Hamish takes pride of place in his herd

Aug 13 2008 by Jane Hall, Journal

HE may only be days old, but shaggy Highland calf Hamish has already reached a century- winning tally. For the bull calf is the 100th addition to the Highland cattle herd which Richard and Marianne Halford run on their farm near Stocksfield, Northumberland.

As if that wasn’t enough to set the champagne corks popping, Hamish’s arrival last Thursday quickly turned into a triple celebration. Richard toasted his milestone 60th birthday the same day.

Hamish’s lucky streak doesn’t end there, however. His mother Kate was the first Highland calf to be born at the centre, based at Dere Street Farm, 11 years ago, while father Dughall is a former supreme champion at the Great Yorkshire Show who is now carving out a lucrative career for himself on the small screen as a star in ITV1’s popular drama Heartbeat, as well as TV adverts.

But it is Hamish who is currently basking in the limelight at the Highland Cattle Centre visitor attraction – said to be the only place of its kind in the world.

Richard says: “The children love Hamish. His mother is very docile and used to being combed and patted and Hamish is equally friendly.

“He is proving to be a remarkable calf for all sorts of reasons with being born on my birthday and taking the fold (herd) to exactly 100.”

The Highland Cattle Centre is a hands-on tourist attraction based on a 59-acre working farm in the heart of the Tyne Valley. While it is the Highland cattle, with their wet noses and benign expressions, who take centre stage, there are also pigs, sheep, ponies, goats, alpacas, rabbits, guinea pigs, acrobatic chipmunks and ferrets.

Here children of all ages can hold the animals and learn more about keeping pets of their own.

There are always baby animals of some kind, but it is Hamish’s antics which are injecting the much-needed summer holiday ‘Ah’ factor.

Those not able to get to the Highland Cattle Centre, though, can still get up close to Hamish at The Journal Taste 2 food and drink festival in association with Tesco on August 30. Kate and her son will be attending the event at Macdonald Linden Hall Hotel, Golf and Country Club at Longhorsley, near Morpeth, Northumberland.

The Halfords have recently started selling meat from their Highland cattle and will join around 100 other stallholders at Taste 2.

“The meat is selling very well,” Richard says. “We can’t process enough at the moment. We sell the meat through the farm and we have one restaurant that uses it, The Feathers at Hedley-on-the-Hill just up the road from us.

“But Linden Hall will be the first time we have sold at a food event, so it will be a new venture for us. I’m looking forward to it immensely.

“I don’t think having Kate and Hamish there will put people off buying. It certainly doesn’t seem to at the centre.

“And Hamish won’t be ending up on anyone’s plate. His father is a show champion and we have high hopes that in the future Hamish will be a good stock bull.”

The only sadness for Richard is that Marianne is unlikely to be joining him at Taste 2.

She was seriously injured three weeks ago in a freak accident at the Highland Cattle Centre when a reversing car ran over her, dislocating her right hip and knee.

The 59-year-old was airlifted to Newcastle General Hospital, but on Richard’s birthday was transferred to Hexham General where she is expected to stay for at least another week.

“Getting Marianne back to Hexham was another cause for celebration,” Richard says. “But even when she gets out of hospital she is likely to be on crutches for six weeks, so it will just be myself, Kate and Hamish at Linden Hall.”