Toplines and Tales

Neil Wattie from Aberdeenshire runs one of the top herds of Aberdeen-Angus in Britain. Talking us through the beginnings and the initial families in his Tonley herd, it is not hard to see why he and his son Mark are now consistently at the forefront of the breed in UK. We also hear about his ‘day job’ as head of a large agricultural machinery dealership and a few ventures into other breeds but is his passion for the Angus characteristics that definitely shine through in this informative chat.

Try your luck on the Toplines and Tales Livestock Quiz, hosted by Andy Frazier. Our very first quiz this week has 5 rounds, although one of those is visual. This quiz is mainly UK and Ireland based questions although future quizzes will include questions from the rest of the world.

Round 3, Logos round can be found here https://andyfrazier.wixsite.com/ttquiz

Welcome to an engaging episode of 'Toplines and Tails' featuring Sally Crowe, a renowned and inspiring crofter from Caithness renowned for her efforts in wool wrapping and diversification in agriculture. Sally, a single mother inheriting a 25-acre croft, is a shining example of women empowerment in the field of agriculture. Follow along with her intriguing journey which spans from her cattle and sheep rearing, to remote working, global travels, wool handling show participation, and striving in the face of debilitating illness.

With resilience unmatched, Sally, even after falling victim to Q fever, continued with the extensive farming tasks, working uphill towards recovery. In this episode, you learn how adversity fostered creativity and brought about sustainable farming practices. Delve into the insights of an energetic, single parent balancing work and family while also care-taking elderly parents.

Gain a unique perspective on managing responsibilities while maintaining optimism. Learn about the intriguing parts of farm life, including rotational grazing, legislating regenerative agriculture, and being part of a fascinating Irish cow breed society. Based far north of Inverness, Sally successfully navigates these daily chores with a sense of humour and determination.

Turn up the volume as we explore Sally's progressive journey, who emerged successful despite odds. Starting from a humble, small-scale farmer, she is now leveraging social media to broaden her farming business while establishing direct consumer connections. This episode also delves into the intricate relationship between environment-friendly farming practices, carbon audits, and sustainability.

Dive into discussions as Sally discusses her success using social platforms extending from Facebook to TikTok. Disproving misconceptions about digital technology among farming communities, Sally's use of social platforms is indeed a journey not to be missed.

In the last part of the episode, Sally shares her insights on the quintessence of farming, discussing financial aspects, environmental issues, crucial farm data and emergency planning from her wealth of experience. Revealing how emergency planners strengthen families and the farming community, she also touches upon challenges and learnings from her journey.

Tune into this riveting dialogue to get an exceptional perspective into farming and the potential for innovative and worthwhile business opportunities within the industry, offered by the inspiring Sally Crowe.

BTW, an AI machine wrote this text! Pretty good eh?

Often referred to as the Welsh Wizard, Esmor Evans needs no introduction, being one of the nations leading cattle breeders for a number of decades. As well as the successes of his top herd of Maerdy Charolais cattle, we chat about his other herds/flocks along with his business as a full-time vet in this highly interesting episode.

A great chat with communicator and social influencer Wallace Currie from Dumfries, originally from Arran. This young man is such a great orator it’s no wonder he has been assigned the lead of communications for Scotland Young Farmers, a lecturer in farm diversification, and a current Nuffield scholar as well as running a successful podcast.

This episode gets fascinating chat with angus breeder John Henning from Northern Ireland.  As well as running the top Drumcorn herd with his wife, former banker John has a busy life throughout the agricultural industry with directorships and trustee roles in some highly prestigious organizations and has been awarded an OBE for his services to agriculture.

The second half of our trip to Argentina took us to Mendoza in the west where we stayed in a vineyard and visited a few more. I hope this has captured some of the culture of the vines, wines and country, as well as a chat with some of our tour guests, and even a sing-song. 

A chance of a lifetime to accompany a trip of great folks to Argentina to look at some cows. The first of two special episodes, where I did my best to explain the trip as well as capturing snippets of conversations with some of the many huge farms that we visited. 

Still at our Christmas Party, which just kept getting better. This time someone posed the question of the best beast that maybe should have won Smithfield but didn’t which set the minds of my highly knowable guests to work. As the drink flowed, Stuart Hunter recalled his last Smithfield kist party drinking out of a Pringles tube, Donald discussed the excessive size of modern show winners with some solid opinions added from some wise men, before eventually persuading Ian Anderson to sing us a ditty!

This is an absolutely priceless listen!

In part 2 of our Christmas party, we reminisce about some of the nights ‘downtown’ in London before my fellow cattle steward, Julian, and I have more serious chat about the challenges of running the show. Then follows some stories about the frequent visits of the Royal family, and a few rather hilarious tales around that.