When I got the email to say I was the sole member selected to represent Macra na Feirme on the Scottish exchange this year, I couldn’t believe my luck. But little did I know that was just the start of what would be one of the best trips of my life.

I landed in Edinburgh on the Monday evening and was immediately whisked off to meet some of the Scottish association of young farmers’ club committee members for dinner, along with my fellow exchangees from Northern Ireland and Wales.

The following morning was an early start for a tour of Mary King’s Close, the National Museum of Scotland and Johnnie Walker’s whiskey exhibition. That evening, we were shipped off to our host families in Lanarkshire for the next week, which would be one of the busiest weeks imaginable.

However, before we could meet our hosts, there was the matter of a bit of sheep stockjudging to attend to!

The following morning we were up bright and early and were treated to breakfast in the cafe run by my host family in Carluke, which was followed by a farm tour to the Jolly Jersey farm. We got to sample their milkshakes and ice cream made exclusively from milk produced by their Jersey herd and sold straight from the farm through vending machines. This was followed by a trip to Hamilton Races, which was a very exciting day out.

The next day, we toured Park Farm, where a herd of 450 cows were being milked by eight Lely robots and they had set up their own processing plant to deliver their milk to their customers’ doorsteps. This was followed by a visit to the local driving range to test our skills (which were pretty much non-existent).

We took a break from farm tours on the Friday, instead being taken clay-pigeon shooting and go-karting, which was an interesting change of scenery for all involved. On Saturday, we were taken to Roadhead Farm, where over 1,000 cows are milked in a 70-point rotary parlour. This was made even more impressive by the fact they produce all of their own feedstuffs on site, and supply it to many farms in the vicinity.

After a busy week, there was a welcome lie-in on the Sunday, which was followed by a trip to Biggar on the Monday for a tour of Taylor’s ice cream factory, where we got to sample more ice cream than you could eat, including the bacon and maple syrup flavour, which is much nicer than it sounds.

After this, we were off to Avondale for a day of sheep-shearing in preparation for our return to Edinburgh for the Royal Highland Show.

Our trip to the Highland Show started an evening early at the young farmers’ barndance where we were reunited with our fellow exchangees sent to other districts, as well as everyone we had met throughout our week on tour.

We were given free rein to visit the trade stands and admire the livestock and machinery over the next couple of days and were invited to any of the receptions held in the Young Farmers Centre.

All in all, it was a jam-packed trip of meeting new people, touring farms and gathering new ideas to bring home. I also can’t thank the SAYFC enough for their generous hospitality. I would highly recommend the trip to anyone who is in a position to go.