This Farming Life

On Mull, new entrant farmers Janet and Alastair take their lambs to auction, inDumfries and Galloway, three generations of the Roan dairy-farming family enter a cow and a young heifer into competition at the South West Scotland Dairy Show, and in Argyll, hill farmers David and Sandra prepare for autumn by gathering in their sheep for a mineral dose and spreading slurry, while in the far north in the Highlands, crofters Robin and Penny's cattle are tested for bovine TB.

Our old friends newlyweds Mel and Martin Irvine return to the series and introduce their newest member of the family, four-month-old Erin. In Fife, buffalo farmer Stevie must select a new breeding bull from hisherd. Highland crofters Robin and Penny chase a runaway calf and Alastair has to leave Janet alone on Mull while he travels to the mainland to take an important deer-stalking test.

On Mull, Janet and Alastair put Owen, their new young virgin tup, to the test. Stevie risks the wrath of the buffalo mums when he ear-tags four newborn calves, early snow on the Western Highlands helps David gather his sheep and Martin, Mel and Erin hope for a windfall at the Carlisle bull sales.

As winter arrives, Stevie experiments with a radical buffalo feeding idea, David is anxious to find out if his cows are in calf, dairy farmers the Roan family set up a milkshake stand at the Dalbeattie Christmas lights-on event and Robin and Penny's family arrive in the Highlands for the annual festive ceilidh.

Dairy farmers Steven and Tracey Roan turn to technology to increase their chances of female calves, David and Sandra's hefted sheep go back to their homes on the hill, Janet and Alistair's new purchases prove problematic and Stevie and stockman Eddie go all out to save the life of a buffalo calf.

Alone on the farm, Mel must act fast to help a trapped bull, the Holstein Society assessor comes to judge the merits of the Roans' herd, an avian flu scare puts Robin and Penny's hens on lockdown and David is called to the rescue when a cow gets stuck in a bog.

Spring is in the air. On Mull, Highland cow Goldilocks gives Janet and Alastair a fright when a calving goes wrong.

Lambing and calving are in full swing. In Drummuir, Mel tries every trick in the book to help a first-time mum bond with her lambs.

Weaning time at the buffalo farm gives Stevie and his neighbours a sleepless night and a milk fever epidemic puts David and Sandra's cows in peril.

In Appin, David is beset by pests, and out on the hill his lambs are under threat from predators. In the Highlands, Robin and Penny makes use of the fine weather to cut peat, a cow undergoes open stomach surgery at the Roans' dairy farm, and Stevie decides to give his retired bull 007 a new assignment.

The sun is out and in the south of Scotland dairy farmers the Roans are struck down by silage fever; Janet and Alastair take a road trip to the mainland and find something very unusual in a group of young female sheep; crofters Robin and Penny's hopes for making money rest on sales of meat and pies at the biggest local food event of the year; and Stevie test-drives his new burger grill at Perth Races Ladies' Day.

It is midsummer and, in the final episode of the series, David and Sandra have to shear the sheep and start to train a month-old foal. Dairy farmers Stuart and Aylett Roan take a break from the cows to prepare for piglets, Robin and Penny's hay harvest is threatened by the weather, and Stevie reveals big plans for the future of his buffalo business.