The Spring Bull Sales. A Busman’s Holiday. 

To the casual onlooker from outside the farming industry making a vacation out of going to a bull sale must seem like going on a busman’s holiday.  But for many farmers, the chance of a night or two away from home in February, to attend a bull sale, is seen as a good chance to have one last fling before the spring and all of the hard work that goes along with it. 

Perth used to be the Mecca for bull sale enthusiasts but those sales have now relocated further South to Stirling.  Others from the region may choose to travel south of the border and attend the bull sales at Carlisle.  Others, of a more specialist nature, have to travel further for a taste of the more exotic.

Robert Burns waxed lyrical about how his heart was in the Highlands; which is a fairly radical thought for a Lowlander like him.  But, there are a few in our region today who have more than just a romantic longing for the hills and glens in the Highlands.  These are the cattle breeders who have chosen to use the Highland breed of cattle to utilise the rough grazings that we have here in Dumfries and Galloway. 

So, if it’s a Highland bull you want, there is only one place to be in the second week in February; and that’s Oban.  And, if you want to enjoy the whole cultural experience it is most important that you get there a day early to soak it up. 

The show of cattle is usually held in the mart on the Sunday afternoon the day before the sale. This is, of course, a very serious affair with every effort made to have the animals looking their best for the judging.  Hair is shampooed and blow dried; tails are brushed and teased-out; horns and hooves are oiled and just before the beast is led to the ring a pristine new white halter will replace the grubby working one that will have been used in transport and halter training.

However, no matter what you do to a Highlander there is always something very primitive looking about this most ancient breed of cattle.  Even after hours spent in makeup they still look like something that time forgot with their long shaggy hair and horns that sweep out in a graceful arc.

Wandering through the ringside of spectators you soon become aware that foreign accents are all too common amongst the background din of chatter.  Enthusiasts from Germany, Denmark, France and Austria all go towards making up the eclectic mix that gather round the ring.

Television crews, with all of the paraphernalia that goes with them, stalk the spectators looking for someone who can add a new twist to the story. 

Everyone, from the landed gentry of mainland Europe to the humble cattle-herd from the Isle of Mull are given equal star rating in cast of characters that appear in front of the camera. 

Once the show of cattle is over and this year’s champion is chosen the day then gives way to the serious business of partying.  The Royal Hotel in Oban’s town centre is the focal point of the social life at the bull sale.  The formal dinner in the hotel is followed by speeches and trophy presentations then the tables and chairs get pushed to the side for the Ceilidh to begin. Reels jigs and strathspeys are danced by the company which will range in age from eight to eighty years old.  Auld Lang Syne brings the end to the dance around midnight and while most are ready to go to bed by this time the very best of the Scottish cultural experience is just about to begin in the bar downstairs.

It usually starts with a lone voice in some wee corner of the room.  It will be no more than barely audible above the clatter in the bar.  But, by the time the song is finished the company will be held in spellbound rapture. 

So it begins.  One after another willing volunteers will do their party piece.  From the funny and frivolous to the heartfelt and warming each performer will impart a little of themselves, freely, to the onlookers at this most impromptu of concerts.  With respect, to those who had made their way from this part of the world, The Gallowa’ Hills was included in the repertoire for the evening.  Then, in an act of sheer bravado a highland breeder from Wales stepped up to take centre stage and treated the crowd to an impassioned rendition of the Welsh anthem Land of our Fathers in his native tongue.  Considering the wounds were still lying open and sore from the Six Nations rugby encounter between Scotland and Wales the day before the man’s bravery and national pride was remarkable.  Nevertheless, he was given the same respect and applause as all the other performers.

For me however it is the songs in Gaelic that steal the show.  The passion in the words and the emotion that they impart are as powerful as in any opera you will find elsewhere in the world.

The best part of all in this story is that it is young men in their thirties and forties that are carrying the baton for this part of Scottish culture.  Lang may it continue.

Dumfriesshire farmers Alistair and Margret Fitzsimon who are the owners of the Tregallon Fold of Highland cattle also appreciate the atmosphere that the sale generates.  They were first time consigners at the sale this year.  Their twenty strong fold consists of seven breeding cows, their stock bull and younger followers.  The Fitzsimons also keep 60 other commercial cross bred suckler cows on their unit at Lochfoot.

Alistair was very upbeat about his fold of cattle and had sold his best young bull earlier in the year to an Aberdeenshire breeder in a private deal.  He realises that breaking into a new, and well established, market like Oban will not be easy but he is willing to persevere and put in the effort.  He was a little disappointed with trade on the day but he says it will not put him off coming back again next year.

Averages for the sale were similar to last year, with the champion bull achieving the top price of the day at 5,800gns.  He was knocked down to a Scottish breeder while 13 bulls are heading over the sea to Denmark and 2 will find their way to new folds in Germany.

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