Farmer Bob Mitchell, who has died aged 78, was fond of telling how he met his wife, Betty.
He was walking up a stair at a young farmers’ dance in Stirling when he noticed that the young lady in front of him had marks round her legs.
The red marks, he recognised, had been caused by the young lady wearing wellington boots and Bob thought this confirmed she was hard working and that she would be an ideal wife to work alongside him on his dairy farm of Drumdreel outside Strathmiglo.
Marriage
That seemingly unromantic first meeting led to marriage in 1966 and a long and happy life including raising their family – Jane, Margo, Robert and Elis.
More recently they enjoyed the company of their 13 grandchildren up until Betty’s death seven years ago.
Bob always entered into activities with loads of enthusiasm and energy, and none more so than Scottish country dancing, where he could be heard shouting instructions across the floor to his partner.
Further proof that life was not all work as, after buying a timeshare in Tenerife, he and Betty enjoyed holidaying together and with friends.
Innovator
Although christened Robert, he was universally known as Bob. He was an innovative and successful farmer, always curious and often ahead in his thinking and planning.
He was born at Dasherhead, Stirling, but moved to Fife when only one after his father took the tenancy of Drumdreel.
The farm lies on what is known locally as the dry side of the Lomond Hills and he was one of the first farmers to install irrigation to ensure his grass and potato crops did not suffer from drought.
Modernisation
As a boy growing up on the dairy farm, he used to help his father in the byre milking cows but quickly introduced a more efficient system of milking cows with the installation of a herringbone parlour.
He also invested in a silage tower and, as well as storing forage, this became a landmark in the area.
These are but three of the innovations which he brought to his farming but he was also known to revert to a more traditional method of solving problems that occur even on the best-run farms.
Determination
Thus, when faced with a stubborn wheel nut or a rusted guard, Bob tackled them with gusto, some WD40 and a large hammer.
With the main enterprise on the farm being the production of milk, he joined the Scottish National Farmers Union milk committee after chairing Fife and Kinross area of the SNFU.
He also served as a board member of the Scottish Milk Marketing Board at a time when it was the sole buyer of milk
Dairy farming requires a strong discipline with cows to be milked twice a day.
This often made Bob late for meetings, although it might also be that he did not like to arrive early and, as he saw it, waste time.
People person
The strange thing was that he loved nothing more than meeting people and reckoned doing so would either make his day – or theirs.
Away from farming, Bob was a long-term elder in his local church and recently received a long-service medal in recognition of his service to the community.
Helping hand
As a farmer close to the outskirts of Strathmiglo, he was often called upon to help local residents with jobs requiring tractors, trailers or the farm forklift.
All it needed, as one local recalled, was a phone call, and Bob or one of his staff headed into town to sort the problem.
His was a full life, lived enthusiastically and with a fine balance between his work and contributing to the community.
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