One of the north’s best-known faces in the farming community recently retired from ANM Group after 30 years’ service to the firm.
Ian Macleay, who is originally from Ardgay, and now farms with his wife Joyce Campbell at Armadale, in Sutherland, has worked for 47 years in the livestock industry.
Over the years, he has become a popular and friendly face across Caithness, Sutherland, Easter Ross and the Black Isle, making lifelong friends with customers.
Mr Macleay started out in May, 1976, as a young clerk at the old Hamilton’s Auction Mart in Thurso and spent seven years working for the company, before moving on to be an auctioneer at Dingwall Mart in 1983.
“I always remember finishing school on the Friday, getting a phone call on the Saturday and starting the new job on the Monday,” said Mr Macleay.
“As a youngster, I spent my holidays with family in Caithness so I stayed with them. When I moved up to Thurso, I took the train and I had a moped at the time. It came on the train too – that’s how good it was.”
He said his first ever wage as a clerk was £12 per week and after learning the ropes and keeping up to speed with the auctioneer, he got his first stint at selling in 1982.
As well as his auctioneering career with Dingwall, he also worked four years as a livestock agent for Highlands Islands Livestock Limited in the west and also as a livestock buyer for Grants of Dornoch.
It was in 1992 when he took on the role as fieldsperson with Aberdeen and Northern Marts, covering the ground from Inverness, right up to the north and into East Sutherland to source cattle and sheep for both Thainstone and Quoybrae.
“The late Brian Pack and John Gregor are the ones I have to thank for giving me a job I have enjoyed so much over the years,” he said.
“We all worked through some very tough times such as foot-and-mouth, and the BSE outbreak which obviously took a bigger toll on the industry than the recent COVID pandemic.
“They were there for us and steered us through these difficult times, setting up video sales to allow the firm to continue trading.”
In his job, Mr Macleay put in long hours, took many phone calls and travelled tens of thousands of miles every year, including his commute from Armadale to Quoybrae, which takes roughly 45 minutes.
He also put a huge amount of time and effort into organising haulage for animals heading south to Thainstone or to abattoirs, and was in Thainstone in the spring and the back end walking the ring.
Mr Macleay said that if customers were good enough to give him his stock, the least he could do would be to go to Thainstone and see the job to the conclusion.
Many of his loyal customers in the north would travel with him to Thainstone to source breeding stock and he would also buy on behalf of them, something he continued to do at a bulling heifer sale last week.
“I’ve worked with grandfathers, fathers and now sons all from the same family – that’s got to be one of the best bits from my career,” said Mr Macleay.
“There’s been a lot of changes since I started though, particularly the types of cattle that are sold through the ring compared to back then and how fewer people there are now working on the farms.
“I used to go onto farms and there would be the farmer, a shepherd and a tractor man. The farms are quieter places now.”
When asked what his highlight was during his career, Mr Macleay said: “Just getting through a successful sale in the back end was a highlight and doing well for your customers.”
