Episode 7 This Farming Life

Across some of the most beautiful

and remote landscapes of the British Isles...

This is not a bad office, is it? You know, look at it.

..Scotland's farmers carve a living...

Everything has a time and a season.

-Nature doesn't stop.

-..breeding sheep and cattle...

There's a lot of old friends here.

They've come to the end of their working life. Quite a sad day.

Wait a second!

..bringing new life into the world

and battling with the elements.

HE WHISTLES

They're all cute in their own way

and especially if they end up on your plate as a lamb chop. Yum.

Over a year, five very different families

-let cameras onto their farms...

-Hell of a size of nuts on him!

..and into their lives to share their struggles...

I don't know why you won't go forward, missus.

-Do you need to do this?

-..and their triumphs...

Look at my baby! He's alive!

..as they try and turn a profit, in testing economic times.

That's just depressing, really.

There's cause for celebration...

Gorgeous.

..and a time to reflect.

I feel sad that I haven't provided

the next generation to carry on here.

But it's never dull.

I'm not letting go!

It's not a job, it's a way of life.

February in Scotland.

Winter still has a hold in the hills...

..but the season is starting to change.

I don't particularly like the winter months. I really miss the sun.

I like sun. I like to feel the sun on my back.

I always feel spring's round the corner

when you start to see the bulbs coming out.

The snowdrops are popping through and then you'll get the crocuses

and the daffodils, and that's when I feel, oh, spring's just about there.

And you feel just the brightness.

The seasons of the year, they are very linked with farming.

You all have particular jobs you have to do.

You're starting to prepare for lambing time

and you're sorting the ones you're going to keep,

so everything is linked, and I like that.

In Central Scotland, near Loch Lomond,

Anne and Bobby Lennox run a 5,000-acre hill farm.

Bobby is away for two days, attending Farmers Union meetings,

leaving Anne alone to run things.

Bobby has... He's away skiving. Oh, sorry, he's away to the NFU AGM

and meetings at St Andrews today.

So, he's away, so I'm the sole farm worker. I'm in charge.

I'm just doing the feeding now, while he's away.

Morning! How are you today?

This morning, Anne has over 600 mouths to feed.

Morning!

How are you today?

You're out here on your own. You just talk to them.

They don't answer back, you see,

and you have the best kind of conversation.

Hello, girls. Hello, calvies.

These are hill cows. These are new cows we got last June.

These are beef.

They'll go for your nice bits of steak and what have you, eventually.

ENGINE SPLUTTERS

Flooded it!

Just have to sit and wait for a minute or two.

I went and flooded it.

This is it when Bobby's away.

I'm a cook and cleaner, I keep telling him.

I'm not technically minded.

I'm just going to feed Charlie. He's our old Charlie bull.

We're very unique with our names -

they just get called Charlie, all of them.

And then this is, this is greedy blackie sheep

and they come and nick Charlie's feeding.

He's a good lad, but he's old, he's done.

He's waiting to off to the... the abattoir.

12-year-old Charlie will sell for around £1,000 for slaughter.

Their farm is spread over 5,000 acres

and their herd of Blue Greys and Blue Grey crosses

are out in the hills

Come on.

Morning, girls.

These hybrid cows are incredibly hardy and capable of surviving

on relatively poor grazing throughout the year.

Yes, I know, I know, we're late, we're late.

Here we go.

I think they're lovely big creatures, lovely animals.

I was brought up on a dairy farm. Well, it was a mixed farm -

we had dairy beef, sheep, pigs, hens.

I probably have a rosy-eyed view of it because I enjoyed it.

I liked the cows. I liked the milking,

but I wasn't getting up at five o'clock in the morning

to go and milk cows, regularly.

Hi, girls.

There you are. Now, don't shove.

Look where we are today. It's beautiful.

We live in a lovely area.

On a wet day, you might not see that, when you're out here,

but on a good day like today, you can see it. It's lovely.

And you've got these ladies to talk to. Haven't we, girls?

Hello.

Bye, girls.

Next job, the blackface sheep, back from their winter grazing.

This is the fattening lambs.

So, hopefully, they're eating and put on weight.

And then they'll leave, bye-bye.

Lamb chops, leg of lamb, mint sauce.

The Lennoxes make most of their income from the sale of prime lambs.

These are young lambs under 12 months old,

raised purely for their meat.

They send about 600 animals to the abattoir each year.

Well, this is our crop, this is our harvest.

This is what we've got to live on for the rest of year.

