Long ago, the cultivable land and the better grazing was divided into small
crofts. To this day crofting is a system which still gives some households a
stake in the land and its future. It’s a lifestyle based on low-intensity,
subsistence farming. The combination of modern technology and old-style labour
produces hay, silage, oats, kale and turnips as winter fodder for sheep and
cattle.
Audio files - Agnes Leask gave an interview to Colin Nicol, about modern
crofting, and you can download and listen to the various sections here:-
(Please click on each WAV files and download
them to your computer, before listening to them)
- The old way of shearing sheep
(667k)
- Mechanisation on the croft
(808k)
- The problems of crofting today
(915k)
- Potential ways forward
(473k)
- Why croft now?
(487k)
- Farmer's markets, and
future? (700k)
Agnes Leask, shearing
sheep with the old tools,
unchanged in over 100 years
The freshly shorn sheep
enjoy some of the
summer sunshine.
Clipping the sheep's
hooves using old
clipping shears
One of the croft dogs
enjoys a cold lie
down in a burn.
