FOCUS ON FARMING
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Orkney’s farming heritage stretches back millennia — but recent years have brought a new focus towards agritourism. The incentive on farmers to diversify, combined with an increasing interest from consumers as to where their food comes from, has fuelled this burgeoning sector.
From alpacas to Zwartables, there is so much life to see just when you’re out and about during Orkney’s summer months.
While farm visits have long been a part of the calendar for schools, young farmers societies, and agricultural discussion groups, many in the industry are now being encouraged to throw their doors open to the wider public — with some even making it a cornerstone of their business.
For a number of years now, petting zoo type businesses have become popular with locals and visitors alike, as they give families the opportunity to interact and learn about familiar Orkney livestock and poultry, as well as more novel species such as alpacas.
Meanwhile, annual events such as the North Ronaldsay Sheep Festival are an opportunity to get involved in farming life. Each July, the community in Orkney’s most northerly island gathers to rebuild its sheep dyke — the wall keeping its famous sheep on the foreshore, where they feed on seaweed. The result is a much-sought-after and specially recognised brand of lamb and mutton.
Mixing farming with art, music and history, this year’s Sheep Festival programme includes two daily sessions of drystone dyke repair, with instruction and supervision, a tour of the island’s wool mill and lighthouse, felting and weaving workshops, a traditional island dance evening with live music, and an Islanders v Visitors football match.
North Ronaldsay sheep are just one of a number of interesting breeds which you might spot grazing as you tour about Orkney.
In recent years, there has been a surge in rare-breed and pure-breed smallholdings. In the East Mainland, you are quite likely to get a glimpse of what have been dubbed some of the “world’s friendliest sheep” — the distinctive Dutch Spotted, which is being kept by a number of farmers there. Out west in Finstown, Jane Cooper’s flock of Boreray sheep is helping to keep this breed, with their eyecatching horns, going. In Sanday, rare-breed pigs make for an unusual sight in Orkney, lovingly bred by Tracey Sedgwick.
Another major draw for visitors each summer is Orkney’s agricultural show season, which brings together communities to celebrate the best they have to offer in terms of livestock, horse, poultry and more, along with a host of activities for all the family. The season begins on Friday, August 2, with the Sanday Show, followed by events in the East Mainland, Shapinsay, St Margaret’s Hope, and Dounby — culminating in the County Show at Bignold Park in Kirkwall on Saturday, August 10.
Orkney will take centre stage in terms of Scotland’s agritourism aspirations this May as part of the Scottish Agritourism Roadshow.
The event, hosted by Destination Orkney and Scottish Agritourism with support from Highlands and Islands Enterprise, is open to industry members and anyone else with an interest in this burgeoning sector. It will include a tour round Bain Farm in Sandwick, the holding behind the Orkney Dairy.
Wherever you go in Orkney, you won’t be far from a working farm or smallholding. Please take care when exercising your right to roam. Keeping dogs on a lead when near livestock is essential for the safety of both your beloved pooch and farm animals. If ever in doubt, give the farmer a shout.