What money we get, when these are sold

in the next couple of weeks, the next month, six weeks,

that's what we have to live on for the rest of the year,

and we've got no idea what we'll get for them.

There is little financial security

for tenant farmers like Anne and Bobby.

Each lamb sells for between £45 to £60, depending on its weight

and the current market price paid per kilo of meat.

We put the tups out. They go out with the lambs...out with the ewes

to have lambs in the spring.

We've no idea how many lambs they're going have till we scan them

and then, once these lambs are born and they end up here,

we've got absolutely no idea, any time, of what price we'll get.

And our costs are going up all the time.

I mean, the supermarkets have got too much power.

And the government gave them that power.

They didn't have to, but they did.

Supermarkets set the prices.

They can stop contracts, and change

and go and buy goods and food and items from other countries

that are not of the same quality.

And things are not, they're not as good, in my view.

On the other side of Scotland, north of Aberdeen,

Martin Irvine and his family are also tenant farmers.

They rent a 240-acre farm.

Martin has two loves.

One is breeding and selling pedigree Limousin cattle.

It's just a nice sight really. Everything's happy, content.

The other is fiancee Mel, who's recently converted Martin

to the financial benefits of sheep.

Whatever happens in the next five weeks

depends how good a spring we'll have at lambing

-so, this is the important bit.

-Lots of babies, hopefully.

-Yeah.

They bought 130 ewes and, along with some new tups,

they quickly set about increasing the flock.

Done. Where there's a willy there's a way.

Now it's February. The sheep are about six weeks from lambing

and cattle farmer Martin is learning some new skills.

Now, every day, we have to feed the sheep concentrates.

It's just to boost their feed intake,

a bit of extra protein, and keep them in good condition.

Martin is hopeful that the move into sheep will be profitable.

Signs look good so far.

We scanned these last month, so there's a lot of triplets,

there's a lot of lambs. The more lambs, really, the better.

If trade's good, I could probably raise them

about £50 a head, if I sell them right now.

There's a good market for the sale of ewes already in lamb.

Some farmers want to quickly boost numbers

and also introduce new genes into their flock.

So I could make probably about £6,000 profit

or we could lamb them and make even more profit,

but in our head we said we're gonna lamb them,

so we're gonna lamb them, so that's what we'll do.

So, we've fed our sheep at home

and now it's about a three-mile run

up to the estate sheep. I'll go feed them.

Mel has also has taken on a contract to manage 500 Lleyn cross sheep

for the estate they rent their farm from.

We needed some extra money

and the estate offered us a job, so we took it.

You can hear them looking for it. They know it, as soon as they see me

coming about here, they know I'm coming.

Christmas, January is the hard bit,

cos you're only halfway through winter.

You get to this time of year, weather's picking up,

the days are getting longer, it feels better.

You get that kind of thrill of spring's coming, here we go

and, hopefully, we get another good summer.

Used to hate sheep.

I remember when mum had the Bluefaced litters at home

when I was younger, I had nothing to do with sheep, I hated sheep.

Stupid things and just didn't like them. I've changed, yeah.

Martin's main passion is his beloved Limousins.

Mel, who grew up on a farm,

has also been known to keep a few mementos of her favourite animals.

I do love sheep. It's ridiculous.

Yeah, you get to know them

and I just took photos of...sheep all the time, it seemed.

Look at this one.

That was at another sheep show.

My whole wall was filled with...

..sheep photos.

In fact, I didn't have any boyband photos at all. They were all sheep.

How sad.

MEL LAUGHS

I grew up on a dairy farm, to start with,

and then onto a mixed livestock farm

and people say that, you know, sheep, they're all white

and they've all got white faces and you can't tell which one's which,

but I could pretty much tell you, that one had twins that year,

she had triplets or we struggled lambing her, something happened,

so, sheep were just... I don't know, just... I love sheep.

Look how skinny I used to be!

I just met Martin and it went all to pot.

Soon Mel will have around 200 more lambs to add her family album.

150 miles away, in Western Scotland,

husband and wife team Sybil and George MacPherson farm sheep

and cattle across 15,000 acres of mountainous terrain.

Their land is also home to wild red deer.

Native to Scotland, the red deer population has more than doubled,

since the '60s, to around 400,000.

Sybil and George are part of a local deer management group

and to help control numbers, they run deer stalking trips.

Well, we're out to do some red deer stalking

with some Belgian clients.

This is the first day. Just fuelling up,

ready to go out on the mountain.

Wee bit concerned there's not an awful lot of wind today

but we can only try our best.

George runs these shooting trips every year.

It's a slight income for the farm

but it's more a management tool for the farm as well.

