Royal Highland Show 2024 - Young Farmers
Royal Highland Show 2024 - Young Farmers
The Scotsman speaks to young farmers at the Royal Highland Show 2024
The Scotsman speaks to young farmers at the Royal Highland Show 2024
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00:35Hi, my name's Mark Wattie. We're from Aberdeenshire.
00:39We've took Tonley Fiona down, the two-year-old heifer here,
00:42and we've won the Highland Show for the first time ever.
00:46And I'm absolutely delighted. It's been a life goal of mine.
00:50And to actually go and do it, it's kind of like,
00:52it actually made me a little bit well up.
00:55But it's one of the things you want to do in life,
00:57and when it actually happens, you think, wow, it's amazing.
01:00But she did well in the back end.
01:02She won the Agri Expo, she won the Blackbeard Bonanza,
01:05and now she's come on and won the show.
01:09She hasn't been actually beat yet.
01:13What does competing in the Royal Highland Show mean to you?
01:16It means a lot. The Highland Show is the one you want to win.
01:20It's the biggest spectacle and show in the whole of the UK.
01:24If you win the Highland Show, it's the biggest thing you can do.
01:27She's a two-year-old heifer. She's in calf to in-stack frontier.
01:31She's a lovely, balanced heifer, great shape,
01:34style about her, lovely head.
01:36And she's off of the Tonley Jester Eric bull
01:38that has bred bulls for 24,000 and heifers to 20,000.
01:44So that speaks for itself.
01:45And now we have a Royal Show champion out of the bull as well.
01:49What I said is I thought she was in the top five,
01:51so I had confidence, but I didn't know if she was going to win or not,
01:54if you know what I mean.
01:56But you never know. You never know.
01:57We were here two years ago with Lady Heather,
01:59and we were reserve champion.
02:01And then we came back, it didn't show last year,
02:03and came back and now we're champions.
02:04So she's got that wee bit of extra flash and specialness to her.
02:07She's a very good beast.
02:09My name's Ian Campbell.
02:10I'm from Beith Young Farmers and I work in a dairy farm at the moment.
02:15I've been coming to the Highland Show for years now,
02:17and I think it's just a great day away or even a great week away
02:23if that's what you want to make it.
02:26It's just a really good way to catch up with everyone,
02:29a lot of people you've not seen for a while from all over Scotland
02:32or all over the UK actually.
02:34I feel like it gets me some time away, time off,
02:38from thinking about everything that I'm always thinking about.
02:42I've been coming since I was a wee boy.
02:43Since I really joined Young Farmers I've kind of taken a bigger part in it.
02:46There's a tonne of competitions going on,
02:48like the tug of war and the stock judging and everything.
02:52A lot of opportunities for people to try different things.
02:55How important is it, do you think, that people get up close to the livestock
02:59and maybe just get a slight feel of what farmers actually do?
03:04I think it's really, really important.
03:06A lot of people throughout Scotland don't really know what happens in farming,
03:12so it's great for them to see what we're all doing to keep the country fed.
03:17Is it something that farmers generally just really look forward to all year?
03:20I would say so.
03:21It's like a chance for farmers to wind down for a day,
03:25take it easy or just get out there and enjoy themselves.
03:29And is there plenty of entertainment on site for the farmers?
03:31Oh aye, there's hunters from the beer tents,
03:34there's the cattle lines and then there's all the stands
03:37that you can go and see things that you might use in your own business.
03:41You've looked at the machinery and stuff,
03:44is that something that you take a keen interest in?
03:46Aye, I quite like a look at the machinery.
03:48It's a lot of kit that I've never tried driving before.
03:53It's just good to see different things,
03:56different brands that I've never worked with before
03:58and see what they actually look like and what they offer.
04:01My name's Corinne Nelson.
04:03Our farm is Black Gold Cattle Company
04:05and I'm from Eureka, Kansas in the United States.
04:07And we're livestock judging today.
04:09And so what's your experience been so far of the show?
04:12So yesterday we spent the entire day here
04:14and we kind of just walked around, we got to see all the animals
04:17and kind of got a look into what it's going to be like.
04:20I know that judging at home versus here is completely different
04:23and so we're getting a different point of view which is really nice.
04:26Here they use A, B, X, Y and at home we use 1, 2, 3 and 4.
04:30So it's going to be definitely a different experience
04:32but I think it's going to be really good for us
04:34and to see a different side of culture in that way.
04:36There's lots of young Scottish farmers here.
04:38Have you been chatting to them? What have they been saying?
04:40We've been talking to a few of them
04:42and it's really neat to talk to them and see their different point of view.
04:45How they grow their animals and the way that they present them.
04:48They wear frocks when they judge or when they show
04:51and so we don't do that at home so it's really interesting to see that as well.
04:54And so getting to talk to them and see their side of the things
04:57and their point of view versus what we do at home
05:00has definitely been very cool and very interesting.
05:02I've really liked it.
05:03Is this your first time at the show?
05:04It is. I've never been out of the country before, out of the United States.
05:07So this is my first time out of the United States
05:09and it's been amazing so far.
05:10I've loved getting to see the landscape and meet the people.
05:13The people have all been extremely nice so it's been great.
05:15What's your first impressions of Scotland?
05:17Oh, I think it's beautiful.
05:18I love how green it is and it's cool here during the summer which is awesome.
05:22It is your first time here. Do you think you'll be back?
05:25Yes, I would love to come back.
05:27I would love to bring the rest of my family over here.
05:29My brothers would absolutely love it.
05:31They would love getting to meet all the people
05:33and see all the different sides and animals
05:35and I think the sheep are definitely the things the most different
05:38so they would love getting to see those as well.