Life With Pollok Country Park: ‘I have the joy of working with one of the best known cattle breeds in the world’

Fourteen years ago Melissa Curran was a city girl who had never been around cattle. Now, an assistant livestock supervisor, she helps care for Pollok Country Park’s herd of 73 Highland Cows.

She talks to us about mucking out, calving season and the joy the cows bring to visitors.

My work day starts at 8am. The first job is to check and feed all the cattle starting with those in the pens. Our sheds are full to the brim, so there are lots of pens to be cleaned and refreshed daily. After I have checked and made sure all are accounted for and looking content, I like to muck out and bed the pens while my colleague puts out hay.

At this time of the year we are still feeding all the cattle with hay and we are calving, so most of our time is taken up with that. We are also getting ready for show season so we have those inside to be fed, halter trained, washed and combed. We also do a number of talks during the year and we can spend a lot of time talking to the public, who have a huge interest in the Highland Cattle.

‘This will be my fourteenth year here and I’ll never look back.’

Right now, we have 28 cows and followers, taking our total up to 73 at present. Highland Cattle are known for being low maintenance, needing very little assistance during calving season, but as we have ours in a country park, which has thousands of visitors every month, it is paramount for us to be very hands on with the cattle. As they spend the majority of their lives outside, it is important they have access to everything they need and it is our job to ensure they get it. 

‘I’m a city girl who had never worked with or been around cattle’

Seeing the joy in people’s faces as the new born calves frolic in the fields is amazing. I meet new people most mornings who are just stopping on their way to work to see how the cows are doing. Having something like this in the middle of the biggest city in Scotland is so unique and we are all lucky to be part of it. 

I’m a city girl who had never worked with or been around cattle until I started with Glasgow City Council at Pollok Country Park in 2010 on a get ready for work programme. It was quite the adjustment to get used to working with such big animals with big horns, but I loved the challenge. 

Working at the park has given me the opportunity to meet some amazing people and do things I never thought possible for a girl from the northside of Glasgow. This will be my fourteenth year here and I’ll never look back. I have recently become a judge for the Highland Cattle Society.

‘I meet new people most mornings who are just stopping on their way to work to see how the cows are doing.’

My job is so unusual, which is great. Not only do I have the joy of working with one of the best known breeds of cattle in the world, but I also get to interact and educate the public at the same time. One minute you could be watching a cow calve, the next you could be taking a school group around and telling them all about the process.

‘I have the joy of working with one of the best known breeds of cattle in the world’

It’s a huge loss when any of the calves die. Luckily it doesn’t happen often, but we recently had a cow calve at 4am and the calf was very badly breech. Unfortunately we couldn’t save it in time and the calf died.

I finish up around 4pm but we are on call all night. We take turns, but usually if we get a call out it requires more than one person. During calving season we pop by about 8pm or 9pm to check all the cattle again and we have a camera to look in at any time. Looking after livestock is not a job, but a lifestyle and unfortunately you have little time to relax or switch off. When I get home and have the chance, I love to zone out with the TV on in the background and let my brain just chill.

Read more from the Life With series here.

Subscribe to read the latest issue of Scottish Field.