Tractors and Trophies: Scotland's Young Farmers

'As Scotland's farming population fell,

'one club became a lifeline in this isolated profession.'

It's a great way of meeting people.

-'A place for knowledge,...'

-The B cow is a third calver.

-'..competition,...'

-Yes!

-'..glamour...'

-You looked old-fashioned a bit fuddy-duddy.

'..and, most importantly, fun.'

'A club that's not afraid to move forward

'whilst maintaining its traditions.'

Sheaf tossing - you won't get that at your average youth group.

'This year, the Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs

'celebrates its 75th anniversary.'

One success that Young Farmers have had over the years

is to... bring the men out of the hills, so to speak.

'Three ambitious young farmers

'attempt to make their mark in the farming world.'

Deep breath and go for it.

-'Going for the top prize...'

-I'd love to win it.

'..and having a say at Holyrood.'

All who strive to become better farmers, better countrymen

and, importantly, better citizens.

'It's the glue that binds the farming community together.'

At school, I had the nickname Farmer John,

but then you go to a Young Farmers meeting - you're all farmers.

MUSIC: "Cotton Eye Joe" by Rednex

'This is Scotland's Young Farmers Club.'

What are your memories of the Young Farmers?

The dances.

MUSIC: "YMCA" by Village People

# YMCA

-# It's fun to stay at the...

-# YMCA

Young Farmers know how to party,

there's no doubt about that.

# Take it back to... to the old school...

I think it's down to the fact that they don't get out very often.

This is one of our friend's caravans and he's gone away for supper,

so we're just taking it away.

Just for... the banter, really.

'Young Farmers Clubs are a social network

'for young people in rural areas between the ages of 14 and 26.'

'But, for many, it's much more than a club.'

It's often been claimed

that Young Farmers is nothing more than a dating agency for farmers.

It gives a lot of boys working on farms, day in, day out -

they get to meet some girls that they probably wouldn't do otherwise.

Most farmers probably meet their future wives through Young Farmers -

it keeps the farming cycle going.

'As well as the social benefits,

'education is central to the Young Farmers movement.'

You really can't put a price

on what you learn from Young Farmers or even what you gain.

It's a socially interactive learning process for them all.

Once you're in it, you see how amazing it is -

it is, it's amazing.

'In 1902, Clark County, Ohio,

'AB Graham, a superintendent of schools, formed a club

'where young people could learn by doing.'

'His idea proved successful and more clubs were created.'

'These rural youth programmes

'led to the birth of the American 4-H movement,

'calling for the education of the head, heart, hands and health.'

'By 1923, it had spread across the United States

'and eventually caught the attention of a pig farmer in Caithness.'

Mr Robson got copies of the Chicago Breeders Gazette regularly -

he read about these clubs in the United States

and he thought "This is what I need, what we need to see in Caithness."

'Agriculture wasn't, in these days, considered to be

'a thing that required a lot of education and training.'

'Mr Robson felt a club like this was needed,

'but he faced resistance.'

Education system in Scotland and those that were in charge of it

didn't really approve of young people who were at school

being involved in other activities like this -

it just didn't fit the Scottish scene.

'John Robson met an enlightened schoolmaster who agreed to help

'and, despite a lack of enthusiasm at first, new recruits were found.'

'The first activity was to be a competition.'

There was ten young people, he gave them ten young pigs each

and they had to keep these pigs for six months and keep the records.

'The winning pig was to gain 329 pounds.'

'Its proud keeper was Annie Smith.'

This would mark the start

'of a long and varied tradition of competitions in the clubs.'

The work came to the attention of John Esslemont,

the director of county work, and he felt "This is a good thing."

'Perhaps taking his cue from the idealism of the 4-H clubs,

'Mr Esslemont suggested some guiding principles

'for the future of Young Farmers Clubs in Scotland.'

'He laid down ideas

'around the duties and responsibilities of citizenship.'

'He also enshrined the provision of social amusement

'and healthy recreation -

'all with the view to making farm and rural life

'more attractive to young people.'

Well, I am... Right, brace yourselves...

I'm the past Ayrshire Mr Young Farmer

and the past West Area Mr Young Farmer in that competition.

And I'm the past Ayrshire Member and National Member Of The Year -

erm, that was down in Carlisle.

That was the first time abroad to England.

Erm... It was! And Orkney was the first time in a plane as well

so it's opened up a few more doors and avenues.

'At just 24,

'John Howie runs his family's 360-acre farm in Ayrshire...'

You hit blood, then pull it out quick.

