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Highlands of Glaisdale : Egton Champions!
Chris Berry talks to Neil Fletcher
They're the glamour girls of the cattle showing world. The Posh Spice of the livestock rings. Highland cattle cause more people to go 'ahh' than any other breed but they don't usually win Inter Breed titles, with judges going for beef and dairying's qualities rather than appearance.
However, last summer's Egton Show saw one of Glaisdale born-and-bred Neil Fletcher's proudest moments when one of his Highlanders carried off the Inter-breed crown.
He's not a farmer but knows that success isn't just achieved by putting a few Highland cattle in a show ring. And when you have a day job that takes up most of your time you have to be dedicated to reach the level Neil attained last year.
He and one of his brothers, Mark, run the two garages that are situated at either end of Glaisdale village and his Highland cattle are no more than a three minute walk away from both his work and his home.
'I live, eat and sleep repairs, petrol, diesel, MOTs and motorbikes,' he says, but he still manages to make three visits a day to his fold. 'It was my older brother Peter who put us on to Highland cows.
He told me that they pretty much looked after themselves and that I'd really enjoy them. So in 1998 I went to a pedigree sale in Oban and bought my first calf, Leannan.' She was 5 months old and had come from Hilary Barker's Torrie fold in Callendar.
Titch, from Derbyshire, was bought two weeks later and arrangements were made for both of Neil's acquisitions to arrive together on his 3 to 4 acres of rough land not dissimilar to that of the breed's Scottish environment.
Having never farmed, but having lived in the countryside all his life Neil tells of how he began looking after them. 'It was by instinct really. In an ideal world they would have a lot of rough land to graze on, but here they had only a few acres.
I started by feeding them hay twice a day and gave them a good ration of nuts in the morning. They never knocked me over so they must have been getting enough to eat.' Neil's fondness for them became such that they both ended up with nicknames.
'I always called one Titch right from the start because she was the smaller of the two. Then I remembered an old TV programme called Titch and Kwackers, so Leannan became Krakas.' Neil has bred his own calves too, using AI. 'We have used royal blood, using semen from Rioghail of Balmoral, the Queen's fold.
Both Titch and Krakas had calves as a result.' Two calves were born the year Foot and Mouth Disease broke out in 2001 and Neil, much the same as any other owner of livestock, was very worried. There had been a number of contiguous culls and his four Highland cattle could have gone the same way as many others. Neil put them into his best field, where there were no neighbours, and found that he was only inspected by the Ministry when FMD had nearly finished.
'They eventually got in touch and an Irish vet came and asked to see the cattle. He asked if he could see the cattle and I told him that he could if he brought a pair of binoculars. He took a look, saw they were OK and then in a few weeks after that things started getting back to normal.'
Over the time Neil has had his small Highland fold his cattle have produced six calves - five heifers and one bull calf. 'We've only had the one bull out of six and I'm happy with that. I kept him until he was about a year old and sold him and a heifer calf to Neville Pearson in Westerdale. Neil's fold currently runs to four heifers and he's happy with that.
'Four is ideal for me because I can make just enough hay to feed them during winter and it doesn't take all day to groom them.' Neil tells more about his big day last year.
'Egton Show was a real high for me. On the day though Fluffy (Primrose Becky II of Thorneythwaite) was absolutely at her best. She had peaked at just the right time.' He's looking forward to this year's shows and his team is Snowdrop, Becky, Beatrix and Krakas.
Neil doesn't want anyone to get the idea that he's trying to be a farmer. He knows that what he is doing is completely different but he has found that his Highland fold is quite a draw for the crowds at shows as many Highland men have found.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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