Toplines and Tales

102 - Characters in Livestock - Roley Fraser

After only a few weeks since his death, I hope the family of Roley Fraser won’t mind me sharing what I hold as one of my dearest possessions, an edited interview with him in 2013. One of the World's top auctioneers, Roley was such a wise man with phases such as ‘After the 1st war, if you had pretentions of being landed gentry you had a herd of shorthorns, but after the 2nd war you had a herd of Angus,’ and ‘by the late 80s the Angus got very peculiar, they looked very big sideways on but you could hardly see them when they walked away from you!’
I will admit that much of my own knowledge of the Angus breed came from this very conversation, and am privileged to have it on record.

101 - Characters in Livestock - Bernard Llewellyn

Such an entertaining character, Bernard Lewellyn is a great horseman, ex jockey, and cousin of a Grand National winner, a sheep-shearer, TV presenter, committee man and we hear about inheriting and running a huge castle as a tourist attraction, with the addition of a few rare breed stock. From there a love of the Longhorn cattle took Bernard to the very top of that breed and we hear of its successes before going on to talk about his involvement in the European government with this extremely wise Welshman.

100 - ***our 100th episode***

Yes, I struggle to believe it as well, but we have published 100 episodes of Toplines and Tales in less than 2 years. This week I have hand-picked over a dozen of my favourite snippets from all of the pieces, including the ones you all found most popular, such as Allanfauld, Rawburn, Chicago exhibition, Captain deQuincey and many more, in this bumper 100th broadcast.

99 - Characters in Livestock - Montie Soules

As characters go, Montie Soules has had a highly interesting career before taking over the helm of the American Shorthorn Association which this year celebrates its 150 years. Along with Dr Bob, who has written a great book on the subject, we take a look at the success of the modern breed on both sides of the Atlantic before the celebrations are wrapped up at Louisville livestock show shortly. With wise words like ‘ we’ve done everything in this country to try and ruin the Shorthorn cow, but I’m telling ya, it can’t be done!’ Montie certainly makes for an entertaining listen.

98 - Characters in Livestock - Andrew Hornall

This week we welcome another ‘character’ to the podcast, Andrew ‘Honky’ Hornall. A highly successful Charolais cattle breeder with a long association with the breed, we hear about his Interbreed success at the Highland Show with Faye and other animals. Also through his connections to the show we discuss its modern format and challenges before chatting through his family business and an upbeat look at the future of agriculture in a casual chat which such a great character and entrepreneur.

97 - Characters in Livestock - Erlend Røhnebæk

This week we have another first on the podcast as we go to Norway to speak with the very interesting Erlend Røhnebæk about his beef operation and the beef industry in general in that country. With short winters and -25 temperatures there is very little self produced protein hence they look very much to maximise feed efficiency by a number of means. I am also joined on the call by Harbro Nutritionist, Jill Hunter who has recently visited the set-up.  

96 - Characters in Livestock - Willie McLaren

From early influences of JE Kerr, Willie McLaren set on a course with Angus cattle that never faltered. From big to small and back full circle, Willie was a man of vision, always with one eye on the future. Never far from the top through half a century, records like winning 71 championships out of 114 shows endorse the quality of Angus cattle bred at Netherton. This week we discuss his life with Willie Jnr, with a few snippets of original recordings from a few years ago.

95 - Characters in Livestock - George Skinner

Something different and another first this week as we change species, to talk about the Clydesdale horse with well known and respected character, George Skinner from Strathorn. With wise snippets like ‘The hind leg is the engine of the horse’ we hear first hand at some of the trials and successes of this great beast that was once the backbone of the farming industry across the world.

94 - Characters in Livestock - Paul Walker

I don’t think I have ever been to a show that my guest this week, Paul Walker, wasn’t exhibiting cattle at. One of the UK’s busiest freelance stockmen, we chat about his passion for showing, including his own herds of Blues and Herefords.

93 - Characters in Livestock - John Campbell

John Campbell, originally from Thrunton in Northumberland chats to be about the early years and phenomenal success of the top Charolais cattle herd and the sheer numbers that were involved. We then go into his passion for Suffolk sheep and breeding commercial tups for Kelso sales.  No stranger to the championships rosettes at Smithfield, John and I move on to the running of the show itself and the trials that imposed. We also discuss his new venture into direct sales and even a new cattle breed at Roseburgh.