Across some of the most beautiful and remote landscapes
of the British Isles...
There's not many views like that.
It's absolutely stunning.
..Scotland's farmers work day and night,
producing our milk and our meat.
Trying out new ideas...
Buffalo doesn't want to do something,
you're going to find it very difficult.
Hey!
..and striving to turn a profit in tough economic times.
We're struggling, we are definitely struggling.
Blue rosette.
Over the course of a year,
six very different families let cameras onto their farms...
Everything that could have gone wrong there went wrong.
The idea of lying on a beach - bliss.
..to share their struggles...
We have to get her out or she's going to die.
..and their triumphs.
Thank you.
It's not about the pay cheque, it's about the lifestyle.
In Scotland, the seasons are turning.
The arrival of gorse flowers signals that spring is moving into summer.
With lambing and calving now over,
the farmers' fields and hills are full of precious livestock.
New lambs and calves that are the future.
For the farmers, the work turns from bringing new animals into the world
to protecting their vulnerable youngsters.
All our animals that we look after are very important to us.
These animals are in our care and when they're in our care
we have to look after them. We're responsible for their welfare.
We have to be sure that they're protected from predators,
kept free of disease. They're part of our farming family.
On the west coast of Scotland, in Appin...
Mmm... Smell that.
..David and Sandra Colthart's hill farm stretches over 3,200 acres
of rugged terrain. Ready, Ted?
Go back down. Come on, on the bike.
Their hardy black-faced sheep live year-round on the hills
while their cattle winter inside,
sheltered from the elements until the new grass grows.
Right, cowies. Come on, you, you big brute.
For David, every day is a battle to protect his animals and their food
from hungry wildlife.
Mice. Yep. They've started attacking the bales.
There and here.
So the thing is, when they break the seal, that lets the air in
and the stuff can start to go off.
Hopefully they're not going to ruin too many of the bales.
And another parasite is these geese.
Canada geese. They're fine, a few geese,
but then they tell their mates and then you've got hundreds there.
Canada geese are found all year round in parts of Scotland
and David's precious new grass is their tastiest snack.
We've been here and there's been 300 or 400 geese, and they
absolutely just munched the grass down.
We really have to keep on top of it.
Otherwise the sheep won't eat it and it will just ruin it,
so we need to go and sort them out.
I've got a ready-made home rocket launcher ready for the job.
It's like Wile E Coyote and the Road Runner.
And like Wile E Coyote,
David takes a creative approach to firework safety.
Get my aim and then run like hell.
BANG!
GEESE SQUAWK
Round one, 1-0 to Farmer Dave.
I do enjoy it, every time, it's good fun.
But it's got a serious purpose,
it scares the birds away and keeps the grass.
Hopefully we won't see them for another few days.
Goodbye, geese. Don't come back.
Protecting animal feed from wildlife is one thing,
but keeping his animals alive is his top priority.
5% of all land deaths are due to predation,
costing UK agriculture £6 million per year.
Out on the exposed hills, David's lambs are vulnerable.
HE CALLS OUT
If there's a sheep constantly bleating,
there's something not right. SHEEP BLEATS
That sheep that's bleating there at the moment, there's something up.
There's actually two lambs missing at the moment from this wee bunch.
There's a lamb over there, so that's one accounted for.
Lambs can be killed by red foxes and even birds.
We've had a bit of predation at the moment.
We've had a fox take some lambs and we've got a sea eagle about as well.
White-tailed or sea eagles were hunted to extinction in Scotland
over 100 years ago, then were successfully reintroduced in 1975.
There are now 30 pairs in the Argyll and Mull area and they have been
known to take whole lambs.
The year before the sea eagles,
the average flock was about 220-230 ewes.
Over the last 12 years, down to 85 ewes.
When it's gone, it's gone. You know, over the last 40 years,
there's so many hill flocks have disappeared
and they'll never be replaced.
With one lamb missing, David is not taking any chances.
With the bird-scaring rockets that we use for the geese,
under licence we're allowed to use them for scaring away the sea eagle.
If it keeps the sea eagle away from the lambing pack,
then it's a win-win situation.
BANG!
See every bird in the glen disappearing now.
50mph out the glen!
Even the sheep are starting to run.
Have a wee look, Ted.
That's it. What do you think?
With any sea eagles scared off, the next most likely culprit is a fox.
David's neighbour Dennis is helping him track dens on his land.
Right, there are five older lambs and one of them has not appeared.
But you said there was one just at the mouth of the hole.