If we've too many red deer on the farm, it's not good for them

and it's not good for us either,

because it's over populating the grazing for the sheep.

Right, what do I need?

Stags can be hunted between July and October.

At this time of year, February, it's the hinds.

It's important to cull the weak deer

because, nobody likes to see dead animals about the place, you know.

It's far better to cull it, rather than let the beast just perish

and die in the mountain and then all it'll do is feed a fox.

Stalkers typically pay about £300 a day to hunt and shoot deer

and the local game dealer gets a freezer full of venison.

Morning. You good?

Today, they have returning visitors - a group from Belgium.

Really exciting to have our Belgian friends over again for the stalking.

They've been coming for a great number of years

and they've become family friends.

We've been very lucky with the people who do come here,

both for the stag and the hind stalking,

that most of them have come for many years

and we've built up friendships over the years.

-I think you're being a bit cheeky, darling.

-I am cheeky, yes.

Because I come here for 20 and more years

and I brought my friends. I invited them, I talked about it,

and they were immediately very happy to come here...

Pleased to come here. And see you.

Before they go out on the hills, George needs to check the accuracy

of both the stalkers' and their guns with a bit of target practice.

I always have a test shot in the morning.

A lot of people think it's easy to pull a trigger and kill an animal.

It's not that flipping easy

and a lot of folk have, maybe, shot roe deer

and then they go onto this big red.

It's a completely different beast to shoot.

The cocky ones usually make the biggest mess of things.

Right, Alistair!

Alistair, a neighbour of George's, checks the target and reports back.

It's a little above the blue, but straight above.

But it's good.

This is maybe slightly less than an average shot in the mountain,

but if the guns are set good for this,

we're quite confident they can be able to do a shot on the hill.

GUNSHOT

I've always found, with Johan and his friends and his family,

they're very able shots.

GUNSHOT

That's better. That's better, aye. Right, Ali.

-Do you want another or are you happy with that?

-Happy with that.

Good-oh! Yep, perfect! Excellent.

George is confident that the stalkers have the skill

needed for a clean kill,

so they head out into the hills in search of their quarry.

In the Northeast of Scotland, near Inverness,

sheep farmer John Scott runs three farms, covering 4,000 acres.

Since he joined his father in the family business,

he's increased the original flock of 800 sheep to 4,000.

Most are commercial crossbreeds, but he also has 400 pedigree ewes.

His lambing season starts next month,

but this morning he's on the way to the vet

with a pregnant Beltex, a valuable pedigree.

She needs immediate attention.

She's got a slight prolapse and she has had for a few days,

which I wasn't too worried about, but she's tried to lamb as well.

When I put my hand inside, I thought,

"No, it's going to be a bit of a struggle

"to get the lambs out naturally. We'll see what the vet thinks."

But she's quite a high-value Beltex ewe

that we bought in lamb this year.

She's the first ewe we've got to lamb

and she's carrying triplets, so fingers crossed.

John paid £756 for this ewe, called National Treasure,

so he doesn't want to lose her or her triplets.

So you can see the slight prolapse there, but that looks quite clean.

That's a little water bag but it doesn't look discoloured.

A prolapse can happen late in pregnancy,

particularly when multiple lambs are creating pressure inside the uterus.

John's vet is Paco,

who left Barcelona for Scotland 14 years ago.

-How long have you been a vet now, Paco?

-15 years.

Loved every minute of it.

Most of the time.

They're a very long-suffering team in here.

The prolapse means that National Treasure will need a Caesarean

if her triplets are to be delivered safely.

So all we're doing, just now, is just securing her

so we can... Paco can work his magic.

Once they settle, they get...

It is stressful. You cannot deny that, you know, it's bad.

What we're doing is just to help her.

We were not to do that, the lambs would likely die,

and she would... She COULD die too, so...

That goes into a painkiller

that will be kicking in in 15, 20 minutes.

If we were to give her a full anaesthetic,

there is further risk for the mother

and the lambs inside could struggle, as well, to wake up -

that's assuming, and hoping, that the lambs are still alive.

It's one of the things that, as a vet you do, because you know

that if you don't do this, they're going to die, you know,

and that's why you want to do it, sort of, pretty promptly

and, you know, just get them out, you know,

and then look after the mother.

Although I will say that, in any Caesar -

and probably that's something that a farmer doesn't sometimes agree -

the priority for us is mum.

Mum is the one that we already know she's fine,

we already know that she's alive and well, so priority is mother.

I'm not brilliant with blood.

-I haven't passed out yet, have I?

