Scottish Farming Families Support Open Farm Sunday

More than 150 visitors have already booked to visit a farm near Dundee which is opening its gates on June 5th and joining hundreds of other farms around the country taking part in Open Farm Sunday.

The Millar family who farm at Tealing near Dundee will be taking part for the first time and are busy making preparations along with 23 other Scottish farming families involved this year.

Open Farm Sunday is an initiative run by LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming). As part of its support for the event Quality Meat Scotland has produced a video of the Millar family getting ready to welcome the public to meet farmers and learn more about what’s involved in farming and food production.

Ross Millar runs the farm at North Balluderon in partnership with his mother Elizabeth, with help from his wife Caroline. Their children Finlay (11) and Sophie (8) are also willing helpers on the farm which extends up to the highest point in the Sidlaw Hills at 455 metres.

Mr Millar was born at North Balluderon Farm and says that his fondest early childhood memories are of the farm.

“There are no two days the same when you work on a farm and I love being outside working with the stock. Obviously it’s nice to be outside when the weather is good, even on the more challenging days you always feel that you have accomplished something at the end of the day,” said Mr Millar.

North Balluderon runs to a total of 650 acres, half of which is grassland with cereals, potatoes and vine peas also grown on the farm.

The farm has 65 suckler Aberdeen Angus cross cows and 180 breeding sheep. The cows calve in March and April and the calves are kept on farm and taken through to finishing.

The Millars are proud to be quality assured and to produce Scotch Beef PGI and Scotch Lamb PGI, which they say is important in terms of traceability and also offers the public piece of mind about the standard of their farming practices.

As well as the sheep, cattle, lambs and calves to see and learn about, visitors to the farm next Sunday will also be offered lots of different locally produced food to taste on the day or buy to take home with them - from soft fruits, free range eggs, to homemade scones and jam, and of course, Scotch Beef burgers.

Caroline Millar said the family is excited about opening their farm to the public.  The event, from 10am to 3pm, will be free but people who would like to attend need to book tickets on line via Event Brite.

“As a family we are really passionate about connecting farming with consumers and bringing the two closer together.

“We feel it is important for people to understand where their food comes from and Open Farm Sunday plays a big part in helping people understand more about farming.”

Last year around 25,000 people visited Scottish farms as part of the initiative and this year is expected to be a record in terms of the number of attendees. Most events are free to attend and in 2016 a theme of “Discover the World of Farming” is underpinning the initiative and LEAF is keen to see this number grow even further.

To locate an Open Farm Sunday event or find out about how to host an event visit www.farmsunday.org

To book a ticket for the North Balluderon event specifically visit https://goruralopenfarmsunday.eventbrite.co.uk

To view the video of the Millars gearing up for Open Farm Sunday visit the video library at www.qmscotland.co.uk or Quality Meat Scotland’s Facebook page and Twitter feed.

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