'..as well as being heavily involved in his local Young Farmers Club.'

And in first place for the trophy this year, we have...

..Ayr! THEY CHEER

In winter time, we've got two concert practices a week,

then a club meeting on the Monday,

which could be just a talk or a games night,

and then a dance at the weekend.

We probably average about four nights out a week!

This year, I played the sad clown, a kind of mime act.

MUSIC: "I Want To Break Free" by Queen

# I want to break free

It's a good break from farming -

stereotypically, a farmer is a sad person and depressed maybe!

So it's good to take yourself out of your comfort zone,

which Young Farmers does time and time again.

APPLAUSE

One thing that I still want to win is Stockman Of The Year.

Whether or not I'll get there, we need to see,

but I've been trying for a good few years now and had some success.

'The Stockman Of The Year competition

'at the Royal Highland Show

'is the highest accolade a Young Farmer can achieve.'

Cove, cove, covey. Come away.

Come away.

When I was at university,

my dad took unwell

and I took a year out from uni to work at home for the farm,

to make things easier for Dad and I worked with my mam as well.

And after that, at the end of that year out,

well, my dad... actually passed away.

It's sad, I suppose, in certain Young Farmers -

I was Mr Young Farmer and Member Of The Year

and he never got to see any of that and that kind of saddens me a bit,

but hopefully Stockman Of The Year - I'll do that and... Yep.

Come on. Come on, lass. Come on.

'Young Farmers is a social side

'with the dances and everything and the fun you have -

'at the back of that, there's the competitions that drive everything.'

Come on, lass. Come on.

You want to be the best at something you do -

there's no point aiming for last,

you may as well aim for first if you're going to do a job right.

'The Stockman Of The Year trophy is the top prize

'in the highly competitive category of stock judging.'

The Stockman Of The Year competition

is without doubt the most important Young Farmers event of the year.

'Stock judging is the craft

'of identifying the best specimens of beef, sheep and dairy.'

'Competitors are presented with a class of four beasts,

'labelled A, B, X and Y,

'and given five minutes to place them in order of quality.'

To have to express why an animal is better than another one

is quite a feat and is quite a skill in itself.

'They must then justify their decisions

'by presenting reasons to the official judge.'

And being able to orate that to the judges is another skill indeed -

you need a whole set of skills to be able to do this properly.

'The farmer who places the beasts in the correct order

'and presents clear, confident reasons will score the highest.'

There will be people who would be very good at looking at the animal

and picking A, B, X, Y,

but to be able to express why is a very different thing.

'With the Royal Highland Show only two months away,

'Young Farmers Clubs across Scotland

'are holding stock-judging training nights

'in the hope of producing the next Stockman Of The Year.'

Master of Judges, I place this class of Limousin heifers

in order of Y, B, X and A - Y I place first

as the biggest, cleanest heifer in the class, having great character,

being wide of her top and deep of her loin.

'Like John Howie,

'Stephanie Dick has her sights set on the Stockman Of The Year trophy.'

The first girl that ever won it was three years ago, I think -

she was from Ayrshire - and then a girl from our club, Katrine Miller,

she won it last... two years ago,

so the girls are coming up in the world anyway.

She followed on well with size, scale, power and quality,

although she lacked the quality of legs,

she had great power through the head

and she carried this power through her feminine top line.

We train probably once a week or twice a week sometimes,

so hopefully, if I get enough training in, it'll go good.

This one was A, X, B, Y.

'Steph hails from a successful Stirlingshire farming family.'

'Just 19, she already has her own herd of prized Limousin cattle.'

Personally, I have about... 22 or something now.

It started off with a couple, but I wanted to show my own ones

and compete against my dad and just save up for my own

and then they kept having calves and having more calves

and then I flushed one of my cows and I got a load of embryos.

And I just seemed to expand and then Dad bought me a couple of heifers.

It's a lot of work and sometimes Dad and the men,

if I go and lift something heavy,

they always say "Oh, you can't do that, you're a girl."

It is still quite sexist, I think,

but, at the same time, I can do like everything

and girls are just as hardy as the boys, I think.

# One, two, three, four....

MUSIC: "The Happy Song" by The Aliens

The Young Farmers movement is based on competition.

Everything's a competition.

Whether it be baking a cake or giving a haircut,...

..right down to arts and crafts.

# ..every day, even though I'm stuck in flight

# Happy as I wake up and make a cup of tea

# Happy, everybody, do you want to be like me?

'The competitions keep these craft skills alive

'and give the young farmers a direct link to their farming heritage.'