-No, not yet.

-It's not a favourite thing.

-We're in.

And now we have to find them.

Paco still can't tell whether the lambs are alive.

Rebecca, can you give me a hand, please?

This is always the... the nervous wait.

Paco needs to be careful.

The muscle layer in sheep is very thin.

He must be sure not to damage her stomach wall

or the three tightly packed lambs she is carrying.

-You going to hold the sheep or do the lambs?

-I'll hold the sheep.

Strongly, OK?

That's a leg he's got there.

That's one coming backwards. One, two, three.

Yours it is.

-It's alive.

-Is it alive?

-Yep.

-Are you ready for another one?

-Yes.

Ready? Second one.

Second one's alive. We've got a boy and a girl so far.

There's always a worry, if they're a wee bit premature like this,

that they're not fully developed properly

I'm a little bit worried about this one.

This one's stronger than this one.

So we'll get them home and we'll get them under a heat lamp. Um...

Just look after them, make sure they've got plenty of feed.

That's alive too. I can see it moving.

That's another girl.

Check there's nobody else in there.

It's not often that he leaves one in there but...

THEY LAUGH

If I were to choose, for bringing in a new bloodline,

I'd have chosen to have a couple of ewe lambs and a tup.

That's what we've got, so chuffed with that.

It's also exciting. That's the first lamb born of the season.

It's also a little bit daunting. That's one down.

This one's starting to get up, look.

Doesn't take long before they want to get up and get a suckle.

Two females and one male, all alive.

It's a good result from a valuable pedigree ewe.

It's always exciting.

We always find it exciting, getting the first lambs of the season.

It's even better when they're alive.

It is exciting. It's the start of spring.

The first 48 hours of life are the most perilous.

One of the females is particularly weak and, as they're all premature,

John will need to keep a close eye on them.

Also preparing for lambing is Martin Irvine.

Over a year ago, he and fiancee Mel took on the contract

to manage the sheep owned by the local estate.

The offer came at a good time for the farm's finances.

There's not enough work at home for two people

but there's too much for one, and farming being tight

and it's going to be a rocky couple of years, probably, with the beef,

this extra money's going to come in handy.

Plus, I have a wedding to pay for, so I'll need it.

Martin and dad, Stevie, are adapting

one of the estate's cattle barns into a lambing shed.

This morning, we're just getting the lambing shed pretty ready.

Another month for lambing, but we've a bit of spare time this week,

so any spare time, I just come up here and do odd jobs.

So this is us building our lambing pens.

We're due to start lambing about the 25th, on paper.

So the sheep will come in, probably about the 15th to 20th March,

depending on the weather, so they'll all come into their sheds.

So, it'll be, twins in here, triplets in there,

singles in the next shed, and the caravan,

it'll come into the centre pass here

and I'll sleep in the caravan for a month.

We've got 500...515, 520 to lamb,

so you're looking at nearly 1,000 lambs.

The worst bit about the sheep is the lambing,

just cos it's so intense.

But then, it's when you see your reward really, the lambing,

see how good your year's been

and, how good your next year's going to be.

OK?

There's one other change Martin and Stevie want to make

to the newly converted cattle shed.

Last year we had our first lambing in here

and realised it's a draughty wind.

It drives right through the middle of the shed,

so this year, we've got the estate to invest in some gale breakers.

What am I doing wrong?

-Help!

-First one's going to be the worst.

By the time you get that opened up it'll be like a sail,

so a good chance me and Dad will go flying.

-I'm going to lose it.

-Got it.

Me and Dad, we're stuck together every day on the farm.

I enjoy working with Dad and, to be honest with you, Dad's a big kid.

He is the biggest kid

and he likes a good laugh, a good caper, to mess about.

Too short.

Put that closer. I can pull it tight myself.

-Got it?

-Right there.

Stupid thing.

We do have a lot of banter and we don't worry about things too much.

Even if there is things we should be worrying about and stressing about,

we just don't let it get to us and we just kind of laugh it off.

# When you're happy and you know it clap your hand. #

Eh? What did he say?

# When you're happy and you know it clap your hand. #

When you're happy and you know it clap your hands.

Getting demented in his old age.

I think the first big puff and it'll be gone.

Squint!

Come on, Zebedee, is that level?

I think it's great working at home with your family, to be honest.

Happy. Dad is like my best friend.

In the hillsides of Argyll,

above the MacPhersons' farm, the red deer are proving elusive.

The Scottish weather is against the stalkers.

