Michael Wale meets one brave family who swapped Dubai sun for snowy Scotland to pursue a new life as red deer farmers…
Going from the daily guaranteed warmth of Dubai to the shivering cold of a Scottish winter would not be a travel agent’s first offer and advice. But that was the choice of a successful Indian business couple when they decided on a total life change to become farmers. Suryaveer and Bonita Rathore had no experience of farming, but they are a determined couple, which brought them the success that made it affordable to change course in mid-life.
Bonita reflects.”We wanted a life that was linked closer to nature, more real. Dubai is a wonderful place, it is warm all the time, it is beautiful . You can get anything you want, as soon as you have wished it, then it is delivered to your home. But here in Scotland we have to do every thing by ourselves. We need to work with nature, be patient and be part of the seasons.”
In fact those remarks are a rarity, because they were made by one of the couple, when usually they are prone to speak together, remaining as excited as ever about the different life they chose. But like the business man he always will be, Suryaveer admits that he did a lot of research before the couple made their great move.
His research led them to the idea of farming red deer. He found that there was not a regular supply of venison to eat, because the trade was based mainly on wild deer which is hunted seasonally. This resulted in there not being a continuous supply of venison year around. Venison quality and taste changes drastically with the age of the animal which can’t be controlled in the wild but quite easily done when doing park style or farming. The animals are reared in a stress-free environment. There is no red meat in the market which is so lean, almost replicating salmon omega ratios and best of all, it’s a sustainable, healthy native species. It was these factors that led them towards what they are doing today.
The Rathore’s story is quite remarkable. They readily admit that when they arrived in Scotland they knew absolutely nothing about farming, dealing with heating boilers (which stopped working in the first couple of weeks) and frozen water pipes. Their children were with them, and they all became quite ill by the sudden change in climate, the huge drop in temperature. But once they got over their stuttering beginnings, they soon set about building their new future.
They have a relative in Glasgow, which is why they decided to find a farm for sale in Ayrshire, which is to the south of the city, in the Southwest of Scotland. In fact they had previously spent holidays in Scotland, and as part of his research Suryaveer often visited over a two year period.
But nothing had prepared them for what they were to face. For a start they were surprised by how little knowledge about deer farming was generally available to newcomers from outside, and in the area they had chosen to settle they were surprised by how few deer farms were available. But they got lucky in finding a farm that was for sale.They bought it immediately and found that their nearest neighbour was at least a mile away. To start with they bought 80 hinds, but before they could take delivery there was fencing to be constructed and fitted, even though they had no previous knowledge of how to do it. They started by fencing off one field, which they gradually increased to five. At the start there was plenty of basic information to be had from Scottish Agriculture Consulting, part of the Scottish Government…
This article extract was taken from the March 2025 edition of The Country Smallholder. To read the article in full, you can buy the issue here.
