You can picture what it was like – one of New Zealand’s top farm livestock scientists is visiting the farm to see the animals and learn about the management policy.

A farm truck safari would be ideal, with discussion en-route. So, time to clear all the gunge out of the truck’s passenger seat foot-well (at least the things with blood on).

And then – OMG! There are two women colleagues accompanying the Professor, so a massive sweep of the back seats, to get most of the accrued detritis out of there.

With passengers safely loaded, the farm tour begins. Route is carefully planned, relevant details of noteworthy animals loaded into mind. The first of many bunches of cattle is being viewed. All is going swimmingly – the cattle are posing, the sun is shining, the visiting 'Brain' is making positive noises.

Then complacency sets in. A brief lapse of concentration, a warning sign of dense rushes ignored, one hand on steering wheel as other hand points out the stunning bull calf’s dam, and then ... Glug!

Additional gentle pressure on accelerator achieves only downward movement. A swift gear change into reverse, more accelerator – Australia next destination!

The 'Brain' offers to push (the women don’t) but the situation is beyond pushing! However, in the distance a big, red shiny tractor with a seeder attached, is in full operation – a call is made to the driver of the big, red, shiny tractor and after a de-tour to get a rope, the red saviour vrooms to the rescue. Within seconds the bogged truck is un-bogged.

This was an un-planned start to a wonderful day supplied by Euan Ferguson, stock manager on the Isle of Luing for Cadzow Brothers, as he gave Professor Hugh Blair, Professor of Animal Science at Massey University, a much appreciated opportunity to see Britain’s newest native cattle breed, the Luing, living and thriving on their home island, where the breed was developed just over 50 years ago.

A lawn or a field?

Ronick Limousin’s Ronald Dick is never going to make the grade as a landscape gardener, apparently.

If proof was needed, look no further than the ‘lawn’ in front of the new house which herdsman Stewart Bett and his missus, Lynsey, recently moved into.

Created from topsoil delivered by the said Ronald, sown with grass seed provided by him and helped by recent ideal growing conditions – ie, warm and wet! – the ‘lawn’ has greened up nicely.

During the recent post-Caley calf show soiree it was much admired by Argyll’s Iain ‘Alfie’ McGregor and Sussex’s finest, Jason Wareham, who identified sprouting oats, barley, Timothy, ryegrass and a few oilseed rape seedlings.

The ‘agronomists’ verdict? A wholecrop lawn is the garden feature least likely to win a Chelsea Flower Show gold medal, but might keep a lamb or two.

The vegan leader

THERE MUST have been a few cawfees spat into the kitchen table around farms this week when farmers watched the evening news to hear that Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, is ‘thinking’ of becoming vegan.

Having once had the temerity to appoint a vegetarian as a shadow minister of agriculture, it should have come as no surprise to anyone.

Somehow, I don’t think this will be a rural vote catcher for the Labour leader, especially in Scotland where our GDP in terms of agriculture is a greater percentage of that down South.

While some commentators have said that we have lots of vegetable farmers who might benefit from a ‘swing’ to the Labour leader's ideology, that seems to forget the fact that there are hunners of thoosands of acres out there which carry livestock and which are unsuitable for anything else. Trying growing tomatoes on the top of Ben Lomond!