Yeah, because it's so misty and the way the wind is,

I want to cut back along, just so far here,

and then we'll go into a river and we'll go up,

split between the two mountains and then we'll come back

down the other side into the wind and see what we can see that way.

Hopefully, in the heat of the day,

the mist will lift and give us more vision.

That's the plan of attack just now, anyway.

February is near the end of the deer stalking season.

I like to leave it slightly later than a lot of folk

because you get a far better chance of picking out the older hinds.

The older they are, the longer their noses are,

their head and their necks are, the bigger the droop in their bellies.

It's experience, eh?

We've got to take so many numbers off

to keep the numbers just about right,

cos if we get too infested, it's just no good for the deer

and it's no good for the sheep. You need to keep a balance.

See them?

On the horizon.

We might have to go into the trees to come down

cos the wind's very bad for us just now,

and come back out through the other side.

I think that might be a plan. Come on.

-THEY LAUGH

-Oh!

-What happened there?

-I've broken my leg!

I knew we had a walk but I didn't think you needed a wee lie down!

Four hours in, they finally get close enough.

GUNSHOT

Yep, perfect.

Good, Johan.

There we go.

After a long day in the hills, they return to George and Sybil's farm.

We've been out, stretched our legs, we've tried our best.

The deer won today, really.

-Yes.

-You don't have to... It's not a killing game,

-do you know what I mean?

-No, no. You don't need to...

-To shoot every day.

-No.

This is what makes it, this wee comradeship after we finish up

and we get a dram, when we come in, and a blether.

It's just... That's what it's all about. It is for us, anyway,

to keep friends coming back to help us manage the deer, as well.

As well as give us some lolly.

THEY LAUGH

The guests do pay for the privilege of coming out to shoot a deer

and we do have an income from the venison, but it's not...

The financial part of it isn't hugely important to our business,

but the management of the deer herd certainly is.

But it will be a small cheque.

THEY LAUGH

And not in euros!

Oh, not in euros?!

In the north of Scotland, near Inverness,

John Scott is back at the farm

with his pedigree ewe and her premature triplets.

John's dad is on hand to help with the newborns,

the first of this year's anticipated crop of over 6,000 spring lambs.

SHEEP BLEAT

Just got them under a bit of heat

to make sure they get plenty of body warmth

and I'm going to go and get some colostrum made up for them.

She's got a little bit but she hasn't got much.

A mother's first milk or colostrum

is full of vital proteins and antibodies -

all the goodness a lamb needs to grow and develop.

At the moment, I'm digging out last year's lambing kit,

which should have all been, of course,

sterilised and ready to go again. But we're just not quite ready.

Normally this place just runs like a clockwork

and everything's ready to go

and, as we get into lambing proper, this place will be spotless.

But we just... We've been caught out slightly, this morning.

It's essential that lambs and calves get their colostrum

in the first few hours of life. Very important for development.

It's got all the right nutrients.

Normally they would get it from the mother,

but in this situation, where we've got, you know,

slightly premature and the mother hasn't got a huge amount of milk,

it's important we just substitute it,

so that's what we're going to do.

They're quite weak. I am a little bit worried about them.

So, just going to ease this tube

to get some colostrum into this little lamb.

I've picked the smallest one first.

That's the one I'm most worried about.

Just a wee bit concerned about them.

They're not as lively as they were when they were in the surgery.

Give them colostrum, I've got a heat lamp on them.

She's been quite attentive.

There's nothing much I can do, really.

We'll just have to hope.

The second born lamb is still weaker than her two siblings.

Almost half of lamb deaths happen within the first two days of birth,

so the next few hours will be critical.

Sybil and George MacPherson are both big players

in the world of Scottish sheep breeding.

This evening, they are co-hosting a competition in Dalmally,

where people's knowledge of blackface sheep

will be put to the test. It's called stock judging.

It's a case of different breeders in the area bringing four sheep

and there's looking a right good turnout.

We've maybe over 100 competitors, which is good,

considering where we live, in this vast area.

But there's folk travel from afar to be here, which is good.

It's a very important social event for lots of farmers.

Farming's quite a solitary existence,

and, certainly during the winter months, people are quite isolated.

It's also very interesting, from the sheep breed point of view,

that people bring along the best of their livestock

and then we have a little competition.

A warm welcome to our judge this evening,

Kevin MacKinnon from Glen Fruin.

So, let's get under way with the first class,

which is gimmers from Soay Mor. Gimmers from Soay Mor.

Judge Kevin is an estate manager and shepherd from the Isle of Skye.

He must use his expertise to rank four sheep in order of merit,

assessing body shape, head and eyes, quality of coat.