DENNIS: There's one in the hole. One in the hole.
Cheers, Dennis, thank you. Bye.
We've got a den. He was out of the light last night - the spotlight -
and a fox came in, but just with the angle it was,
he couldn't get a shot, so...
..we're going to go back out tonight with the light
and see one if we can find it.
Ted!
On the back, on the back, back, back.
Further north-east in the Highlands near Inverness...
HE WHISTLES
..crofters Robin and Penny Calvert keep very free ranging chickens.
They're not my hens.
They're Penny's hens, they follow me everywhere.
It's a bit embarrassing, really.
They also breed Highland cattle and have two working dogs,
13-year-old spaniel Gilly, and collie Meg, who's four.
Get that hen out of there.
That's it, right. You take that line.
Right into the bottom of this ridge, Penny.
That trough.
Towards the end of spring,
Robin and Penny plant traditional croft crops -
turnips and potatoes - which grow well in their poor soil.
The veg will feed them and their animals over the winter.
I've just got to work this out now.
Ridge that one, drive down that one...
..ridge that one.
Ridge this one.
Right, OK. I'll put a few lines in.
I was just having a little laugh.
Robin was shouting at me for doing them too narrow.
So I was doing them like that and then look at his.
SHE LAUGHS
About nine inches apart.
He'll not be told.
Unfortunately, fresh green shoots attract unwelcome guests - deer.
It will take about up to two weeks for the greenery to burst through.
It's going to be hard to keep the deer off them,
which is more tricky than you realise.
Robin has been devising something for this.
It wasn't successful last year
so he's going to have to think up something different.
Something Heath Robinson-ish, no doubt.
What we'll do, when I've got this lot stitched in,
is I'll put a wire net enclosure on this to keep the hens off.
And some of the deer.
They work on a pulse, these, they're not on permanently.
It's only a little charger, it's only a short bit of fence.
I tried everything last year,
I put electric outside it but the deer were still getting in.
So all we can do now is keep our fingers crossed.
On the other side of the croft,
there's evidence of a more deadly intruder.
We've had problems with a fox.
He's using the hen run as a larder.
And every couple of days he's coming in and snaffling a hen.
And here are the feathers.
He's taken it over the back here and has really removed
a lot of feathers so that it's easier to carry.
They're cheeky.
Hello.
One of them's got a limp, so maybe that was caused by the fox.
We started the season with two dozen hens - I might be down to 18.
So it's quite upsetting.
Anyway, we'll see how many eggs we've got today.
See if they've been put off the lay.
Scotland has around 23,000 red foxes.
They help keep the rabbit population down
but they are the number one predator of hens.
12... 14.
I've been getting 19, even 20, and so they're either put off the lay
or they're dead, which is far more disturbing.
We watched foxes playing on the hill last year, it was a lovely sight.
But they're just too close to the hen run.
So the plan is Robin to the rescue.
Robin's going to get his gun.
Go out this evening and wait for this fox to come in.
What are your eggs, about 20p each?
Yes. And they're pretty much laying an egg a day, these hens, so that's,
what, 300 eggs a year, so that's about 60 quid a hen per year.
You know?
So we're about 180 quid's worth of eggs down so far this week.
We've got to manage the situation.
This could go on until we've actually got nothing left now.
So, unfortunately, if we get a chance,
we're going to get a shot at it.
Right. You two, stay there.
Foxes have acute hearing and an excellent sense of smell,
so Robin needs to find a strategic spot.
Fortunately the wind's in our favour.
These foxes, I think, are coming off the far hill,
so I'm pretty confident it will come one side or the other of the pond down there.
So we'll get ourselves tucked into a nice little corner down there...
..and just sit and wait.
Got a good spying range around here.
This is not sport shooting at all.
It is literally vermin destruction.
The same way we keep the rabbits under reasonable control.
We normally let the foxes get on with their lives,
but two or three times a year,
unfortunately, we do get one that starts to become a bit of a pain
so we have to take it out.
But after waiting nearly two hours...
I'm not hearing any signs.
No guarantee he's going to come.
It's a no show.
Catching a fox requires persistence.
It can take Robin 30 minutes to a week to catch a culprit.
Sometimes he never gets it at all.
I hate these damn hens.
They're more trouble than they're worth.
HE LAUGHS
Must have had a change of plan tonight or he's got wise,
or maybe he's just full of chicken.
There's absolutely no telling.
That's it. Going in before I freeze.
110 miles south-west...
There's fuel there.
David is also on the hunt for a fox.