They stand and look at it - it's nae good looking at it,

you're just going to hit it, it's not going to get up high enough.

I always like to put my back towards the pole

and put my weight into it and my power and lift it over the top.

THEY CHEER

I'm a lot older than all these boys,

it's time I was retiring.

# You want to be so happy, happy

# Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy

# Happy, happy, happy, happy

# You want to be happy...

Young farmers are highly competitive

and it's part of their business training.

# Happy, happy, happy, happy...

'Over the decades, more novelty categories were introduced.'

I'm sticking some marshmallows on a bra.

I'm hoping its going to look like a poodle.

I'm quite a fan of pigs, so I thought I'd make a pair of pigs.

Every year, you get a different thing to dress -

usually it's a chair or a table, but this year we got a toilet!

# Happy, happy, happy, happy happy, happy, happy, happy

# Happy, happy, happy, happy, you want to be happy...

'Pillow fighting has always proved popular at Young Farmers rallies.'

'But, in 2007, it was put to bed, due to health-and-safety concerns.'

Trophies are very important

because its important to have one's sideboard filled with silver.

You want that accolade of having the top prize at a Highland show

or being able to say that you are Miss Young Famer.

You've got your name engraved on a cup and it'll always be there.

You look through the past years and see if you know somebody -

aunts and uncles, mums and dads that have been there before -

it's a very proud thing, definitely,

and it's a tradition that I don't see dying any time soon.

Lift, lift, lift, lift,

lift, lift, lift, lift,

lift, lift, lift, lift,

lift, lift, lift, lift...

'Most people think "Tug of war - guys at the pub,

'"big beer bellies, heavy as possible."'

..lift... Tight. Lock it out.

That's what they think of tug of war, but it's far removed from that.

..two, three and...

It's all about weight -

a lean guy would out-pull a fat guy any day of the week.

Lift, tight, lift, tight...

There's not many jobs now that require a bit of physical strength

and I think it's just you're more physically fit,

the fact you're doing more

and maybe a wee bit harder

compared to people that sit in offices, I would say, possibly!

'Biggar Young Farmers Club have a strong tug-of-war tradition.'

'They're in training for the Royal Highland Show finals,

'only weeks away.'

Tight. Lock it.

When you start training, it's more about technique -

folk that's never done it before, you have to teach the technique.

You're pulling your rope down here. So you want it in your hip a bit.

So you're dropping in...

'You'll start one, two nights a week then we'll build it up to three.'

You just build it up slowly

until you're kind of trying to peak them at the Highland.

Come on, guys, into them!

Steady... go!

Tight, tight, tight, hold the man tight!

The strategy is you have to outlast your opposition.

'Pin, pin, pin!'

More power than them, more stamina.

And just outlast them.

'Duncan and John both pulled for the winning Biggar team

'at the Royal Highland Show in 1989 and 1992.'

It's a great competition for them -

all their peers are there and the atmosphere is tremendous.

-You're hoping it won't be another 20 years, then?

-Oh, no, no!

'This year, Biggar Young Farmers

'have made it to the Royal Highland Show Finals with two teams -

'Biggar A and Biggar B.'

THEY SHOUT WITH EFFORT

'The teams go head to head at the end of each training session.'

Is it about endurance now, then?

I would say aggression.

There's far better teams that are going to be at the Highland Show

so it's all about who wants it more, I guess.

One more end, boys. No cheating this time.

B-team bandits.

B-team bawbags!

Steady... go!

Push! Push! Push! Push!

Push! Push!

Push! Push!

Come on, boys!

'Tonight, the A team have the upper hand.'

-First to five - they've won it.

-So the A team is the best?

No, no...

The Highland Show, if you've got the right attitude on the day,

it's just one of those kinds of competitions,

if it goes wrong on your first pull, that's it. It's a lot of pressure.

'This is a big year for the clubs in Scotland.'

'It's the Scottish Association

'of Young Farmers Clubs' 75th anniversary.'

'Katherine Marr, a chicken farmer from Tain,

'is hoping to become its new chairperson.'

The thought of becoming National Chairman puts a smile on my face

every time I think about it.

'If elected, she will lead an organisation

'that has become the voice of young farming in Scotland.'

Onto item 19 - to elect Chairman and Vice-Chairman for 2014.

'With the formation of the SAYFC in 1938,

'the ideas around democracy and citizenship,

'laid down by George Esslemont,

'could finally be carried forward at a national level,

'promoting the positive ethos of better farmers, better countrymen

'and better citizens.'