To win, the competitors in the audience

must match his expert selection in eight different rounds.

Gimmers from Soay Mor. Gimmers from Soay Mor.

First of all, maybe you're looking at its...looking at its coat,

see what coat it's got, how it goes on its legs.

But everyone's got their own pet idea

about what is the most important thing or what faults.

Everything's got a fault, however little it is,

and it depends where you want to rate that.

We put a tape on the horn of the sheep,

so that the judge judges them, red, blue, yellow, green.

And the idea is to match up with the judge's decisions.

Each colour has a letter set against it.

And the judge has placed them Y, B, A, X.

-That's the first class I've got right.

-Well done, George.

-Good for him.

-Stock judging's a big part of agriculture.

It's how young farmers learn.

Instead of judging the sheep as you would judge yourself,

you've to try and guess how the judge would judge them.

That's the art of stock judging.

How do you pick a boyfriend? How do you pick a girlfriend?

Everyone's got their favourites. Everyone's got their type.

It's quite a big ask, actually,

to be asked to judge Dalmally Stock Judging

cos there's a lot of very good sheep at it.

And it's a fair old pressure.

There's quite a lot of the top breeders here tonight.

Kevin will be feeling the pressure a wee bit.

We don't usually give the judge too much stick.

I did, one time, when Sybil was doing it, she was the master judge.

Had a wee outburst and I got a big row for it.

It's quite a tricky thing.

Some people take it very seriously, others don't.

Some people take it too seriously, in my opinion,

and because the scoring is so complicated,

people who've maybe got three or four classes absolutely correct

can actually be beaten by somebody who's only got one class correct,

but been nearly there with the rest.

Time's up. Thank you.

The judge has changed his card twice, but...

LAUGHTER

..it's B, X, Y, A.

B, X, Y, A.

Sorry, Kevin, I just couldn't resist that chance.

After the last round, each competitor's scoring is totted up.

It's not all about the winning, but taking part!

There are trophies and prizes for the winners.

McMan team shield is Jim Fairlie, David Murray and Stephen Two.

APPLAUSE

Well done.

A big thank you goes to our judge for tonight.

I'm sure you'll agree that he had a difficult task,

even if you did not agree with him.

So, Kevin, thank you very much for being our master judge.

APPLAUSE

-You've done all right.

-Safe journey home.

It's the Royal Northern Spring Show in Aberdeen,

an annual agricultural show and pedigree cattle sale,

attracting around 5,000 visitors.

-Are you going up there to wait?

-Yeah, I'll go up in a minute.

The event gives Martin Irvine a second chance

to sell two of his top Limousin bulls.

This is Imperial and Ice that we never sold at Stirling.

So we're back again and, hopefully, we'll get them sold today.

There's a bit more atmosphere today than there was at Stirling.

As usual, Imperial was put through a vet's inspection

before the auction.

His teeth and testicles made the grade, but not his walking.

-What's wrong?

-Lame back left.

-Think so?

-Aye.

-Is it that bad, Steve?

-Eh?

-Is it that bad?

One of Martin's superstar bulls, he was disqualified.

I can't show him and I can't sell him.

They're saying he's slightly lame.

Ice made the auction but failed to reach his reserve price.

It was a disappointing day for Martin.

He's here to try again for a sale.

He's timed it so that these two 21-month-old bulls

are in prime condition for this February auction.

He needs a buyer today. He needs the income.

Hopefully, this afternoon, we'll have two sold bulls,

a cheque and an empty lorry on the way home, would be ideal.

If we could average a four for the pair of them, I'd be delighted.

Worst comes to the worst, an average of three a head,

which is just covering our costs.

Ideally I'd get more. I'd like more for them. They're good bulls.

But, on a day, you just take what you get.

£4,000 as his target, Martin prepares the bulls

for the judging round before the auction itself.

A first or second prize ticket here

should lead to a better sale price later on today.

I'm a wee bit nervous. This is just the show.

It's always good to get tickets for selling

but, it's the next part that really counts,

to get these boys sold, so... I'm excited and a bit nervous.

First and second would be great.

-Am I going in there now?

-Hopefully.

The Spring Show is a benchmark for the Northeast of Scotland.

For a lot of farmers, it's the first date of the year, really.

Went through January and Christmas and you come into February

and now you're thinking of spring, the weather's picking up.

Just means a lot.

Things are tight and every pound matters at the moment.

Ready?

The Limousin class is next in the show ring.

-I've got butterflies.

-It just makes you hungry. It's good.

