'The exposure our kids get to other cultures when they travel is so important, even if it’s just a month away from time to time before settling down'

With lambing and calving well underway, finding time to sit down to gather my thoughts is a welcome distraction from the daily routine.

It’s going OK at the moment, though a lack of grass due to what can only be described as piss poor weather is providing us with a few challenges and for some reason joint ill is worse than normal, but other than that things are on track. The stud ewes are well through before the commercials kick off next week.

With this being my last lambing in my 40s, I’m acutely aware of the need to have a youthful team assisting with proceedings, catching a sheep needs much more thought than it ever did before and the days of the athletic rugby tackle are unfortunately behind me.

It’s not all negative news however there’s a trade being made for creaking knees, increasing deafness and diminishing pace (wasn’t ever electric when it comes to sprinting) and I feel I may be getting wiser?

I can sense the smiles rippling around the nation at this questionable claim, but for some reason things seem clearer and solutions are found with relative ease to challenges which would have heightened stress levels in previous years.

I’ve yet to identify whether this is just a phase in life that many of us go through or is it something longer lasting that will grow?

It could be like the purple patch I went through from my early 20s to early 30s when operating machinery, in that period I could operate our limited range of machinery with relative ease without breaking it or hitting something. Alas, this didn’t last and by my mid-30s I reverted back to my teenage years and now have Johnny from the Mutual on speed dial.

Speaking of teenage years, that’s more or less where we are at the moment in terms of our previously mentioned youthful farm team we have a current average age of 21, not including family.

They have a variety of backgrounds and educations, we have three Lincoln University NZ graduates (see story on page 43) on their overseas experience, who lift the average age a little; one Harper Adams gap year student; and one from Fife who’s starting there after summer; a local farmers son just back from Australia; a fourth year Liverpool vet student; a Belgian engineer who’s become a Scottish shepherd; and a Welsh lad who went to Hartbury College.

Next week, the backup crew arrive in the form of oldest daughter, Izzy and a friend from Harper University, plus Lexie and Archie on school holidays and two local girls keen to gain experience.

READ MORE: Farmer's View: De-stressing with a week off

The outcome of this United Nations approach to farming in the Scottish Highlands seems to work. Discussion around the farmhouse dinner table when Fiona feeds them all in the evenings is often lively and they seem to gel as a team working well together on a daily basis.

Whilst they come from a variety of backgrounds and with different educations, they share a positive approach to life and tackle the daily routine with confidence and a ‘can do’ approach inspiring the older generation in the process.

When I say older generation, I don’t just mean myself and Fiona, dad (aged 75) is still doing quite a shift on a daily basis, checking ewes, shifting break fences and casting an eye over calving cows.

He's a vital component of our team for many reasons, but will undoubtedly come into his own this Saturday. He doesn’t usually need an excuse to wind the young team up but April Fools Day can be better than Christmas with a little planning.

To be fair, we find that seasonal staff can be a little unsure of instructions they are given. They can often be sleep deprived and if they have recently flown in from overseas don’t fully understand the culture yet – this means we can usually have some fun, which can bring multiple laughs which always eases the work load.

One of the highlights for me at this time of year is seeing the camaraderie amongst the team. It underlines the importance of travelling and meeting new people, whether it’s within the UK, or abroad, when you don’t have the ties of home and the responsibility of raising a family.

All too often you see farmers' sons and daughters leaving school to join the family business, sometimes with a little further education and before they realise it, they are an integral part of the workforce and time away from home isn’t an option.

The flip side to that is that by the time kids are leaving school and further education, an ageing farmer – such as myself – is often more than ready for their support and it would be all too easy for me to allow the kids to come home and get stuck in sharing the physical and mental strain of running a business.

However, as a parent making sure the kids have some freedom is a valuable investment. The exposure our kids get to other cultures when they travel is so important, even if it’s just a month away from time to time before settling down.

I was fortunate enough to be able to travel with Fiona when I was 21 and in hindsight we could have done more before settling down, but dad was ready to begin handing over responsibility and we were up for the challenge.

Thankfully, I then had the opportunity to go again through a Nuffield Scholarship, which I did aged 30 and that made a huge difference to the approach I have to life and running the business.

The network that we now have through contacts made during travelling and hosting overseas visitors is now paying dividends for the next generation, our own kids and others who have worked for us are now out there travelling post Covid with borders fully open.

Covid highlighted and reinforced the need for us to develop more home grown talent. It's an industry challenge which needs a collaborative approach and we need people entering employment on all levels.

As a family farming business in the north, we can't solve the labour issues for the nation, but we can have a bloody good go at developing a model that works well for us, utilising the best off farm advisors we can find to help us develop the next generation.

So, I’ll sign off now and see if there are any takers in the lambing or calving shed for my new found wisdom. I’d better share it whilst it’s there – when it's gone, it's gone!