Farming

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the late 19th and early 20th century, the Angus farming year had two distinct parts, the summer term from 28th May (Whitsun) and the winter term from 28th November (Martinmas). This was when the feeing markets, which were held every six months, fitted in with the farm work.

In summer, work connected with the harvesting would begin and by the time the crops had ripened, harvested and stored, another six months would have gone by.

This routine of farm life has remained unchanged for hundreds of years starting with sowing the ', then clattin' the neeps, cutting the hay, coling the hay, the grain hairst, lifting the tatties, planting winter cereals, carting out the dung, feeding cattle, dipping and shearing of sheep, taking in neeps, threshing, ploughing, sowing grain, sowing grass seed, planting tatties then back to sowing neeps.

Once the harvest was safely in the main winter job was ploughing. A man and his pair o' horse's (two horses) could plough only an acre a day so this went on throughout the winter unless the ground was too hard because of frost.

Also important to Angus was the growing of raspberries and many a schoolchild looked forward to their summer earning money in the berryfields. Picking into the baskets was used for the best berries, which were sold in punnets, and the later crop was picked into small pails called luggies. The berries in the luggies were not the best quality and the all went for jams and sauces. Sadly over the last ten years this has died out commercially and the few rasps that still exist are picked by machine.

The horsemen worked the tattie hairst pulling the digger and the carts. The bits were marked by bits of broom or small branches by the farmer or the grieve and the tatties were gathered into sculls before being loaded on to the carts. Men and women gathered a bit while the bairns had a half bit. The tattie gathering was of great importance to the family incomes (4/6d per day was the going rate in the depression year 1928 - equivalent to 22½p today) for many in and around Angus. The importance was such that the schools allowed the children time off from their studies to gather the tatties the October break still being referred to as the tattie holidays.  Today the whole operation has been mechanised and picking tatties only refers to your choice in the supermarket.

Farming in Angus in earlier years consisted of the growing of flax, which of course led to the production of linen and weaving, leading directly to the British Linen Bank and the foundation of the factories which changed to the production of jute.