'The immediate post-war era was to be a high point for the clubs,

'with membership reaching over 10,000.'

'It would also mark the beginning of significant changes

'in Scottish agriculture.'

I've recently been reported in the paper as being egg-daft,

but I would say I was passionately daft about Young Farmers.

'As farms became increasingly mechanised, less men were needed.'

'Successful farmers reduced their workforce

'while increasing their acreage, resulting in fewer, bigger farms.'

'With fewer farmers, club membership began a steady decline.'

When there are fewer farmers, but there's the same amount of acreage,

they become disparate from each other, so the Young Farmers

does have a really important role

in trying to bring them together.

'In 1949, there were 10,000 Young Farmers in Scotland.'

'Today there's just over 3,000.'

Congratulations, Madam Chair.

Get your kit on.

'Most Young Farmers still have a family connection to farming,...'

SHE SQUAWKS

'..but with less opportunities than in the past,

'only around one in three will go on to have a career in agriculture.'

This is a craic.

Aww, big chicken. Aww.

-What are you doing now?

-Going home.

-Home?

MUSIC: "You Drive Me Crazy" by Shakin' Stevens

# You know, baby, when you're in my arms

# I can feel your loving magic charms

# You drive me crazy

# You drive me crazy...

I remember the first time I got sent to a stock-demonstration practice

at my local Young Farmers -

I didn't really know what it was about at that time, I'd only be 15,

went along and, like any young person,

you're quite kinda loathed to do it,

but once you get shoved in and you do it for the first time,

the next time becomes easier.

And it was hard, but sticking at it and keep going and keep trying,

you do progress and get better at it.

Yeah, it is scary to start with.

That'll do us there.

'It's the last training night before the Stockman Of The Year competition

'at the Royal Highland Show.'

'John is hoping to make it into the Ayrshire A stock-judging team.'

Right, that's five mins started.

'He must judge the class accurately

'and later present his reasons to the judges.'

'Some people are natural stocksmen - they grew up with stock around them

'and they learn from their father or grandfather

'what's a good one and what's a bad one.'

You sussed it out yet?

You do get some people that are really good at it from a young age

and you get people that learn how to do it

by listening to trainers and judges and picking it up as they go.

Right, that's your time up.

That class was B, Y, X and A

with a spacing of four, four and four.

Basically, between myself and the official judge,

his top two and his bottom two were switched around about

from what I had originally - that's just the pairs swapped around about,

so I've seen worse and done a lot worse with my judging,

so it's hard tonight.

Good stock, so it's making it tough,

but it'll be like that at the Highland Show, even harder probably.

COW BELLOWS

'With the stock judging over,

'it's time to rehearse reasons and present them to the judges.'

HE MUTTERS

And then David Smith...

Think of a judge at the Highland,

the amount of people that's going to do a set of reasons -

you've got to have something to remember you by,

so if you can get a buzzword in that will stick in your head,

that's what I try and do so I am memorable.

People have different methods, but I could visualise the class.

Master of Judges, this is a tremendous class,

I place them in the order X, B, Y, A.

I could visualise them in my head, see the four cows walking around.

The first two being taller, longer and stronger than the bottom two.

Kind of differentiating marks, like a wee black mark

or "That one was bigger" or "better on its legs."

She was sweeter and more capacious in her udder.

Far greater style, sweeter teat placement...

You're allowed ten per cent or ten seconds over the two minutes.

She's also straighter in her front bone leg

than X... Y, sorry.

Once you're over the ten seconds, you get penalized - time faults.

This is a great class of Holstein Friesian cows on which to judge

and overall I placed them in the order of X, B, Y and A. Thank you.

OK, John... No, good.

Good terminology.

Go to town on the first one, ham it up. "It won the class by a mile."

You didnae sound as confident there.

I think you've got to be able to listen and learn,

take it in and take criticism well.

Just go for it. I mean, you ken it won the class by a mile.

If I'd had a wee bit more time, as Grant and Andrew said,

maybe could've hammed it up a bit, but... it was good to say it.

Maybe faltered a wee bit, not as slick as I would've liked,

but it was practice. Always the same - you could always do better.

'The last thing on the agenda is the team selections

'for the Royal Highland Show.'

In third place was Graeme Wallace

with 453 points.

Second place was David Smith with 504 points.

And winning seniors tonight was John Cowser with 515 points.

I would now like to pass you over to Grant

to go over the teams for the Highland Show.

The A team in dairy John Cowser, Kevin Lawrie.

The beef David Smith, Graeme Wallace.

