970, the ticket was a pound...

-Yeah.

..and you got free milk? Can you tell me about that?

Well, I didn't know what I was doing in those days.

It was only a pound to come in,

because a pound in those days was quite a lot of money.

Especially to a farmer.

So I thought "Oh, well. I'll give the milk away, then."

And so it was included in the pound.

So it was really good value, it was.

The Kinks were going to play and they pulled out.

They quite rightly thought that we were amateurs

and we didn't know what we were doing.

COUNTRY MANDOLIN

Do you want to get through there, or not? What do you think? What?

Are you nervous?

I tell you, I'm a good driver, you know.

-Are we going to be stuck here, Michael?

-Well, I think we're stuck. Yeah, I think we are.

I think that drop's on your side.

Yeah, it was a bad move, wasn't it? Yeah.

This is it. This is the view of a lifetime, really.

I mean, for me, because it's my...

I mean, it's my heritage, you know.

Er...

And my great-grandfather came to where that red...

There's a red building down there and that's where his house was.

He was a great preacher and my father was

and my grandmother ran the Sunday school in the village.

And it's part of that Methodist background.

They were positive people and we've inherited that tradition

of looking at life in the best possible way.

They'd be proud of you now, wouldn't they, winning the Gold Cup and everything you've achieved?

Oh, yeah, the Gold Cup, yeah, they would love the Gold Cup.

I'm not sure about the festival. What do you think?

Can't tell, can you?

Never know, will we?

# Love divine, all loves excelling

# Joy from heaven, to earth come down

# Fix in us thy humble dwelling... #

I've forgotten the words!

HE LAUGHS

Yes. That's fine.

-Let's try and get these brackets on.

-OK.

-Right.

-OK?

OK. This is the moment.

This is the moment of truth. One, two, three. Up.

A bit more? Hang onto this one. Wait! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

Well done. There we are, look.

HE LAUGHS

Yeah, perfect.

Nice blue sky behind, isn't it? Lovely, isn't it? Eh?

Right, we're going to leave it up there until we get the next one.

HE LAUGHS

George. Do you like the white ones?

Where does the milk go?

-It goes to the dairy.

-It goes to the dairy. Spot on.

It goes to London.

And it goes to London. Yeah, that's absolutely right.

'I take him every day.

'For at least an hour a day, every single day. Including Sundays.'

Let's have a look. Whoa!

This is Grandpa's favourite, this one. Look.

Isn't she lovely? And she's so clean.

'He's very, very bright. He's very, very into it.'

Look at this nice sort of spotty one there.

The calves, they're very little.

Yeah, they are very little, aren't they?

And when you're a big boy, I hope you'll keep it going for another 100 years, maybe.

Let's hope so!

'And he can do it, I'm sure he can do it.

'That's why I'm doing my best, I'll tell you that.

'Got to keep it going, cos it's so deeply ingrained in my body,'

my blood, and everything. In my bones, even.

Er... And he can do it. I'm sure he can do it.

So fingers crossed, eh?