Robert Neill, one of Scotland's best known and respected pedigree sheep and dairy cattle farmers who had just as keen an eye for horses and poultry has passed away. He was 97.

Robert was born at Moss-side, Tarbolton, in Ayrshire, in 1926. The eldest of four to James Neill and Sarah Murdoch, he was joined by sisters Rae and Annie and and brother David.

As a young boy, he was keen on poultry and would often be found hiding with the hens, in the hen house, when he should have been attending Tarbolton Primary School.

The family moved from Ayrshire to Millhaugh, Dunning in November, 1931 and to Rossie, in May, 1932, where Robert attending Dunning School and then on to Perth Academy, leaving in 1939. However, he missed Ayrshire and always went back there for his holidays.

On leaving school, he went straight into milking cows by hand in the byres at Rossie and often in black out conditions with no electricity and paraffin lamps for light. At the weekends, he would cycle to the dances at Glendevon. When he was 17, he would drive the milk van into Dunning and the surrounding areas to sell milk from the farm.

Robert was also in the 'home guard' during the war years and kept his helmet worn at that time, which provided great amusement to the grand-children.

He joined Perth and District Young Farmers Club in 1944 and was the committee member for the Dunning area. It was at this time that he met his wife to be, Nan McNicol, who was a committee member for Carse of Gowrie. They would regularly meet up at a coffee stall on Tay Street, Perth, which was the height of sophistication then when the war was near ending in 1945.

A real stockman through and through, Robert was one of the winning Perth Young Farmers' stockjudging team that won the Scottish competition in 1946, which qualified them to compete at the first Royal Show since the war, in Lincoln, the following year. The Perth team won the competition and Robert won the individual section with the most points overall in the National.

In 1949, Robert married Nan in Kinfauns Parish Church, on December 7, and that year they moved to Rossiebank. Their first son, Jim and their second, Robert, were born soon after.

Robert's main achievements centred around pedigree livestock. He was one of the main pioneers of breeding natural, polled Ayrshire cattle, along with Sir James Denby Roberts of Strathallan Castle. Robert bred and sold bulls and heifers to all parts of UK including Orkney and down to Cheshire, to help in the restocking process after the foot-and-mouth outbreak of the 1960s.

Equally enthusiastic about Border Leicesters he bred and sold them to all parts of the world including Russia and Canada.

A keen show enthusiast, he was never one to miss a show, sale or market day and he followed race horsing as much as possible.

In the 1970s, the dairy herd saw the switch from Ayrshires to Friesians, with Robert and son Robert also introducing pedigree Bluefaced Leicesters at this time.

Never one to rest on his laurels, he also moved into Highland ponies and won the Highland Show twice and qualified for the Wembley Horse of the Year Show in 1981. Sadly however, the stud was dispersed in 1985 following grass sickness losses. This in turn was another extremely memorable occasion, with one of the Highland ponies sold at Stirling, achieving a world record price for the breed when sold at auction.

The Border Leicesters were dispersed in the late 1990s, and another breed record was achieved for a ewe lamb, after which Robert returned to his childhood passion, of breeding and showing bantams.

Always full of fun and laughter, and an amazing story teller, his grand-children were often in stitches at his repertoire of jokes, when they popped in to visit. He loved his music and watching race-horsing on the television, but he was always there for his family should they need any straight talking advice.

Robert was very proud of his family and always made sure he was up to date with the world of finance, road haulage, the dairy industry, robotic milking, farm shops and veterinary medicine. He was incredibly observant, whether that be watching from the window or through the binoculars, or phoning for a chat and the local news, and he was always on the look out for his family.

His words of wisdom, cheeky grins and stories will be missed by all who were lucky enough to know him.

Robert is survived by wife Nan, sons Jim and Robert, daughters in law Jenny and Agnes, grand-children, Elaine, James, Evelyne and Bobby and great grand-children, Alice, James, Rory, Bobby and George.