He's heading out with neighbour Dennis, who has discovered a den.
It's late in the evening. We'll get ourselves a couple of miles up the glen on the quads,
then we've got about a mile walk up towards the den. Usually
what happens is that because we've been there, the fox will kind of
stay at a distance.
It's a very unfortunate thing, foxes are lovely creatures.
If they didn't kill lambs it'd be great,
but it just has to be done.
Just an unfortunate part of farming life.
It's a negative side but it needs to be done.
HE WHISPERS: It's absolutely gorgeous, even in this light,
at this time.
You've got Mull, Lismore, you can see Colonsay from here.
It's such a beautiful place.
It's a very still night.
The fox has probably heard them and will stay away.
So they approach the den.
Just inside the mouth of the hole there's a lamb.
I don't know whether it was a dead lamb that's been picked up
or whether it's a killed lamb.
It's quite frustrating because you go through a lot
to try and get them in lamb, feed them through the winter time
and the ewe has its lamb and then it's snatched away.
All farmers have to deal with loss.
But it is heartbreaking.
It's heartbreaking for that ewe. SHEEP BLEATS IN DISTANCE
That ewe that's bleating across there, it might well have been its lamb.
But it's nature.
You feel sorry for the fox, too, because it has to feed its young.
Unfortunately, it's our livelihoods, so...
A shame.
Across Scotland,
farmers work hard to protect and care for their livestock.
In return, each animal has to earn their keep...
..by working...
..bringing in money at auction...
..or providing the next generation.
On the east coast, in the rolling grasslands of Fife...
..pioneering farmer Stevie Mitchell rears a herd of 400 water buffalo
for prime meat.
Come on, buddy. Good boy.
But one animal is his favourite -
seven-year-old bull 007.
Hello, buddy.
He's never really left this farm since he came as a wee calf.
One of the first batches of animals we bought.
Obviously, the fact he has such a nice temperament,
a great kind of reflection of what buffalo are
and he's always had this nature,
this almost craving attention nature.
The only problem is, 007 is no longer performing.
Wait, wait, wait.
Last year, he got only three out of 50 females in calf.
There was a problem with 007's testicles.
One of them was shrunk much smaller than the other.
The vet does hope it's the sort of thing that might be able to recover
so we're giving him as much time to recover as possible.
007 was put out to pasture
with a couple of females to keep him company.
Come on, girls.
I really hope that he recovers
and can keep on breeding for another few years yet.
But there's no sign of that yet.
Effectively, 007 is unemployed.
Really, if I'm bluntly honest,
he should have been heading down the road and made into burgers,
but there's something a bit more special about this bull.
He's become a real friend, to be quite honest.
And, yeah, call me a softie or whatever, but we're giving him every chance
to hopefully see this recover.
Stevie's come up with a new job description for his favourite bull.
The Buffalo Farm's roving ambassador.
It's quite a good way for me making myself feel a bit better about him.
I've actually found a purpose for him
that could be good for the business
and I've tried explaining to him how important it is
and I don't how much he listens, but never mind.
But it's a risk.
007's a softie at home on the farm...
This is how good-natured he is.
It's how stechie I am.
Come on, then, boy.
You can tell he likes it, he lifts his tail up.
But in the unfamiliar environment of a busy show, that could change.
There's going to be all the other animals, all the other noises.
It's going to be a really big test.
With the Fife Agricultural Show coming up,
Stevie will find out if 007 can maintain his manners in public.
Show us your teeth.
Come on, let's see your teeth. There we go.
Look at these gnashers.
I'd be proud of them. Good teeth.
In the Highlands...
..Robin's busy with a late spring task.
Cutting peat.
And he's got a keen helper in collie Meg.
The dog's got a favourite job to do, which is dooking in a puddle.
She waits until something falls in, and then spends the rest
of the morning getting filthy looking for it.
Peat has been used as a fuel for cooking and heating for centuries.
Like a softer, younger version of coal,
it's a fossil fuel formed from organic matter accumulated in bogs
and fens over thousands of years.
It's actually a totally sustainable peat bank, is this.
Going back across here,
you can see those are the turfs that were cut off last year.
Down at the bottom they're growing back in at the bank.
Lovely stuff, that, isn't it?
It's not earth.
There's a lot of the old tree roots down at the bottom of this.
Must have been quite a forest here at one time.
Once it's dried out, its high carbon content
means it's flammable, so it helps Robin and Penny
save on their winter fuel bill.
Peat used to be the mainstay of fuel in the crofting.