The sheep Drew Kennedy and Andrew Ireland.

The B team in the dairy John Howie and Struan Mcgregor.

In the beef Ross Baird and Drew Wilson.

In the sheep Alistair Hutton and Hugh Fergusson.

That was just given out, so kinda... don't know.

My name wasn't in the top three anyway,

but the people that were announced have been strong all year

so it wasn't really a surprise.

Just need to, in the Highland, get more revising done

and hopefully it'll come good at the Highland Show

because it's a totally different pressure on you,

so, aye, hopefully my name will be up there.

MUSIC: "I'm Looking For A Woman" by Bo Diddley

# I'm looking for a woman

# That will work to set me down...

In the first issue of The Scottish Farmer,

I think we fairly well summed up

what was the role of women in farming at the time

when we said there was no better gymnasium for a woman

than washing, cleaning, ironing and the rubbing of brass,

but I think things have moved on a fair bit since then.

And... just take a little out the centre and we taste.

'Like generations before,

'today's Young Farmers subject themselves to judgment

'by the Scottish Women's Rural Institute.'

A perfect scone is spongy,

not too hard, not too crusty on the outside,

but just very spongy and not too sweet.

That's my opinion - not too sweet.

Ooh, they're quite... quite solid.

This is spongy.

We've no idea who has made these.

-Quite doughy.

-Mm-hm.

-Quite doughy.

You have to judge them as you see them -

whether it's hurting somebody that they're not getting first prize.

That one's very solid.

-Feel...

-Indeed, yeah.

The judges' decision is final.

-That one.

-Yeah, definitely.

I would say very few men, the boys, have ended up in the baking -

in my day, there'd be none,

the boys just thought "That's the girls' job."

# Well, tell me, baby...

'Along with the established competitions in baking,

'there's handicrafts across a wide range of disciplines.'

OK, girls, we're setting up, you can come in now.

Report to your stewards.

'The tradition in farming is that you make something out of nothing.'

Even now, when you can buy a shirt for six quid or something,

Young Farmers have the tradition of being able to make that themselves -

it might cost a tenner to do it,

but they're still quite keen to have a go at making things.

This is the decorated false nails -

it's just one hand we had to enter, this was done by Jessica.

Yeah, I went with the SAYFC colours, the purple, white and green.

It was supposed to be a New Holland, but we didn't have enough blue.

So we've kinda left it like that.

One of the plus points of the Young Farmers

is that they are creative. Some of them are over-creative.

Ooh, it's got...

The herbs have taken over.

But I think that diversity is one of the plus points,

that there are creative and artistic people out there

and they're willing to put it to the test.

The artistic merits and the colours,

they've thought it out in different colours -

the tractor - I've never seen that colour of tractor.

But maybe you do get these colours.

They've done a fairly good job,

but with a bit of practice, they could make perfection.

'But it wasn't all baking and handicrafts.'

'There was once a touch of glamour.'

ROY ORBISON: # Pretty woman, walking down the street

# Pretty woman, the kind I like to meet

# Pretty woman

# I don't believe you, you're not the truth

# No-one could look as good as you...

In 1991, I was put forward to the Miss Scotch Lamb competition.

I had quite a knowledge of the sheep industry at this point

because I was actually shepherd for my father at the time.

When I won the competition,

my dad was quite proud that he had fathered a Miss Scotch Lamb!

I felt glamorous when I was standing presenting prizes -

you maybe just looked a bit old-fashioned, a bit fuddy-duddy.

When Miss Scotch Lamb turned up to present a prize,

every shepherd was not happy with a shake of the hand -

they needed a peck on the cheek or a cuddle

and you just had to go along with that smile and give them the chat,

so I think it would probably make some of their days

that they could go home and say they had a kiss from Miss Scotch Lamb!

# Ladies

# Ladies

# On the sofa next to me...

'Young farmers that didn't fancy becoming Miss Scotch Lamb

'could enter a rival competition and become a Pinta Princess.'

# Ladies, ladies...

In 1987,

I won the Milk Marketing Board's Pinta Princess competition!

There was girls from all over Scotland went along.

We had a great day together.

We weren't parading around in bikinis or anything like that,

Miss World, like!

But, no, it was interesting and fun.

# Jackie's in the powder room...

We were all interviewed about our involvement with the clubs,

our interests, our hobbies - just about our lives, really.

# While Joan of Arc just sits and smokes, ladies...

It was nice to put our wellies away and to get dressed up in an evening

and nice for the boys to be looking at something

other than the cattle or sheep or whatever they were used to judging,

judging our usual Young Farmers night out.

