The Thainstone market, at Inverurie, is the focus of The Mart, which is just about to hit our screens for a second series this week.
More than 400,000 people tuned in for episodes of the six-part series in early 2016, and it was quite a time for the market. Last January, Inverurie had just been hit by the floods.
And after all the effort of trying to keep going with business as usual, the auctioneers then found themselves in the limelight, getting spotted by strangers in the supermarket or out with their families.
Sheep manager Colin Slessor says: “Around the time of the series and after, I would be out and about and someone would say ‘I know you’ or ‘I’ve seen you on telly’. It was a wee bit strange.”
Colin is back though, along with cattle manager John Angus and yard supervisor Robbie Cruickshank for another six episodes of fast-bidding, auctioneer banter and some more animal mayhem. Having had an exotic golden pheasant go AWOL in the last series, this series has goats playing, well, the goat in the second episode, when the focus is again on the rare breeds sale.
Says Colin in the programme: “Rare breeds – there’s always something escapes, I’m afraid, and this year it looks like goats.”
As well as goats, sheep and cattle, it is just as well the series is going out after the festive period, as there is one episode with some cute turkey chicks. The realities of farming life are never far from the focus of the series.
Executive producer Rachel Bell said: “We got great feedback from the audience, who loved the series. Part of its charm was the Doric and just the opportunity to hear people, going about their everyday lives, speaking the language.
“And a lot of people loved the insight it provided into farming life in Scotland. As it says in the series, ‘Farming is a risky business and when it’s time to make money the stakes are high…’ The series shows what is at stake for farmers – their livelihoods can stand or fall by these sales.”
The centre at Thainstone is one of the Europe’s largest livestock markets and it is also one of the largest co-operatives in Scotland with 5,000 members. It caters for customers from all walks of life, from the hardworking farmers, who put the meat on our plates, to buyers looking for their next truck.
New to the screens but not new to the market are catering supervisor Linda Fyfe, who has worked with the company for 24 years, and auction operations manager Alan Hutcheon, who has been auctioneering for 23 years. Both will be well known to people who go to Thainstone.
A new face to many will be 21-year-old trainee auctioneer Scott Chapman. He had previously worked in the oil and gas industry, working offshore, but decided he wanted a different career. He has now swapped oil rigs for the joys of trying to get sheep to behave in pens and being able to interpret individual bidder’s nods and gestures in the fast-paced auctions.
He is also having to handle Colin’s humour. In the first episode, Colin and Scott have their work cut out ensuring lambs are paired with their mothers and out in the pens, before the sale. With mother and offspring having matching numbers, it should be relatively straightforward to pair and corral them – but some feisty sheep have other ideas.
Colin says: “It helps when you’ve got wee short legs and a wide body – you sort of act as a gate at the same time. Scott nearly got a doof on the nose wae a lamb. It’s alright, it wouldn’t have been a disaster. He’s no the best looking lad anyway, I wouldna worry.”
The series opens after a long, wet winter, when the sunshine is finally in sight for Scotland’s farmers, not least Willy Millar who farms a few miles outside Dundee with the help of his niece, Isla, and sheepdog Jack. With the spring lambing season coming to a close, it’s time for Willy to take his flock to sale at Thainstone. He rounds up the lambs along with their mothers, not helped by a few flighty youngsters, and prepares to make the journey north.
But disaster strikes on the morning of the sale when an overnight blizzard threatens Willy’s chances of getting to Thainstone on time. With just minutes until auctioneer Colin is due to start the auction, Willy rushes his lambs through the sorting process and they make it into the ring with just seconds to spare. Meanwhile at their farm in Kildrummy, Charles and Alison Webster prepare for one of their biggest sales of the year where they will be selling their heifers and calves. The long winter and wet spring means extra costs for the Websters so it’s important that auctioneer John Angus finds those bids to get them the price they need.
Also making a visit to Thainstone is nine-year-old Jack Thomson who has come all the way from the island of Eday in Orkney to sell his best friend, Toothy. Toothy is the first calf Jack cared for from birth and the two have been inseparable ever since. But learning to be a farmer means learning to let go of your animals and Jack’s mind is focused on Toothy getting the best price of the herd.
The Mart starts on BBC1 on Monday at 7.30pm.