We don't cut peat as a mainstay fuel but we do take enough to keep
a little fire going, basically just because I like a peat fire.
You stupid collie, you're going to be sick.
Look at the state of you.
Cutting peat is traditionally a communal activity for crofters,
with the whole neighbourhood pitching in.
Tea break.
Keen to participate is Gilly.
She was born on the croft
and has been Robin and Penny's faithful gun dog for 13 years.
This dog's been poorly for the last few days.
I suspect it was a case of really bad greed
that got to her guts eventually.
You mean you've come all the way up here just to beg a bit of biscuit?
So what we do now is high cut,
put it on the pallet, and then Penny sort of puts them
into the right place on the pallet where they can dry out there.
We woke up this morning and said we were peat cutting and we liked
the idea. We just like the peat.
We like keeping the tradition going.
It's something else off the croft.
Like the meat and the veg and the firewood,
and the good water and things,
you know. It's something else that is a croft benefit, as it were.
There's not a lot of income out of the croft these days so it makes sense
to make the croft as sustainable as we can make it.
You're keeping the dog happy anyway.
Pallet number one.
Since Penny was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease,
her ability to pitch in has decreased.
Just the pair of us here and
Penny is not as well as she was, so things are slowing down a wee bit, I think.
She's gone for a sleep, which she needs more and more these days.
But she likes to be involved, so, even if she's not really doing anything,
she feels she's participating.
Not just a crofting thing,
it's an us thing. Our whole philosophy has always been share everything.
Whether it's a workload or a pleasurable thing or...
If you experience things together,
you get double the benefit from it
rather than just doing it on your own.
It's a modern trend to
not really commit yourself to people, but I can't understand that
because, to me, if you're enjoying something
or you're having fun with something,
it doubles the enjoyment if you're doing it with somebody else, you know.
130 miles south in Fife, it's a big day for Stevie and 007.
Up, up, up. Come on, big lad.
On you go. On you go, on you go.
It's the Fife Show and 007 is making his debut public appearance
as Buffalo Farm ambassador.
His carriage awaits.
Get on.
Get on. Come on, pet, please.
Stevie's bringing a female companion along to keep 007 company.
But neither of the animals seem impressed.
Out the road, 007.
Come on, turn around.
Stay. Back you go.
It makes me a little bit nervous about loading him up at the other end.
007 hasn't left the farm since he arrived as a calf.
And Stevie has never taken buffalo to a show.
Quite nervous about today but we don't know just exactly
how he's going to react to a completely unfamiliar environment.
I suspect it will take him a wee bit to acclimatise but we're getting
him there nice and early so that
he can get familiar before the main public arrive.
Stevie's keen for 007 to earn his keep
as the poster boy for the business.
It makes it easier for me
delaying having to make any tough decisions about sending him off.
If he misbehaves today, I might change my mind, right enough.
He's always had such a cheeky fun personality
that I've really bonded with,
excusing the pun, because he's 007.
I think it will be fun for the public.
It's a great chance for people to actually see what a water buffalo is.
ANNOUNCER: Competitors are just going round the ring...
Held near the market town of Cupar,
the Fife Show has been running since 1821
and is a popular event on the farming calendar.
..matches what the drivers are wearing
with the style of the carriage.
It attracts hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of visitors -
an unpredictable crowd for a nervous buffalo handler
and his one-tonne beast.
Hello, big fella. Come on, then.
Going on your holidays.
What's this? Where have we got you?
007 and his companion have a specially reinforced pen.
There will be quite a lot of scrutiny of him today, you know...
The Fife Show is actually the biggest, I believe,
one-day show in the country, so it's a really good show,
we're very lucky to have it on our doorstep.
And it's the first show in Scotland to have ever had a buffalo,
I'm pretty confident.
Seeing all these lovely, clean cows is making me feel a bit guilty about
how mucky he is so I'm trying to clean the shit off his head at the moment.
007's job today is to promote the farm's meat business.
Stockman Eddie is busy on the barbecue stand.
Are you having steak?
We have bacon, sausages and
haggis and black pudding. He's loving it.
So Stevie's looking after 007 on his own.
You can see he's looking around, soaking it all up,
seeing what's going on. He's nervous, just like I am, probably.
Animals are amazingly good at picking up your nerves
so if I'm frantic and stressed, he'll quickly get the same,
so I'm just trying to keep myself in check.
I mean, what can go wrong?
He can throw the pen over his head and disappear off.
Oh, God, it just wouldn't be worth thinking about.