Hungry for...winning? Or hungry in general?

Hungry for winning.

Martin takes Imperial and Mel is in charge of Ice.

-Oi. Oi.

-Mel's bull is being a right twit, like.

Oi. You've done this.

Ice is keen to make his presence felt

amongst other unfamiliar young bulls.

Mel just has to hang on tight.

He's getting to that age when they're more masculine,

so they start squaring up,

looking to put themselves into a funny shape,

and don't show themselves well.

The judge assesses Imperial.

Judges look for size, length, muscle definition, good locomotion,

and an animal that exemplifies the Limousin breed characteristics.

The judge is ready to make her decision.

-It's Imperial. He gets first in class.

-I held on.

-Thank you, m'dear.

-And Ice is placed second.

A good start. Happy with that. A ticket always helps.

There's 19 Limousin bulls here.

There might be a buyer for 10, 12 of them.

If you're at the top end and you get two boys that are capable

to chase a bull, can make a bit of money, so time will tell.

Martin knows to be cautiously optimistic.

He's had prize winners fail to sell before.

The auction begins in just a few hours.

At their farm near Loch Lomond,

Anne Lennox's stint of being in charge is over.

Bobby is back and it's business as usual.

Go! Go!

Anne, can you put that wee gate,

slope it across so they don't get in the back of there?

Bobby's the boss on the farm.

If Bobby says we do something, we do it.

I might mutter a bit, but Bobby's the boss.

Hey, come here!

The main job, today, is just going through the lambs,

weighing them and picking out,

hopefully, 50 or 60 lambs that are ready for the abattoir.

February is the time

that Bobby sends some of his sheep for slaughter -

mostly last year's male lambs,

plus a few females not suitable for breeding.

This one's weighing...40.5 kilos.

So, it's in the weight range that I'm looking for -

36 to 45 kilo live weight -

and then I just put my hand on their back,

and what I'm feeling for is the amount of flesh

that's over the top of the bumps on top of the spine.

There's the odd one at 35 I'm taking

because they're actually, when I handle, they're very fat.

If I go any more, they're going to be way over fat.

A green mark means the abattoir.

Supermarkets are specific,

in terms of the carcass weights they require from suppliers.

The live animal needs to weigh between 36 and 45 kilos

and Bobby must ensure all his animals

are within this weight range.

The supermarkets want lamb chops that will fit in the white packets.

If they're over 21 kilos, they're too big

for the average consumer to eat for one meal or two person,

and if they're too small, they're not big enough to fill the packet.

So it's basically, we're... The supermarkets stipulate

they want carcasses in the 16 to 21 kilo range.

And if you go over the top, they penalise you

and if you go underneath it, they penalise you very heavily.

It could be the difference of £15 to £20 a lamb.

Bobby sells his sheep to the abattoir

and the supermarket buys direct from there.

He has no control over where his lamb ends up.

When we find lamb does us best,

is if there is a big demand in France.

Just one other buyer, other than the big four supermarket chains,

so it just needs one other buyer in the system,

and that can make quite a big difference to the lamb price.

The sooner I get them away...

..the less feeding it takes me to fatten them, so it costs me less,

but if they're smaller they're not eating so much anyway, so...

That one's got the weight but it's not quite fat enough yet,

so I'll give it another week.

These sheep get a reprieve.

No green mark means a few more weeks of life

being fattened up on the farm.

In Aberdeen, at the cattle show,

the all-important auction is about to start.

He's a good bull. Mel showed him last summer. Good family.

We need to sell these bulls to keep money coming in.

And if we don't, then there's no money coming in.

This is pay day for us and if we don't sell them, we don't get paid.

The price these pedigree breeding bulls are fetching

has dropped since last year and demand is less.

Two years ago, Martin managed to sell 15 bulls.

Last year he sold just 11.

We always say you need to make three to break even.

Hopefully, they'll make more.

Just cos this is kind of the last chance, money's tight,

we put a low reserve on them - three.

Hopefully, we'll get somebody.

What are we going to do with them if we don't sell them?

Hamburgers.

Sending these bulls to slaughter

means a maximum price of £1,800 each -

a financial loss for Martin and the end for two fine young bulls.

AUCTIONEER CALLS OUT INDISTINCTLY

The Limousin auction is under way and Mel's up next with Imperial.

2,6. 2.7.

All the livestock sales are still in guineas.

One guinea is the equivalent, today, of £1.05.

2,1. 2,2.

2,3. 2,4.

2,6. 2,8.

3,000.

Martin sticks close to the auctioneer.

3,000. 3,000 bid. 3,000.

