The curious case of the swimming Scottish cows

WHEN IT COMES to moving his cows from one island to another, crofter Iain Macdonald from Skye takes a rather unusual approach.

He is the last person on Scotland to move his cows across the sea to their island grazing ground for the winter by sea. Iain is thought to be the last person in Scotland to move his animals this way.

His 19 cows took around 15 minutes to swim approximately 100 metres from Skye to nearby Staffin island, where they will graze for three months.

Macdonald, who is 80, first swam the cows over to the island in 1950, and used to swim with them himself. Put as you can see from the photos, the octogenarian, who lives on Skye, now accompanies them by boat.

The curious case of the swimming Scottish cows

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On the new island
Mid swim
Swimming
In the sea
Arriving on land
On their way

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