So far, I'm very proud of you.
You're doing a good job, boy.
Eh! Behave. Stop that.
Stop that.
He's probably saying, "Will you just leave me alone now?"
Do you want a wee bit more water on your face?
Hopefully they behave themselves
and we don't have any embarrassing incidents.
In Sutherland, Robin has been hard at work cutting peat
for over five hours.
And Penny has some news about Gilly the spaniel.
Right, fine.
That's a vet appointment at 4:45pm.
Take Gilly down, find out what's wrong with her.
I don't know what's wrong with her. She's certainly off-colour.
Right, that's the last peat off this little bit just here.
That worked quite nicely. No major hiccups.
No major floods.
Robin has managed to cut ten pallets of peat today.
Half their winter supply.
Back at home...
..he hears more news about poorly spaniel Gilly.
She's just rung me up and said that she has to have a hysterectomy
operation, which is unfortunate, but these things happen to old dogs
so we'll see what the full story is when she comes back.
Oh, dear. Gilly, what have they done to you?
Come on. What's the matter with you?
Just an old lady, are you?
She's got an inflamed uterus.
OK. So she's bleeding at the back end.
She's got a temperature. Right.
Gilly has been diagnosed with a condition called pyometra -
a life-threatening infection in her womb.
What time are you taking her in tomorrow, then?
Quarter to nine. Have you told Gilly?
She heard.
Who'd have animals?
Caring for animals is a challenge when they live outdoors
over large areas.
A hill farmer's sheep and cattle are exposed to risk all year round.
Whether from predators or the extremes of the Scottish climate.
Only the hardiest of native cattle breeds can winter outside here.
Most need the shelter of a shed.
In the low-lying pastures of Dumfries and Galloway
in the south-west of Scotland...
..dairy farmers Steven and Tracey Roan keep pedigree Holsteins.
I seen you. Yes.
I know.
I don't want a kiss from you, you've got silage breath.
Their cows have been indoors since November,
but now the grass is growing in the fields,
they won't be in for much longer.
I love it when the cows go out.
When that happens, it depends on the weather.
Will you pair get to go out, will you?
Yes.
I've got all of yous now.
They're a bit mischievous.
It's always these ones that are the most awkward ones to work with.
Because they'll never move when you want them to move.
These ones just want to stand and talk to you.
I know. I'm not ignoring you either.
But one cow, Anna, might not be able to go out with the others.
Come on, lass. Come on.
The first few days after she calved, everything seemed OK.
But then after that, instead of her milk rising and rising, it just sort
of was stagnating. And you just sort of got a general sense that she just
looked a bit dull and not that happy and...
Er, it was sort of fairly obvious
that she just wasn't eating as well as she should be.
One of Anna's four stomachs, her abomasum,
has become displaced.
It normally sits at the bottom of her abdomen,
but it has filled with gas
and has floated up towards her spine like a helium balloon.
Now she can't digest food properly.
Left untreated, she would lose weight and struggle to produce milk.
So Stephen's called in vet Graham Bell to operate.
It's just a local anaesthetic.
This is the exact same spot you would freeze up
if we were going to do a Caesarean section.
Every day's a school day.
The key to this operation is I want her to keep standing up
to be able to do the operation.
Graham needs to move Anna's displaced stomach back to where it should be.
It naturally sits on the bottom, slightly to the right-hand side,
but it's floated right up to here
and it'll be like a big banana sitting here.
It's a professional, important job, holding the tail.
I don't know why I'm holding it. It's very important.
It's to stop her swishing in the area that's been cleaned.
See, I do listen sometimes.
Andrew takes it all in.
He likes to know what all the procedures are and what happens.
He'll watch how Graham does it,
and then he'll be ready to do it himself the next time.
First, Graham needs to locate Anna's abomasum.
She's a bit jumpy.
This is her abomasum on the left-hand side.
But that should be on the bottom of her stomach.
So the diagnosis is correct.
Didn't plan to do this today, but that's just the nature of it.
Like, you can plan all you want, but it's just what happens.
You just see it as treating your animals, isn't it, you've got to do it and...
..worry about the bill at the end of the day.
You don't want to see them suffer, no.
This'll be one of the most economic operations you'll actually do.
Quicker you sort this out, her potential to milk
and return...
..outweighs what this costs to do, ten, 100-fold.
If you left her like this, she would just turn into a skeleton,
just fade away.
Graham's plan is to put a stitch in the gas-filled stomach,
then use the thread to pull it down to its correct position.
