By Denys McCracken Lizzie’s lunches At one farm I worked on we combined with next door to do the “cutting” of the lambs. The back of their farm was a good long walk and we had to start very early in the morning in order to gather the sheep before 8am. We then had breakfast … Read more
By Denys McCracken Bogged doon in the barley I finally escaped from me last farm and went to work on a farm near Alnham. The boss employed an ex-German prisoner Herman who had married an English lass. He also employed another Daft Laddie like me called Howard who was the same age. The boss had … Read more
By Denys McCracken Pigs for profit Further to some other daft laddie misadventure, that year’s barley never got combined and so the farmer decided to put 45 weaner pigs into the field. We built lovely straw bale shelters for the pigs and put an electric fence low down around where we had combined to keep … Read more
By Denys McCracken Dressin the yowes The bosses of these hill farms were two tow perfectionists. When it came near to the half-bred draft yowe sales at Hawick, I as the Daft Laddie from the hill farm had to go and help the lowland shepherd get them ready. First of all they were dipped in … Read more
By Denys McCracken The mystery Cornel Hawick mart had a lot of auctioneers in those days as it was a very large mart. During one of the Cheviot tup sales a man was buying all the expensive tups and collecting “luck money” from the breeders. He said he was buying for a “Colonel somebody-or-other” up … Read more
By Denys McCracken. The secret stitch in time was fund oot! The shepherd on a farm I worked on was from Harbottle and he had married a lass whose fathor was a pitman from Seaton Sluice. One day they were going to see the family for the day and I was left with the firm … Read more
By Denys McCracken First job – dipping I started working as a Daft Laddie at two farms in north Northumberland, working for a farmer and his son. They were supposed to teach me farming in return for my labour. Basically I was really “cheap labour” with little right to complain. My first experience of any … Read more
By Denys McCracken Settin’ the garden The boss grabbed me by the lugs one morning and led me into his garden. I was informed it was “time te set the garden”. And the first part of this annual spring ritual was “te set the tetties”. So a line was put out and a spade width … Read more
By Denys McCracken Nee teeth man! Many people used to go for a walk up the valley and when we were clipping some more Americans stopped to watch. They asked if the sheep ever bit the clipper so quick as a flash, Geordie pointed at some rusty old pliers on the wall and said that … Read more
By Denys McCracken. Tipsy porker Geordie the hind decided that as he had spare milk from the house cow, he would get a pig to fatten for a bit of home-fed bacon. As the Daft Laddie I was instructed to clean up the old pig sty which had not been used for many a day. … Read more
By Denys McCracken Clean vegetables I next got a job as a hill shepherd on a farm near Kelso on the owld enemy’s side of the Border, where I moved in with Geordie the hind and his family. Geordie had a pretty good vegetable garden and one day when some Americans were passing, the lady … Read more
By Denys McCracken Hay time When the hay time came round the boss I worked for had no tractors and it was all horse work and man power. The rabbit virus myxamatosis had been rampant in the district so when you hoisted a forkful of hay above your head, pieces of rotten rabbit fell oot … Read more
Denys McCracken Denys was a great Northumbrian who moved to New Zealand, 12,000 miles away from the hills and haughs he worked on as a Daft Laddie, to milk cuws and grow Kiwifruit before retiring to turn wood and play bowls. I got him to write down a few notes of his days when he … Read more