Primrose Beaton, agricultural auctioneer
I'M the head cattle auctioneer at Lawrie and Symington in Lanark. We have a store cattle sale every fortnight with a mixture of breeds and sizes. I stand in the box and sell them. Being an auctioneer is a bit like a singer performing. If you don't have nerves before you go in the box, then you shouldn't be on the stage.
Auction days are high pressure. Each farmer comes in to sell his 20 or 30 cattle and the five minutes it takes is paramount. Even though I am repeating the auction process perhaps 100 times in a day, I always want to do the best job I can with every lot.
I'm a dairy farmer's daughter. I was born into the industry and cattle were always my thing. My late father spotted a job advertisement for a junior in the market. I started off at United Auctions in Stirling. I was told on my first day that I wouldn't ever become an auctioneer because I was a girl. I replied: "My daddy says I can be anything I want to be if I put my mind to it."
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The first thing I sold was a set of stepladders. My dad came to the small tool sale on the day I got my shot at selling and bought them to help get me started. I worked in Stirling for almost 32 years before I took this job in 2017. Sadly, my dad is no longer with us. He would have loved to see me becoming head of cattle – Lanark was the market we used when I was a wee girl.
I have an identical twin. We are both as wild as the hills and take no nonsense. She runs a pedigree herd of British Friesians on our family farm in Airdrie. My husband works in agriculture too and we have recently bought the farm next door to my sister. It is a bit like The Waltons.
The agriculture industry is going through a tough time. Yet it remains one of our oldest and proudest professions. A big challenge is the shrinking and ageing workforce. Things are becoming increasingly mechanised. The family farm is dying in front of us. Veganism is another challenge. I was brought up drinking milk straight out the tank. The cows were loved. That remains important to me.
I feel passionately that cattle are well looked after. Quality Meat Scotland makes sure the welfare of the animals is paramount. You can buy Scotch Beef knowing it is farm-assured and has lived a good life because of the rules and regulations we follow compared to other countries. Every animal is traceable from birth to death.
As a young child I was taught that farmers are merely custodians of the land, here to hand it on to the next generation in a better condition than they received it. That's what I hope to do with my sons, who are five and eight, on our farm.
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