Come around that side. I need you to push to stomach down.
Right, so just pull down, take the slack,
but wait till there's any slack,
don't pull it. So every time you push, I'm going to pull.
I'll tell you when.
Graham pushes the abomasum from above,
while Tracy pulls the thread at the bottom,
tugging down that helium balloon.
I didn't know you had to pull that hard.
There's slack just to come.
Right up the skin, then pull up.
Just a single knot in it, I'll get the rest.
Right, single knot.
Think I've qualified now!
We basically pushed the stomach down around,
attached it to the bottom of her abdomen so that hopefully
her digestion will come back to normal.
It's very neat for a man, isn't it?
What are you saying, like...? Nothing! I'm just very impressed.
THEY LAUGH
It's a cross stitch mattress, if you want to know.
Oh, right.
They've successfully brought Anna's stomach back to where it should be.
Now the hope is her digestion will return to normal.
Here we go.
What do you think, Andrew? Do you think she'll be all right?
Straight into the silage.
She's got her appetite back.
Nice comfy bed for her, so a wee nanny nap.
So far, so good.
But Anna will have to show signs of improvement
if she's to go out to the fields.
That went OK. Just depends how she recovers
and if there's nothing underlying.
Near Cupar,
the Fife Agricultural Show is in full swing.
ANNOUNCER: Just look at the posture of the dog here.
Front legs very low to the ground.
And he's using voice and whistle command here as well.
The one-day show sees nearly 1,500 livestock entries,
including sheep, cattle, and horses.
An onslaught of new sights and sounds for 007.
I know it's just getting that wee bit busier.
He had a wee period there where he was just a bit...
But he seems to have acclimatised again.
At its peak, there are nearly 10,000 people on site...
..who don't seem to mind the very Scottish weather.
It's been good.
That must be 400-500 already we went through.
There's burgers, there's steak, there's sausage,
there's square sausage.
Maybe put them off. Once they see her, they're like,
"Oh, I'm not wanting to eat that."
Stevie's hoping 007 will draw in potential new customers.
How we doing, ladies? Are you in charge of these things?
Well, as long as they're behaving, I'll say yes.
If they start being bad, I'll disown them.
Do you know what they are? Buffalo. Yeah, water buffalo.
See where the flag is?
Yeah. We've got a big barbecue there.
We do buffalo burgers and stuff as well.
So make sure you go down there for lunch.
Let me put some more water on you.
Do you like that or not?
How we doing?
Have you see a buffalo before?
Do you want to guess how old he is?
Yeah. You're welcome to have a shot.
I'm going nine.
I'm going to put down five.
12?
Impressive. I'm sure the extra fence is there for a reason.
Maybe as well!
Everything seems to be going well.
Until something disturbs 007.
HORSE NEIGHS
I think he's a bit intimidated by the big Clydesdales.
You all right, buddy?
Normally, he's probably the biggest thing around, and they are huge, aren't they?
But with some reassurance, he stays calm.
Oi, you're OK, buddy.
Certainly unsettled him. But I think that's the same with any...
These shows, when you bring animals, it's a big culture shock for them.
It's a big thing for them to kind of get used to.
007 has passed his biggest test of the day.
I mean, look at 007, he's quite content.
Certainly so far, he seems to have quite enjoyed his day out.
This has been good for our business now,
getting people aware there's buffalo in Scotland
and a Buffalo Farm ambassador.
Still aware we have to get him loaded up to get them home again,
but we couldn't have asked for anything else.
It's been absolutely brilliant so far, so delighted.
To avoid any last-minute mishaps,
Stevie enlists Eddie's help packing up.
Come on, guys. HE WHISTLES
Eddie, what we need to do... Watch him, watch him.
Come on, then.
Watch yourself, Eddie.
Give him a sec, let him turn.
Let's go, let's go. Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go!
That's it. Hey, well done!
Good.
Massive sense of relief
and very proud of them both for behaving so well.
This could be a really good retirement plan for me.
I'll just take the buffalo to the shows
and the boys can do the burgers.
By boosting burger sales, 007 saved himself from the bun again.
As the season turns...
..warmer weather and rain showers boost the growth of grass across Scotland.
For the farmers, getting their cows back out to the fields
means summer is well and truly here.
On the West Coast, in Appin...
Ow! You...
Bit me!
David and Sandra are getting ready for the big moment.
After today, it will be...
# Celebrate good cows are out! #
Yoo-hoo!
Won't it? Yeah. It's a huge day today.
In any farmer's year, it's getting the cows out to grass.