He hopes for at least 4,000 guineas for his star bull,

but has set a reserve price of 3,000

to cover his costs, at the very least.

-Cheap, cheap.

-At 3,000, he's a cheap boy.

3,2. 3,2. 3,2.

3,4. 3,400.

3,4.

3,400 bid. 3,400 bid.

3,4.

Disappointed but can't do anything.

-At 3,400 bid. 3,400.

-AUCTIONEER BANGS ON STAND

Imperial goes for 3,400 guineas, just over £3,500.

Now, it's Ice's turn.

AUCTIONEER SHOUTS OUT INDISTINCTLY

2,800 bid. 2,800 bid. Come on now.

At 2,800. 3,000.

3,000. 3,000 bid.

3,000 is bid.

Someone else in. At 3,2. 3,2. 3,200.

-3,4. 3,400.

-We're getting there.

-3,400.

-We're getting there.

-At 3,4.

Ice sells for the same, 3,400 guineas.

It's not the best result for Martin.

That's the two bulls sold. That's the first bit.

Trade...was all right. It was nothing special.

All I can say is, two people got two really cheap bulls...

-ICE LOWS

-..to be honest.

They're away cheap, but happy that they're away,

so I've made a bit on them.

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.

See you all again next visit.

After auction fees are paid,

Martin walks away with just under £7,000,

a profit of less than £1,000.

When you do get a hiding or a kicking

or a doing or you don't get the sale that you like

or you get beaten or something like that, all it does for me,

is it makes me more determined to come back and be better.

I want to come back next time and be better.

And that's what I'll try and do.

-Ready? One, two...

-MEL SQUEALS

We need some enjoyment in our lives.

Ice leaves with his buyer to become the breeding bull on a new farm.

Imperial will be picked up from Martin's tomorrow.

Where's my scoop gone? Got it, got it.

Got it. That's another thing, yep.

John Scott is on morning feeding duty

for his first, unexpectedly early spring lambs.

LAMB BLEATS

It's breakfast time for National Treasure.

Sometimes after a Caesarean,

they maybe go off their food a bit for a while,

but I always like to see lambs, getting up and stretching.

So these guys are a bit...

These guys are a bit stronger than they were last night

but, as you can see, we're one down, which is a bit unfortunate.

When I came in at half past ten last night,

the little one had died, but it's just the way it goes.

Um...

I did suspect one of them was just not going to be strong enough

and that was certainly the case.

It's a loss for John from a new pedigree bloodline.

The focus of our attention now is on these two.

The sooner I see these up and sucking themselves, the better.

She's a bit uncomfortable from the Caesarean,

so she's kicking a wee bit there, but that'll pass.

I'm just trying to get this wee ewe lamb to feed off mum.

I'm not 100% sure she hasn't, actually, herself.

John checks to see if the ewe is producing

enough milk to feed both lambs.

She hasn't let her milk down fully yet. There's not...

There's a tiny little drop there of milk but really,

there's not much there. Um...

So, we'll have to continue supplementing this just now.

This one's slightly weaker.

The tup lamb's slightly weaker than the ewe lamb.

But we'll keep feeding them every three or four hours

and, hopefully, her milk will come on her,

and then we can, as her milk comes on her,

we can gradually ease back and feed them less by the bottle ourselves.

So we'll just persevere. We'll get there.

These lambs have survived the perilous first 24 hours of life

and are through the worst.

At the Irvine's farm,

it's time to say goodbye to a family favourite.

Gentle natured Imperial, one of Martin's superstar bulls,

is about to be picked up by his new owner.

He'll be heading off, see some ladies, hopefully, and get to work.

In nine months' time, a year's time,

there's going to be calves off of him, so it means a bit.

The whole family are sad to see him go.

You get attached to them,

especially if they've got a character like him.

You just hope they go to a good home. That's the main thing.

His new owner arrives.

Yeah, get him loaded.

Tsch, tsch, come on then.

Come, come, come, come, come.

Imperial's new home will be just 20 miles away on a farm they know.

BULL LOWS

There you go.

He maybe went away cheap.

But knowing he went to someone you ken doesn't make it feel so bad.

Next time, spring finally arrives

and John Scott is on full-time lambing duty.

Sometimes it's good just to have a bit of time on your own,

just be a shepherd.

Sybil gives George a spring clean.

The good thing about taking it off now is that,

quite possibly, birds might use it for nesting material.

And Martin Irvine harvests a specimen from his prize bull.

Good boy.

That's my boy.

-LAUGHTER

-That's my boy.