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[Iain] Tha Dòmhnall ag obair aig a’ chomhairle. Tha e ag obair trì latha gu leth anns an t-seachdain. Tha e ag obair thall an Steòrnabhagh agus bidh e a’ dèanamh obair còmhla ri balaich nach eil a’ faighinn obair, balaich a tha an dèidh an sgoil fhàgail no a tha gus an sgoil fhàgail. Bidh e a’ lorg obair dhaibh ’s rudan mar sin.

[Sweeny] An-diugh tha aon de na clasaichean a’ tadhal air an lot agam mar phàirt den chùrsa aca agus tha coltas air feadhainn nach robh iad air lot a-riamh.

[Sweeny] See that’s how you dress for a day out. The only problem with that is it looks too clean, Iain Ruairidh.

[Sweeny] Tha mi fhìn a’ faighinn buannachd mhòr às an seo cuideachd oir tha e a’ còrdadh rium a bhith a’ toirt a’ chothroim seo dhaibh.

[Sweeny] That’s fine. Everyone else has? Yeah, John, you’ve done as well.

[Iain] Ach chan eil an òigridh seo, gu h-àraidh an fheadhainn ’s dòcha a thàinig a-mach à baile Steòrnabhaigh, chan eil eòlas aca no cha robh cleachdadh aca ri beathaichean agus tha ùidh aca anns an obair.

[Sweeny] Tha na balaich a’ dol a chuideachadh gus na caoraich a chruinneachadh. Bheir seo cothrom dhomh sùil cheart fhaighinn orra mus tig an geamhradh.

[Sweeny] Dè am feum a th’ air cù nuair a tha dusan balach agad?

[Sweeny] Dh’aithnicheadh tu nach robh eòlas aca air dè bha iad a’ dèanamh. Bha iad a’ dol dhan àite cheàrr uaireannan. A’ dol air cùl nan caorach a bha iad a’ feuchainn ri gluasad so b’ fheudar dhomh dìreach èigheach orra turas no dhà.

[Innes] Cha robh cù againn nuair a bha sinn ag èirigh an àird so ’s e mi fhìn a bha a’ ruith timcheall fad na h-ùine. Bha Dòmhnall dìreach a’ seasamh ann an sin agus bha mise a’ ruith air feadh an àite so dh’fhàs mi gu math luath, dh’fhàs mi really fed up ’s na làithean-sa tha mi dìreach finished. Can’t be bothered.

[Sweeny] Tha e nas fhasa nuair a tha, dè th’ againn, nach eil dusan duine gan toirt a-steach. Dà mhionaid gan coiseachd so cha leig thu leas tòrr ruith a dhèanamh. Many hands make light work, nach e sin a bhios iad ag ràdh?

[Sweeny] That’s a Suffolk cross that one and the other one, see the one with the black collar over there, big ears and a black collar, that’s another Suffolk-cross there so yeah we just got mainly Cheviots, blackfaces in here. That one’s got something wrong with its eye. I’ll have to go and look at that one. Who’s cold?

[Balach] Me.

[Sweeny] Och, clann an latha an-diugh!

[Sweeny] That one, it’s an old thing. She must have caught it somewhere and just had a bit of a scratch. That’s just the type of sheep they are. The breeds are all slightly different faces. So we’ll head back to the ... we’ll head back in now unless you’ve got any questions about the sheep.

[Balach] How many have you got?

[Sweeny] You know you never ask anybody that. It goes back to the days when people ... when your subsidy, the money that you got was dependant on how many animals you had so people, somebody might have said “well I’ve got fifty sheep” when he’s actually only got thirty five. So you never asked because it might be different to what you’ve got officially. That’s what it was.

[Balach] But you can tell us now.

[Sweeny] Yeah well there’s seventy here, I told you.

[Sweeny] Tha iad gu math dìcheallach. Bha e a’ cur dragh orm dè cho dìcheallach ’s a bhiodh iad le na beathaichean ron seo, mus tàinig iad, ach tha ùidh gu leòr aca sa chuspair an-dràst’. Bha sinn a’ bruidhinn airbreeds eadar-dhealaichte agus tha na rùide ’s epure breeds a th’ ann so chì iad cò ris a tha a h-uile breed eadar-dhealaichte, cò ris a tha iad coltach.