It means that the feeding's over.
The seven months of day in, day out feeding cattle...
They're out onto the grass, which is great.
Then I might actually see you,
instead of feeling like a cow widow or whatever you want to call me.
The cows going out is a day to celebrate,
but there's something missing.
A bull.
At Christmas, David and Sandra had a shock when they discovered
David's favourite bull Limmy had unexpectedly died.
Popped his clogs this morning for whatever reason.
He's no longer with us, poor chap.
Such is life.
Since then, David's been on the lookout for a replacement.
A local farmer has offered him a bargain bull for just £1,300.
So John's kept this bull since he was 18 months.
It's an older bull,
but used to rough ground, so that's quite a big thing.
This guy will be an old tough nut, fit and ready to go, probably.
Oh, bumpy!
There's Mr Bully.
Farmer John's seven-year-old bull is well trained and ready to go.
Nice and smooth.
He's a fair old weight. Nice quiet bull.
John's probably handled him well over the years.
It makes a big difference if a bull is well handled.
It makes the whole job that wee bit easier.
John's had some nice calves off him.
Just a boy, huh?
Hey, cheers, John! Hey, thank you.
And the name of the new bull on the block...
He's called Bandit. We've got Bandit.
His name is Bandit? Yes.
Bandit the bull.
There'll be no hanging about.
Bandit will be put to work as soon as David and Sandra get home.
In the northeast, near Inverness...
..Robin has finally had some success with the thieving fox.
The keepers have taken two, from what I've heard.
I've had two. So whether we've actually got foxes working the property at the moment,
I don't know. I certainly haven't seen anything for over a week.
Just a case of being vigilant. As soon as you start getting ready,
you're out there again waiting for them at night
instead of sitting having a dram by the fire.
The hens are out of danger for now.
And so is spaniel Gilly.
Penny is picking her up from the vet.
Should I come through?
Gilly's infection was life-threatening,
but vet James Dawson has saved her with a hysterectomy.
Here she is. Hello, Gilly.
We've just got some painkillers for her, and she'll be right as rain.
She's got internal stitches, so if you come back in three days.
We've also got some antibiotics for her as well.
She's much better, she's wagging her tail.
Bye-bye. See you later.
Come on, then, Gilly.
Come on, Gilly, do you want to get in the car?
That's better, isn't it?
Hate to have seen her being put down.
You know, she was that poorly.
And it does go through your mind when she's an old dog.
But she's part of the family, so you just do what you can, don't you?
Well, better go and see what's happened to my old lady, hadn't we?
Oh, Gillian, what have they done to you?
Oh, dear, and you've got a plaster as well.
Come on, you old soldier, let's have you.
Poor old girl.
You're wagging again, that's something, isn't it?
Go on, in you go.
Good girl.
Oh, dear. It's all right, poppet.
You just settle down there and have a nice snooze.
It's nice to see that she's in one piece, yeah.
It's all right, she's come back and we're not taking you, don't worry.
She's getting an old dog,
you'd expect the worst when they get to this sort of age.
They're all part of the family, very much part of the family.
They spend longer with us than our own children.
It's true. They are that third instinct,
sort of third dimensional instinct
in the croft that we haven't got.
They're so much an integral part of the whole household, you know.
It's a bit tricky when something goes wrong.
We've got Gilly back.
That's her place. That's been her place since she was a puppy.
When they go, the chair will go on the bonfire.
In the south-west...
Come on! Come on!
Tracy and Stephen are also keeping a close eye
on their post-surgical patient.
It's been eight days since the operation on Anna's stomach.
It's been really successful.
From the next day on, she just started eating again.
And she's starting to produce quite a good bit of milk now.
Like, if that'd been you or I in hospital, having an operation,
we'd probably still be in hospital.
Whereas, like, she's never really been off her feet.
The operation's been a success.
So Anna can go out with the other milking cows as planned.
Let's go!
For the Roans, maintaining the farm and the health of the herd
is a family affair.
Are you boss number one or boss number two?
I'm boss number two.
All right, so you're my boss?
Oh, right. So, daddy's my boss number one.
So I've got two bosses?
Yeah. Oh, God, there's no hope for me.
Keen apprentice farmer, seven-year-old Andrew,
is ahead of the game in getting his cows out to grass.
What's going on here, kids?
This is my new farm that I've only built today.
I do have more cows but these are only my big ones.
The big ones. Just show us.
Big ones. Oh, he's nice.
It's a girl. Udders.
Yeah, looking good, getting them out on the grass.
