A toast to faithful friends as the circle of life rolls along

Around 14 years ago my father took on a young dog from a local shepherd. The man was a jolly Northumbrian who liked a caper and had named the dog “Pete”, as he carried a good deal of white hair – so too my father.

Sometimes the working relationship between man and dog just doesn’t work, through no fault of either party, and so it was with the jolly Northumbrian and Pete, which is why he offered it to his namesake.

At first this didn’t look like it was going to be a happy union, and perhaps it looked like the big white animal wouldn’t make the cut as a working dog.

However, over the course of about a year, the two Petes became a formidable foe to any difficult hill ewes.

Both Petes are getting on now, and in his 15 years of life, the auld dog is fragile and sleeps a good deal as he approaches the inevitability of the end of a life well lived.

Meanwhile, our little bitch, Belle, has furnished us with a litter of unexpected pups.

Five plump puppies are full of beans and are a tonic to watch. They run around the close and yap and bounce as old Pete sleeps and sighs in a manner that only old dogs can.

At the end of May I attended the funeral service of one of Highland Perthshire’s well-kent farmers, Alec Murray of Camserny, formerly of Lurgan and Glen Goulandie.

I had the very great privilege to have spent a spell working for Alec and his son Dave during my time at college. It was a chance for me to learn from two very able men.

Alec I think might have been the hardest, toughest man I have ever met, and I’m sure his wife Lil would sprinkle Blue Circle powder over his porridge. He was also the fairest, and a great advocate of getting young people started in farming.

Alec was indeed a selfmade man. He was fostered out from Greenock to a croft in Beauly in the 1930s, and set out on his career with the purchase of two pet lambs. And through a healthy mixture of hard work, guile, and luck (we all need that) – and perhaps a little poaching – he ended up eventually farming many thousands of hill ewes and cattle that were indeed much admired.

So much so that Alec broke the centre record in the old Kildean mart for a Blackie tup lamb at £10,000, although I think the bar tab in the Ailean Chraggan that night made a big dent in the sale income!

Alec will be sorely missed in our community, but it was a testament to the high regard he, his wife Lil and their family are held that Weem Kirk was filled with many hundreds of mourners to bid a fond farewell.

At home, the month of June has been very dour and miserable weatherwise, and grass is slow, so it feels more like October most days.

We desperately need heat to help grass growth. Bulls are all slipped out and lambs are getting marked as I write. The tick burden this year has been severe – and that’s with careful management. I hate to think what it will be like in areas bereft of wellmanaged livestock.

We got some fodder crop sown by the local contractor. What a great service they provide to hill farmers like us who should yoke to a tractor nothing more complicated than a bale spike!

A bus load from Rannoch and Glen Lyon attended the Scotsheep event and it was a great spectacle to behold – such a

well-maintained and caredfor farm, absolutely firstclass stock and the chance to enjoy some company at the bar.

For many it was a much needed release I have no doubt!

At the start of the month Gill and I attended a christening in Alyth Kirk of our dear friends’ son and daughter. As we sat and listened to the Whitsun service the two bonny bairns bounced and yapped along and among the pews looking up at the faces of the farming folk and paying little heed to the sermon being extolled.

Later a wonderful garden party was held in celebration of the event.

We left in the evening driving through the breadth of our great county and it was looking awesome. From fields of soft fruit and vegetable to cattle with skins shining like salmon and sheep looking fit and bloomy, it reflected the great stratification that we have to our benefit.

Those two lovely bairns who received a sprinkling of holy water like the pups in the close have a life of promise and wonder in front of them. Here’s to the auld dog Pete and to Alec – here’s to a life well lived.

GLORIOUS: The month of June has been dour and miserable weather-wise, but an evening drive in the bonnie countryside helped to lift the spirits.