Life on a remote Scottish farm that is working to feed the world
Between North Uist and the deserted island of Vallay, in the Outer Hebrides, there is a two-mile stretch of sand that only emerges from the granite-coloured, wind-lashed sea at low tide.
Every April, Angus MacDonald walks his herd of purebred cows across it, so that they can graze on Vallay’s rich machair grassland and seaweed, and give birth outdoors on clean ground. Every October, he walks them back, so that they can eat their fill of Uist’s thick heather, then in full bloom.
The cows they breed, which yield a unique-tasting organic meat, can trace their lineage back to the Balranald fold in the 14th century. They even have their own Facebook page.
MacDonald has been making this trek for nearly half a century. His mother, Ena, made it before him, as did her father. Even with such accumulated knowledge, that stretch of sand can be treacherous.
Exclusive pictures by We Feed the World photographer Sophie Gerrard
Read the full article in the Telegraph, first published 13th October 2018.