[Sweeny] Tha mi a’ smaoineachadh gu bheil iad air tòrr ionnsachadh an-diugh.

[Innes] Tha Dòmhnall math le daoine eile ach family is always the hardest people to get along with. Agus a h-uile turas a bha mi fhìn a’ dèanamh rudeigin ceàrr bha Dòmhnall dìreach a’ dol “dè tha thu a’ dèanamh? Carson nach deach thu thall ann an siud?What’s wrong with you?” ’s rudan mar sin so dh’fhàs mi fed up gu math luath, dìreach a h-uile seachdain, a h-uile Disathairne a’ dol a-mach gu na caoraich, dìreach Dòmhnall no cuideigin ag èigheach orm agus bha mi, bha mi rudeigin hopeless le na caoraich co-dhiù so aig an deireadh cha do chòrd e rium idir.

Chaidh am prògram seo, An Lot, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 2015. Le taing do MacTV.

[Iain] Donald works at the council. He spends three and a half days a week there. He works over in Stornoway and he works with lads that can’t get work, lads that have left school or who are about to leave school. He finds work for them and things like that.

[Sweeny] Today one of the classes is visiting my croft as part of their course and some appear to have never been on a croft.

[Sweeny] See that’s how you dress for a day out. The only problem with that is it looks too clean, Iain Ruairidh.

[Sweeny] I get a lot from this too as I enjoy giving them this opportunity.

[Sweeny] That’s fine. Everyone else has? Yup, John, you’ve done as well.

[Iain] But these youngsters, especially the ones that perhaps came out of Stornoway, they don’t know or they’re not used to animals and they’re interested in the work.

[Sweeny] The boys are going to help round the sheep. This will give me an opportunity to get a proper look at them before the winter comes.

[Sweeny] What use is a dog when you’ve got twelve lads?

[Sweeny] You’ll see that they didn’t know what they were doing. They went to the wrong place sometimes. Going behind the sheep that they were trying to move so I had to just shout at them a couple of times.

[Innes] We didn’t have a dog when we were growing up so it was me that ran around all the time. Donald just stood there and I ran all over the place so I very quickly became, I became really fed-up and these days I’m just finished. Can’t be bothered.

[Sweeny] It’s easier when, what’ve we got, there’s twelve people taking them in. Two minutes walking them so you don’t need to do a lot of running. Many hands make light work, isn’t that what they say?

[Sweeny] That’s a Suffolk cross that one and the other one, see the one with the black collar over there, big ears and a black collar, that’s another Suffolk-cross there so yeah we just got mainly Cheviots, blackfaces in here. That one’s got something wrong with its eye. I’ll have to go and look at that one. Who’s cold?

[Lad] Me.

[Sweeny] Och, kids today!

[Sweeny] That one, it’s an old thing. She must have caught it somewhere and just had a bit of a scratch. That’s just the type of sheep they are. The breeds are all slightly different faces. So we’ll head back to the ... we’ll head back in now unless you’ve got any questions about the sheep.

[Lad] How many have you got?

[Sweeny] You know you never ask anybody that. It goes back to the days when people ... when your subsidy, the money that you got was dependant on how many animals you had so people, somebody might have said “well I’ve got fifty sheep” when he’s actually only got thirty five. So you never asked because it might be different to what you’ve got officially. That’s what it was.

[Balach] But you can tell us now.

[Sweeny] Yeah well there’s seventy here, I told you.

[Sweeny] They are very diligent. It was bothering me just how diligent they would be with the animals before this, before they came, but they’ve enough interest in the matter just now. We were talking about different breeds and the rams they’re pure breeds so they can see what every different breed, what they look like.

[Sweeny] I think that they’ve learnt lots today.

[Innes] Donald is good with other people but family is always the hardest people to get along with. Every time that I did something wrong Donald would just go “what are you doing? Why didn’t you go over there? What’s wrong with you?” and things like that so I became fed up very quickly, just every week, every Saturday going out to the sheep, just Donald or someone shouting at me and I was, I was somewhat hopeless with the sheep anyway so in the end I didn’t enjoy it at all.

This programme, An Lot, was first broadcast in 2015. Courtesy of MacTV