BIG Davie Gray, from Drumnessie, near Banton, Kilsyth, is never far away from this column and he’s in it again.

The big yin was – unlikely as it seems – reaching over to pick up a bottle of water in his pick-up, when he reversed into a bollard at the Highland.

This resulted in significant damage to his beige Toyota pick-up which necessitated that most famous ‘farmer-fix’ the use of copious amounts of binder twine to haud it all together.

However, this also resulted in him being stopped by the polis on his way home from the Highland – and no amount of grinning using his multi-million pound set of gnashers would stop them from giving him a warning to ‘get it sorted big man’.

Spreading bluetongue

WELL, we all know that bluetongue is a serious disease, but now The Scottish Farmer can stand accused of spreading its own version of the ‘disease’.

At the Royal Highland Show we had a small celebration of the fact that we are now 125 years old, including some tasty looking and appropriately TSF-blue adorned iced cup cakes.

Unfortunately, the blue dye used in the making of these cakes – perfectly edible, of course – was such that anyone who ate one looked as if their mouth had been sprayed with a dreaded ‘fit-rot’ spray!

I am sure they could have been spotted from outer space, such was the virulence of the food dye. Glasgow Rangers supporters were, of course, delighted.

Dougie the sheep hater

ONE OF Scotland’s most virulent sheep haters, Dougie McBeath, from Stirling, went to ... you guessed it ... a sheep event last weekend.

On the wind-down from the Highland and with no shows in the vicinity, Dougie and assorted pals (who have at least something to do with sheep), decided that a visit to the Lochearnhead Shears event would be just the ticket for a quiet day out.

The only problem is, he went with Ewan ‘McMad’ MacPherson, Andrew ‘Shakey’ Morton and Rob ‘Jagerbomb’ Paterson. It seems that not much shearing was watched, much needed re-hydration was taken and the upshot of it was the Dougie lost his phone.

With that lot in tow, I’m surprised that was all that was missing when he belatedly got home – and there’s no truth to the rumour that he’s missing the phone badly because a sheep has him on speed dial!