Yeah.
Now it's time for the real deal.
We're about to go and open one of the doors cos it's quite a cold wind,
and they're probably just lying in their beds quite happy.
Cos they've had their breakfast.
There might be a lack of enthusiasm but we'll see what happens.
Come on, girls. Come on.
It'll tend to be actually the older cows will know what's happening and
they'll all come forward and go out.
Word's getting round now that
something's happening. There's a bit of roaring going on.
Here we go.
That's it.
Their tails are up.
The first half look quite happy
charging up the hill.
Come on! Hup, hup, hup!
The day the cows go out is an exciting one
for farmers and for cows.
They always say about Dr Green,
basically the cows getting out to the grass kind of helps.
It's just about sort of farming along with nature.
It's basically where nature intended them to be for the summer.
And newly recovered Anna gets to join them.
Slowly but surely, she heads for the fields.
Come on. Come on!
It is a good feeling because you know winter's over
and things should get a little bit easier.
And they're chewing their cud and they're lying down,
and you think, it's nice to see them skipping about and happy.
On the West Coast...
..it's the moment David and Sandra have been waiting for.
At last!
Hopefully we're going to get a few cows out.
Can't hold the excitement - it's going to happen at last!
COWS MOO EXCITEDLY
Half the cows will walk up the hill behind the farm
with new bull Bandit.
Bandit's just having a wee rest at the moment,
saving himself for a bit of action in a few minutes' time.
The other half of the herd will go by lorry
to another hill a few miles away.
It's almost as if they know what's coming.
Can you grab that nail, please?
First, David wants to set up gates
to funnel the cows in the right direction.
Stick the pin in there.
A job that takes some husband and wife cooperation.
I'm pretty sure if you let these cows out,
they'll just go up there on their own.
I do this every year. I'm set in my ways, Sandra.
I know, but, you know, you're doing all this and you probably
really don't need to because the cows know
exactly where they're going.
Sandra's got her ways of doing things and I've got mine.
Sometimes they're both the same,
but a lot of time we have a slight difference of opinion. So...
Let me do what I'm going to do, I'm going to do it anyway.
Is it a good thing or a bad thing that we work together?
He gets on my nerves, I think.
I couldn't possibly get on his nerves because I don't do anything wrong.
All set.
With the gates ready,
David's role is to let the cows and calves out of the shed,
while Sandra waits at the top of the lane to direct the bovine traffic.
This is it, at last, after almost seven months.
It's peaceful and quiet, so hopefully it will continue that way.
The only noise I want to hear is Sandra saying, "They're here!"
That's it, gently now.
Gently.
Gently now.
Come on, girls. Come on.
That's it.
They're coming, Sandra. Here they come.
When they come running down here at first, they, like, run straight up to this,
so I'll wave my hands in the air,
but they know where they're going and one will look up there
and go, "Oh, yeah! The hill!" and then all the other ones will follow.
Come on, girls.
Whoa!
He's yelling at me.
What's he saying? Don't move!
Don't move?
Don't move, just stand back.
Don't even move, just stand stock still.
Brilliant.
Thank God for that.
Away to the hill.
That's a relief, all the way, the ones that are meant to go.
Great feeling, that, first lot out.
Big moment for Bandit.
Moment of truth.
It's a new farm, new field, and new set of female friends for Bandit.
Come on, boy.
Come on.
Come on, boy, there you go.
Come on.
You'd better get cracking because that lorry should be here soon.
The second half of the cows will go by lorry
to their summer home 12 miles away. Come on, calvies. Up, up, up.
But their young calves will follow separately in the trailer.
They all fit, yeah!
It's the first time the mothers and youngsters have been apart.
Just get these calves off the trailer,
and hopefully they can all find their mothers when they get off.
Come on, girl. Come on.
Turn the truck round
and let the calves out so they run towards their mums.
But their brief separation is cause for a happy reunion.
Great sight.
Cows and calves out of the shed.
Look how happy they are, too, so...
Look at them!
Very happy man.
It's deeply self-satisfying when you see them outside.
Next time...
That'll do. Here!
It's a summer of surprises on Janet and Alistair's farm.
It's a miracle!
Of the wrong kind.
Penny and Robin hit the road for their biggest food event of the year.
That's a crofter's pie. Have you had a crofter's pie before?
They're made from real crofters.
And silage fever grips the south of Scotland
as the Roans race to beat the storms.
The big disc is molten hot.
I need to watch it doesn't go on fire.
Ah, jeezo!