# My friends say "Where are all the ladies?"...

'But, by the early '90s, attitudes were changing.'

'Miss Scotch Lamb and the Pinta Princess were on their way out.'

When I was Miss Scotch Lamb, the press had picked up on it

and didn't think it was the right thing to be promoting at that time.

There was a backlash against beauty contests

even though they weren't intrinsically all about beauty,

and so they fell by the wayside - they were seen as kind of outdated.

Miss Scotch Lamb, definitely, yeah,

had become politically incorrect... unfortunately!

'In 2013, young women are taking

'an increasingly central role in farming.'

'When her father retires,

'Steph will take on her family's 3,000-acre farm.'

'It's what I always wanted to do -

'if someone asked me "If you weren't a farmer, what would you be?" -

'there's nothing else I'd want to be.'

'I thought about studying business at college or something,

'but when it came down to it, there's nothing else.'

I love spending time with cows and being out in the open air -

I couldn't sit in an office all day. I've always wanted to be a farmer.

It's strange for a girl to want to be a farmer,

but my brother wasn't interested at all and I took a liking to animals.

My brother wants to be a doctor, a surgeon, so it's good for him,

he stuck up for himself and said he didn't want to be a farmer -

that's fair enough.

Urrghh!

I need a hand now!

Usually it's the boy that takes over

and with me wanting to take it over instead, it's a different situation.

There's nothing else I'd want to do -

you get to be with guys like this every day.

Hey.

I think they're full.

'Despite a steady decrease in membership,

'the Young Farmers movement has survived.'

'Today it's as important as ever to its just over 3,000 members

'and is now taken seriously on the political stage.'

Since its inception on 2nd February 1938,

the Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs has evolved

to offer its members a greater and more robust platform

for personal development, community participation and social adhesion.

One of the successes that the Young Farmers have had over the years

is to bring the men out of the hills, so to speak.

I commend the work Young Farmers Clubs do in coaching, debating,

and know that my northeastern colleague Alex Johnstone

honed some of his fine debating skills in his Young Farmers Club.

Some of them would stay in the hills if they were given the chance.

I'm told he held the club record

for being able to consume the most pints in one sitting as well.

When I was in the Young Farmers, we had a very formidable lady,

one of the older ladies of the club called Mary Craig,

and she made it her raison d'etre

that people were pushed out of their comfort zone.

They were made to do things they wouldn't choose to do themselves.

Hi, how are you?

-Fine. And you?

-Good, nervous.

# Well, come on, baby, I'll show you how

# Come on, baby, I'll show you how, we'll do it hard...

This place is massive.

# Come on, baby, do a chicken, chicken walk...

'Today, newly appointed Chairperson Katherine Marr

'is at the Scottish Parliament to give a speech to MSPs.'

-You all right?

-Hope so.

-You'll be fine.

Hi. Nice to meet you.

-Thanks very much...

-Congratulations on your appointment.

This gentleman's keen to meet you.

I'm Dave Thompson, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch.

How are you, boys? I missed you on the way in. Thanks for coming.

-Congratulations.

-Thanks very much, boys.

-It's all about the passion, Fraser!

-OK, Katherine!

THEY APPLAUD

Good evening, everyone.

I'd like to welcome you all along to this evening's reception.

Please forgive me as I'm a little nervous

about speaking in front of such a high calibre of an audience.

Normally on a Wednesday night,

you can find me in a hen shed,

speaking away to the hens about my day's activities

and why they've not laid enough eggs.

I think that's one of the successes of the whole Young Farmers movement

is that they do take fairly shy people, introverted people,

and turn them into what they can be.

Working on the land or not,

we welcome all who strive to become better farmers,

better countrymen and, importantly, better citizens.

Thank you.

It went better than I thought -

I was pretty nervous, but I think it came across OK. I don't know.

Yeah, I was pretty happy with it.

Average age of farmers is 62 just now -

that's not healthy, so what do we do in the future?

We have no younger people getting involved.

# Yeah, let's walk, walk, walk, baby...

Wow, it's pretty big, eh?

-Would you like to sit in the First Minister's chair?

-This one here?

'Everything boils down to the people in this chamber,

'it's them that's making the decisions for the future for us.'

'So we need to be able to influence them in ways they'll respect.'

And we wish the SAYFC and all its members every success

and look forward to celebrating many future anniversaries

as it continues to be an important and a very positive element

of Scottish rural life. Thank you.

I just sat in Alex Salmond's seat.

