Practical training can help with feelings of isolation

My location and the nature of hill farming mean I often live in an insular bubble – which is not always a good thing.

My dealings with the world outside only reinforce that I need to get out and interact with more than my collies!

I received an email with the abbreviation CPD written into a sentence. I would have appeared less stupid if I had just googled what it meant, but in true Teuchter fashion I asked the lady who wrote it for the meaning.

Continued professional development was the reply. It’s a concept which I understand and fully back, but in my naivety I would have referred to it as training – and in my own case learning by my many mistakes.

I live on the edge, in more ways than one. Being based in such a remote community often means that you feel far removed from the movers and shakers within Scottish agriculture.

I believe that our current land-based education and training providers are not necessarily always delivering what is required to communities such as mine.

Do they fully understand what we need? It feels that the training which we are currently being delivered is shaped more by the funding providers, and the prescription that surrounds the pots of gold they control.

The need for specialist training has become abundantly clear to me following a recent post to Facebook by a very well-respected lady asking if there was any interest in a sheepdog handler training course. In under an hour there was a long list of interested names.

There are eight women in the first group accompanied by our dogs of various ages and ability, all eager to learn. There’s already a waiting list for the next course which is due to start in the new year, with both men and women signing up for it.

Along with invaluable sheepdog training, we are constructing a network of peer support and helping to reduce the emotional isolation that is affecting more people in our industry than we may care to admit.

One young local shepherd is making a weekly 192-mile round trip to receive training which is delivered with enthusiasm and passion – both qualities which our industry desperately needs. It’s hard to describe the confidence and self-belief this group mentoring is delivering to the two and four-legged students.

Too many of us involved in farming and crofting are living and working in isolation much of the time to the detriment of our health, families and communities.

There is a big push for academia. I’m not criticising that in any way, but we must not lose sight of the fact that we need practically trained people to deliver and implement innovative new ideas into our industry.

I believe what we are doing in a muddy park in Caithness is a game changer. Maybe it’s time for the grassroots to grow the specialised training we feel we need for our own individual CPD and the massive benefits this could deliver to our communities and the rural economy.

It’s a simple concept which is already delivering positive outcomes at many different levels.

Practical training in sheepdog handling is proving popular among both males and females – and it could also help to reduce the emotional isolation experienced by many working in the agricultural industry.