Dipping their toe in: Crofters in the Outer Hebrides ready to tune in to wellbeing message

At Farmstrong, wellbeing and health is at the forefront of the charity's work. 

An inspiring story from the Scottish islands demonstrates how animal health can support farmer and crofter health, as a mass coordinated dipping of 30,000 sheep, across Lewis and Harris, rediscovered the power of a community working together. 

Hannah Mackay, who helped organise the project, is now on a mission to harness the same collaborative spirit to improve and support the wellbeing of her fellow crofters.

The mother-of-four, including a newly born daughter, runs her own croft at North Bragar, as well as supporting her husband Norrie with his larger crofting business. On top of this, Hannah holds down the position of secretary of the Lewis and Harris Sheep Producers Association (LHSPA).

Back in 2022, Hannah invited leading sheep scab expert Dr Stewart Burgess of the Moredun Research Institute to deliver a talk about sheep scab. From this, an annual visit to the island by a scanning contractor was used as an opportunity for a number of sheep to be voluntarily tested for scab.

The upshot was a mammoth dipping in the autumn of 2023, with crofters and farmers on Lewis and Harris getting time off their various day jobs to dip 90 per cent of the island’s flock.

The LHSPA hit the farming headlines after Scottish Blackface and Suffolk sheep breeder Hannah, together with the help of friends and neighbours, used her contacts to orchestrate a mass sheep dipping on the island. An achievement she is hoping will lay the foundations for the spreading of the Farmstrong Scotland wellbeing message.

“It was a massive effort,” recalls Hannah. “There was the gathering of the sheep, pooling resources like dogs, and then co-ordinating wagons and trailers to get them to the dipping points. The dipping lorry takes such a lot of setting up it was very definitely a case of getting the sheep to them rather than the other way around.

“That traditional gathering and working of sheep, with all hands on deck, is something that has been lost a lot over the years. As the islands have changed there are less active crofters and those that are left tend to work more in isolation, with those special days when the entire population would be out helping pretty much a thing of the past. Although the sheep scab dipping was hard work to organise it was wonderful to recreate that old-fashioned community spirit of us all pulling together to help each other and get the job done.”

Hannah believes the mass round-up also highlighted how powerful collaboration can be, and the opportunity it poses for supporting wellbeing in a remote community. 

“The sheep producers’ association has regular talks and meetings, especially through the winter months, and my aim is to get somebody from Farmstrong over to talk to us,” says Hannah.

The charity advocates for those working and living within the agricultural sector to invest in their wellbeing so they have some reserves to draw on when times get tough. Research has shown that even simple things, such as noticing the nature around us, taking time to help a neighbour or leaving the quad bike in the shed and getting some exercise by walking to check your livestock can make a big difference.

“Historically farmers and crofters on the island have worked very closely together at times such as gathering and shearing. But with the majority of people now having a job off-croft such opportunities to come together are more limited. Often, with people not wanting to work with sheep on a Sunday, the only day free is a Saturday and it’s so hard to make that work for everybody. Also an issue is the general changing face of life in the islands, with less people looking after animals over a wider geographical area. There will be less than half a dozen people working the 46 crofts in my village, which means there aren’t too many people to help and inevitably it can be quite lonely.

“I’m probably a good example in that before the dipping I had never worked sheep communally with other people in all my 20 years crofting. It was a wonderful feeling to gather together and all work as a team like our ancestors would have done.

“It would be brilliant if we could transfer all the good that came out of the round-up we did for the dipping into spreading the Farmstrong message, particularly about the importance of social wellbeing.”

Hannah, who is mother to Freya, nine, Vaila, seven, Joseph, four, and Heidi who isn’t yet six months took over the tenancy of her croft from her grandfather in 2006 and runs 60 ewes and five cows, and her husband has 150 ewes and 25 cows.

“Things like selling meat packs have been a way of connecting with people, and I notice the difference that makes for my wellbeing” says Hannah. “Also, the social activities with the sheep association help hugely, but there is no getting away from the fact that the nature of farming is that we spend a lot of time by ourselves working with the animals - so the tips and advice from Farmstrong are very valuable to us.”

Farmstrong regularly host Walk & Talks on farms and crofts across Scotland, with the next one taking place at Atholl Estates on Wednesday 23 July. To see what’s on and book a place, visit www.farmstrongscotland.org.uk/events or to get in touch with the team about hosting an event at your farm or croft, email hello@farmstrongscotland.org.uk

Trio and Tested: three simple wellbeing suggestions from Hannah:

• Hannah has found reaching out to her local community through a campaign, has brought people together, who may have otherwise not connected.
• When you lead such a busy life, Hannah finds taking time to notice the small things helps hugely with her mental wellbeing and perspective.
• Hosting events, of any size, is a great way to bring people together, creating natural opportunities for connection and conversation.