Breeders of our Time - Mary McCall Smith

Here she talked to with Kathryn Dick about her most notable achievements and the most influential person in her farming career.

What’s your background?

Like my father, I’ve lived at Connachan all my life. I was schooled at Morrisons Academy, in Crieff, and attended SAC Aberdeen, before travelling to New Zealand, where my continuing love for that fabulous country began.

My college practical was undertaken with Elizabeth Honeyman, at Ballechin, where I spent some of the happiest days of my life with her Aberdeen-Angus cattle.

What got you into breeding Blackface sheep and Highland ponies?

An interest in Blackface sheep was unavoidable. I have memories of the wonderful Dazy Cunningham, whose enthusiasm along with that of my father, started improving the stock by buying tups at Lanark in the 1960s. Tollis King and the Demon were the first tups I can remember.

My love for Highland ponies began when my mother bought an Atholl-bred gelding when I was around 11 and the passion has been present ever since.

What qualities do you like about the breeds that you work with?

With regards to the Blackface ewe, she is bred for the job and is an awesome creature on the hill. She is capable of foraging, wintering thriftily and rearing a good lamb or two.

Now, I also have to mention my Blue-Grey cows, which have the same qualities as the Blackface sheep. They are the best coos ever and virtually all have been bred at Lochdochart.

I love the Highland ponies for their versatility – no other native breed covers so many different activities. They can do it all (some more than others) and there are types within the breed to suit most people. They also have a great temperament, which is paramount (especially for a pensioner checking stock on the hill bareback).

What was your first big breed sale or show?

Selling Highland Storm for 44,000gns at Dalmally, a tup lamb for 55,000gns at Lanark and a 24,000gns Connachan, whose influence is still prominent today – and there were many other high prices during my father’s time.

Showing success with the Highland ponies culminated in winning both the in-hand and ridden championships at the RHS in the same year with siblings, for Robert Davidson, Carse of Trowan.

Which was the best animal that you’ve ever bred?

The best animal I have bred is arguably the 24,000gns Connachan as his breeding is behind many of the high prices sold recently – handsome is what handsome does. But Highland King would’ve been the animal of choice in my father’s time.

But what’s the best animal you’ve ever seen?

I would have to say Nijinsky – he was a superb athlete and gobsmackingly beautiful. When he was racing he was sublimely beautiful and it was difficult not be awestruck by him.

Best animal you’ve been out-bidded on?

The £160,000 Dalchirla lamb was a tup I felt should have come here.

You’re most abiding memory?

That would be topping the Lanark shearling sale with a Scrapie-3 ram when everyone was looking for a Scrapie-1. This tup was so good and popular. He had the qualities people were looking for at the time, along with some great breeding.

Biggest disappointment in your career?

Not being a good kenner has embarrassed and infuriated me in equal measures.

Most influential person in your career?

My father, Neil. He was always happy to drop me in at the deep end and call himself the ambulance and fire brigade. Nowadays, I have to be rescued by those around me, usually from self-lit fires.

What’s been your favourite sale over the years and why?

My favourite sale is the ewe sales, my gracious old friends give me such pleasure. I do, however, loath the hype and pantomime of the tup sales.

Your choice of best breeder ever?

It would have to be Sandy Paterson. He was shepherd here for 30 years and he has had a big influence in the Blackface breed, as well as teaching me what little I know about hill sheep. I sometimes think he is a sheep with his in depth of knowledge of their psyche and life requirements!

Best and worst advice you’ve ever received?

The best advice was seen on my mother’s biscuit tin...‘I often have heard defended the least that said the soonest mended’. I don’t often remember that one in time.

The worst advice was given to me when I bought a Range Rover a good few years ago…'it would last and hold its value!’

Biggest achievement?

To finally, at my great age, be totally content with what I have in life. I’m not wired right for the constant pursuit of money and thrust of modern-day living. Maybe a bit smug, but true …

What do you look for when buying an animal?

With the Blackface, I like the sheep to have decent four square conformation and a good thick coat for the Connachan winters. They also have to possess a good spring of rib and, of course, ‘character’ without which I would lose interest.

With the Highland ponies, obviously correct conformation, being back at the knee and poor movement are my pet hates. Temperament is also VERY important.

If you could have gone into any other breed, what would it have been and why?

I would say the South Country Cheviot and if I lived in New Zealand then it would have to be the Perendale sheep.

There isn’t another breed of pony that would suit me here.

What’s the future of the breed in your opinion?

I’m sure that the Blackface sheep shall flourish under the influence of science and non-farming money. I have been fortunate to have lived through times when a more natural approach to hill sheep was the norm.

Where do you see yourself and the farm in the next 10 years?

Hopefully, I’ll still be hanging on in here like other hill farmers, spending time ‘forming’ the system and wondering how I’m going to welcome the public on to my ‘country park’. There are big changes ahead ... carbon audits and biodiversity within the countryside, so we will have to move with them to survive.