How to be a 21st-century crofter in the Scottish Highlands – with a new role for iconic hairy cows

Duirinish is a tiny and picturesque village in the north-west Highlands with panoramic views across the sea to the islands of Skye and Raasay.

Considered one of Scotland’s best-preserved crofting townships, it looks not dramatically different than it did in the 1800s.

Once upon a time it was home to more than 100 people and a host of local businesses.

Today fewer than 40 people live there, but there remains a strong connection with the traditional way of life.

Local resident Morag Mackenzie was born and bred here, just like several generations of her family before her.

She describes herself as “a child of Skye and Lochalsh”, with roots in both areas.

Growing up on a croft, existence was often tough.

Morag Mackenzie – seen here with one-year-old Rab – is a crofter in Duirinish, in the north-west Highlands of Scotland

From a young age she and her siblings were taught to help with all the tasks that needed doing about the place, from tending livestock to cutting hay and mending machinery.

And this early training would prove invaluable.

Her father died suddenly at the age of 40, leaving her mother alone to raise six children – the youngest just 15 months old.

Crofting can be tough

Morag Mackenzie and her family have been crofting in Duirinish for at least 200 years, following traditional runrig agricultural practices – today they have 25 Highland cattle and grow all the herd's winter fodder

“When my father was still alive he did a lot of the work,” she said.

“But we used to go out to the byre with him, and he taught us how to milk the cows.

“We learned about the stars and the moon and the tides, how they would affect cows when they were calving, how to work the land, all these different things.

“We all mucked in, every one of us.

Morag still has the original documentation from when her great-grandfather John Matheson ran the croft she now cares for – including the missives, which detail how the land was to be managed, and an old rent book showing the bi-annual payments he made back in 1869

“We would come home from school and get the coal in for the fire and sort the barn out.

“Myself and my twin sister Lily had a little jug each, and we used to milk the cow and fill them up.

“We would take the milk inside and our mother would sieve it through a muslin cloth, then we would have it warm at bedtime. Every night we did that.

“We used to go out and use the scythe mower to cut the field, something children nowadays would never be allowed to do.

“My father bought a new mower the year before he died, so we needed to service it at the end of each year.

“We had to drain all the fuel and clean the filters to have it all ready for starting again the following summer. We even used to sharpen the blades.”

Crofting can be tough and ingenuity is a necessity, but Morag believes there is no better life

Continuing the crofting tradition

She didn’t know it then but she would eventually take over the croft from her mother and marry a fellow crofter.

The land around Duirinish was originally farmed as a single unit.

Then in 1802 the village was turned into a crofting township, with arable land and common grazings divided between six families – some of whom had been forced from their previous homes in the Highland Clearances.

Later in the century the land was further divided, to allow more people to be supported.

In those days the population was almost triple its current size, with 107 people registered as residents in the 1891 census.

There were a number of local businesses too – three butchers, a couple of grocers, a grain store, a tailor and even an undertaker.

Now Morag and her husband Ian, along with their two daughters, their spouses and children. account for a quarter of the total head count in Duirinish.

They are all continuing the crofting tradition, but since it’s pretty much impossible to make a living from such small landholdings, they – like most crofters – have always had other jobs or side hustles on top.

Diversification is key

Ian worked for a bus company while Morag ran B&B from the home they built themselves after taking on their first croft in 1980.

They also refurbished the original croft house, which is now rented out on a long-term lease.

In recent years they have subdivided their land to give their daughters a chunk each, where they have been able to build homes and raise their own children.

They have eight crofts between them, working the fields on the old runrig system, with a herd of 25 – soon to be 28 – Highland cattle, reared for beef, and a few ducks.

They also run a significant proportion of the local enterprises now operating in the village.

Mary and husband Iain Dobson have opened the popular Croft Cafe, converted from an old barn on the croft, while sister Margaret-Ann and husband Michael Matheson run Duirinish Pods and Bothy, an award-winning holiday accommodation business.

And they have also launched a new, slightly unusual venture, which has come about through popular demand and is proving unexpectedly successful – Highland cow tours, allowing visitors to get up close to the iconic hairy beasts.

Morag herself can fully understand the attraction, admitting she often takes a walk out to spend time among them as a way of relaxing.

“Just listening to them breathing is like a kind of therapy,” she said.

Crofters have always had to adapt to survive and diversification is key in the 21st century, according to Morag.

“Climate change has changed the way you can do crofting now,” she said.

“We certainly don’t get the summers we used to get. You can’t really make hay up here now – some summers you could, but most years you can’t.

“We grow for silage, making all our own winter feed.

“We don’t buy in, except for a tonne of supplement in the form of mineral licks – because it’s so wet here, any goodness in the ground gets washed out and the cattle can’t get enough nutrients like magnesium through their feed.”

Life is sweet

But it’s not just fresh Highland air, bovine besties and breathtaking scenery keeping Morag such a picture of vitality.

She is never bored, there’s always something to be done – despite the fact that she’s meant to be taking life easier these days.

And there’s a well-kept beauty secret behind her youthful complexion.

“Udder cream,” she confided.

“I’ve been using it since I was in my 20s. There’s nothing like it.”