Was there a feeling of power?

Not power. It's a bit surreal, this whole thing.

Yeah, it's amazing.

'The Royal Highland Show is the biggest event

'in the Scottish farming calendar.'

'Every June, thousands of farmers from across the country

'gather at Ingliston for four days of business,

'pleasure and competition.'

The quicker we get out, the quicker we get started!

It's all about quickness!

'Stock-judging competitors from clubs across Scotland

'meet at the Young Farmers Centre for registration.'

I'd just like to welcome everyone

to the Highland Show Stock Judging Competition.

All the work and effort I've done in the past -

I've been competing for it since I was probably 16 -

that's nine, ten years' worth of going to stock judgings,

late nights in a freezing cold shed,

so it'd give me a recognisation of all the work I've put in,

from your peers in Young Farmers as well, that you're a good stockman

and you know what you're doing.

Please remember you're not permitted to speak to anyone else,

this includes mobile phones.

I know my weaknesses and my strengths -

I get flustered, I need to take my time

and make sure I've got enough points down for the reason giving.

I need to remember everything I've been getting trained on this year

and bring it all together.

-How are the nerves?

-Not very good!

My stomach's turning.

You need a bit of luck so hopefully it'll be on my side today.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask

and if not, on you go, make your way down to the rings to start judging.

Good luck, everybody!

Nerves are kicking in now.

When the stock-judging teams appear at the Highland Show,

few people will realise that they've probably been working

for six months to this end.

Clear head, deep breath.

This is like winning Crufts -

your value to the industry goes up exponentially

after you've won Stockman Of The Year.

TANNOY: "Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman. In ring 16 and 17,

"we've got the Young Farmers' Stockman Of The Year programme."

When you're stock judging, you're using your eye and your instinct

to pick the best animal.

Steady, pal.

And there comes a time when you may have to buy that animal at auction

and there's nobody else around to judge it other than you.

Judging is always an opinion and everybody will vary in opinion.

You can see the tension in the Young Farmers.

You can see the pressure. It's certainly mounting on them.

I hate dairy cows.

If you've one area of weakness, you'll struggle to win.

TANNOY: "That's your time up."

"Hand your cards to the steward and move on to the next class, please."

Thank you.

MOOING

Oh, dear.

'The tug-of-war finals are underway.'

Come on!

'Biggar A in group one.'

Come on!

'Biggar B in group two.'

The biggest pull's the first one.

It's hard, especially the young puller going into that -

it's a big, big thing.

If the occasion gets to them, then, that's it.

We've had teams in the past who thought they were going to win.

They go out there and got stuffed.

-How's it going out there?

-It's tough.

It's all right up until then,

teams haven't been as solid but they were solid.

I'm angry!

'Despite a challenging group stage,

'both teams are through to the semifinals.'

Two ends and we're in the final. Come on!

I had to try to motivate them.

Come on! We're in the final. Come on!

Try to get them wound up, aggravated.

Come on now!

And then attack.

ALL SHOUT

ALL SHOUT AND CHANT

WHISTLE

'Biggar B are through.'

We were hoping to make it a Biggar-Biggar final.

Because it had never been done before -

two teams from the one club in a final.

Come on, Biggar! Come on!

WHISTLE

So as soon as we'd won our semi and they'd won their semi,

I was like "Ya dancer, we've won it. See what happens in the final."

-What's happening?

-Biggar A-Biggar B final.

What does that mean?

Fling the kitchen sink at them. Everything, give it everything.

'With the stock judging over,

'John and Steph must now prepare their reasons for the judges.'

You've got to go with your instincts when you're stock judging -

even if you get the class wrong against the official judge,

if you can convince the judges that you were right,

then, that is worth a lot of points.

HE MUTTERS

A good temperament without getting too nervous is an advantage.

You don't get much time to prepare, it's all quite boom, boom, boom.

George Low!

So, aye, you've got to be kinda nerveless.

That can be the difference between being fourth and winning it.

I don't know about well prepared, but I'm kinda prepared!

It'll all change when you go in.

As long as I don't stumble my words again like that, it'll be fine.

Just... deep breath and go for it.

When you're ready.

This is a tremendous class of Holstein Friesian cows to judge.

A clear winner. I place them in the order of Y, B, X and A.

It can be very intimidating,

but I had done it so often that I actually really quite enjoyed it.

If you said to me now "Look at that cow"

and then, ten minutes later, ask me about it, I could tell you,

but when I go into that room,

my head goes blank and I can't string my sentences together.

