Note to self - I really must stop saying yes to things before I have the full information.
During a fleeting conversation with our friendly auctioneer at Glendale Show, I casually agreed to be interviewed by a film crew at home before Kelso Ram Sales..... I didn't give it another seconds thought. So when we received an email from BBC Countryfile a week later I vowed to ask more questions before saying yes!!
Knowing how "out of favour" Countryfile had become in recent years with the farming community, l must admit to having had some serious doubts, but following a conversation over a stiff G&T around the kitchen table, en famille, the general consensus was to go for it!
Gearing up for the ram sales was just like any other year, with a busy few weeks of dressing, numbering and colouring - everyone is involved!
Bright and very early on the day before the sale, the soundman arrived and before I knew it, I was mic'd and watching some rather expensive drone equipment being flown over the farm, thankfully the weather understood the assignment! Early morning was spent on the farm catching some footage with our Texels and chatting about the process of preparing the rams for their big day, I enjoy explaining things that we do as part of our normal lives to anyone who'll listen, it's such an amazing industry but a lot of the "behind the scenes" bits are never really shown and I feel that for our hard work and passion to be truly understood, more of this needs to be seen!
The film crew and presenter, Charlotte Smith, were absolutely brilliant - nothing required more than two takes which was greatly appreciated on such a busy day. We finished filming at home and started to transport the rams over to Kelso, a first with GoPro's stuck inside and out of the pickup and trailer!
The rams were deposited at Kelso without incident and they filmed as we fed, watered and settled them for the night, but not before the show where the boys take the lead, no place this year but it's always fun to take part!
Sale day arrives and another very early start, mic'd up again and off we go, film crew in tow. The day flew by with 100% clearance and some good prices. We also picked up 3 new rams which didn't break the bank, so all in all, a very good day.
So on that note, I'll finish off with some more shots from the day and say just how pleased we were with the end programme (watched with a large glass of wine in hand). Feedback has confirmed what we thought too, fingers crossed for more real farming family content going forward at BBC Countryfile!
Link to the episode below;
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