She was fleshy, flashy and stylish on parade,

but just lacked the overall character to that of my leader,

being narrower and duller and not carrying...

and carrying more dewlap.

Yeah, you can talk your way out of making a mess of the judging.

I placed X over A...

The nerves are going, butterflies.

..deeper of her rib, far more power carried through this cow.

Trying to be accurate with my reasons, watch my timing as well.

A longer cow, more angular over her topline compared to my last.

Don't lose out for being over time.

She was the heifer that had the poorest character,

being short and narrow up through her head and lacking the style.

I was over time.

She was duller on parade and flatter over her ribs.

And I knew I was over time.

..and not having the muscle...

It was getting longer and the timekeeper was looking at me.

So her lack of size, width and style placed her last.

I could just tell by the look on her face that I was over.

Master Judge, Madam Timekeeper, that concludes my reasons

for placing this class of Limousin heifers in order of B, A, Y and X.

They don't actually tell you, but I think I was about 20 seconds over,

which is a lot of points to get taken off if you're trying to win.

Tremendous class of Holstien Friesian cows

-and I place them in order of Y, B, X and A. Thank you.

-Thank you.

'It's a Biggar-Biggar final.'

ALL GRUNT WITH EFFORT

'Two teams from the same club have never been in the final before.'

The plan was just to not let Biggar A settle.

Just to go in and attack.

WHISTLE

The plan worked OK, so quite happy, quite happy.

MUSIC: "Mr Blue Sky" by Electric Light Orchestra

-How does that feel, Biggar B team?

-Tremendous. Absolutely amazing.

Telled ya I was going to win it! B team!

# Mr Blue Sky, please tell us why...

'89 and '92. I won it by pulling in those years.

Good to have my hand on it again.

To come back and do the coaching for one year

and manage to pick up the trophy, aye, it was quite a pleasure,

quite emotional, I would say, aye. It was good.

One, two, three... THEY ALL CHEER

'The reasons are finished and the scores are in.'

'It's time to announce The Stockman Of The Year.'

I hope my judging was near enough on the money -

one or two turns of phrase maybe, from my demos, my reason giving,

but it's mistakes that I shouldn't have had and it's annoying me a bit,

but hopefully the judge won't know it was a mistake

and I'll lift the trophy. But we'll see.

'First are the individual prizes in each judging category.'

So we'll just go on to - the best individual in the dairy section

was won by Graham Mackay, Clyde & Central.

Our club stands on the balcony behind where the results are read,

so we all went up there and we were hoping we'd done well,

but you can never tell with these things.

The best individual in the beef section today

was... Stephanie Dick, Clyde & Central.

They read out my name and I got a little bit excited!

And I had a little bit of an emotional cry.

We'll now go on to the award that you've all been waiting for -

Stockman Of The Year.

It would be a range of emotions, whether it's courage or proudness.

Hopefully I wouldn't become big-headed about it,

but I'm sure I'd have a massive smile if my name was shouted out.

There's nothing you can do now, so you just have to wait.

Obviously you're nervous, but you can't change what's happened.

The judges have made their decisions

and what they read out they're going to read out.

We'll now announce the overall Stockman Of The Year

and winner of the Robert Barr Memorial Trophy -

this year has been won by...

-Come on!

-..Kyle Campbell, Clyde & Central!

CHEERING

Go! Go!

Stockman Of The Year doesn't just get handed to you on a plate -

you're going to have to train hard for it for years,

but hopefully we'll get there one day.

-John, well done. Aye.

-Thanks. Next year.

-Well done.

You've made your mammy so proud!

At that time in my life, it was probably the best day of my life,

but now, being a father, it probably rates below them now,

but at the time, it was the biggest thing in my life.

Aye, next year...

# Mr Blue Sky, please tell us why...

There's maybe not the 10,000 that there used to be,

but the 3,000 we have left are keen to continue this tradition

and really make sure it's there for our children to benefit from -

I wouldn't be half the person I am without the Young Farmers.

Don't get me crying, its embarrassing!

-So how you feeling, Steph?

-Good, thanks to my trainer.

Oh, even Craig's got a little tear in his eye!

Got a big tear in my eye.

For me, a Young Farmers Club is the best thing you can be a part of

when you're a young age -

the doors it opens, the fun you have, the people you meet -

it allowed me to do a whole range of things and allowed me to shine.

MUSIC: "Forever Young" by Sparks

# Forever young, forever young

# I've broken every rule

# And I'll break this last one

# Forever young, forever

# Forever young, forever

# Forever young, forever young #

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd