Fourth-generation Mackie relishes top job Mac is ready to harvest the cream of the crop

Aware that to some he must appear to be the ultimate spoiled brat, handed the top job of managing director in the high-profile Mackie's family business this year, he says it was no foregone conclusion.

''My two sisters and I were firmly encouraged to follow other career paths, and I have to say that in my teens I longed to escape from farming - I was never one of those intense farming types who talked about little else.''

Two years' schooling at Rugby opened his eyes still wider to the attractions of the business world outside farming and he went on to study law, completing his traineeship with Peterkins in Aberdeen.

Not entranced with the profession, he left after three years to do an MBA at Edinburgh, finding finance to be his forte.

Back in the job market, Mac decided to join the family's campaign to make Mackie's ice-cream better known south of the Border, spending 1992 in London in a sales development role.

''We already had some business with the supermarkets and our intention was to try to break into the smaller chains and the independents, but we had no brand presence, no big marketing spend and it was hard going, trying to find ways into the big stores to speak to managers.

''The best thing about that year was just how much I learned about doing business, about the retail sector, about marketing - it certainly wasn't time wasted.''

A move back to farm headquarters at Westertown, Rothienorman, in 1993 to become finance director coincided with a time of massive change for the family business - most notably the decision to sell the milk retail portion to Wisemans - giving Mac the opportunity to put his financial expertise to the test.

''I'm prone to suggesting that there are too many creative people around here and there can also be too much emotional attachment to certain areas of the business.

''I am more interested in the farm side again - especially in making it profitable - but, having been away for a while, I feel I bring a certain detachment, some logic, and there's no doubt I was most in favour of our clinching the deal with Wisemans.''

With that move freeing up what Mac's father, Maitland, famously called his war-chest, Mac is now charged with fulfiling the family's vision of profitable farming and profitable ice-cream making, all within an enhanced agricultural environment.

The current pressures on agriculture are obviously giving some concern but Mac and farms director Gavin Dick - who oversees the family's 1750 acres which carry dairy, pig and arable enterprises - also see new opportunities and have several plans for the future, including expansion of the dairy herd and the accumulation of more acres to keep them.

The half-Jersey half-Holstein herd is likely to include even more Jerseys within the next 18 months, with numbers hopefully increasing from 400 to 600.

Gavin and Mac decided to introduce Jerseys to the milking herd when the price of cream for the ice-cream business became much too high, and they now find they are just as efficient as the Holsteins, good for PR and excellent in terms of improving the quality of Mackie's ice-cream.

''Farming is getting tougher and we see keeping more cows on one site with the same fixed costs as one way to help make us more efficient.

''We also have a target to grow our ice-cream business by 20% per year, and increasing Jersey numbers will allow us to use even more of our own milk for ice-cream in future.''

Whatever the management decisions taken, the financial implications are carefully scrutinised with Mac adamant that costs are allocated to each sector as fairly as possible. Senior management - including sisters Kirstin, who is development manager, and Karin, executive director - are also expected to meet with Mac in one formal meeting each week, with each encouraged to have what he calls ''freedom and power''.

Company chairman Maitland is also subject to the same strictures but is less easy to pin down.

''It is difficult to keep Dad in check - he always thinks all his ideas are great, for a start, and he's also very busy off-farm. Thankfully, we are quite different personalities so the relationship works; the same goes for my two sisters, who also joined the business because they really wanted to.

''We have our own thoughts and opinions, but we all get on very well and we all work very well together as a board.''

Becoming ''the boss'' at Westertown - with a total of 85 employees - has changed his focus and mostly means a 12-hour day from a 7.30am start, but Mac says he has had no qualms about fitting into the role. He also feels fortunate to have the opportunity.

He is conscious that senior figures in many other family businesses hang on to the reins for far too long, effectively stultifying the aspirations of the next generation.

With both farming and ice-cream very capital intensive businesses, Mac says he realises he is not in for an easy ride.

He has no desire to become involved in agri-politics but, like all involved with the land, is keeping a weather eye on developments here and in Europe.

He sees ever greater efficiency as one of the keys to the future, and among several avenues being investigated is the siting of a wind generator on the top of the hill to provide half of Westertown's electricity needs.

Looking ahead, Mac says he sees the business growing a lot more. While it is already sizeable, he says there is no challenge in just holding the status quo for the next 30 years.

''We are trying to build a successful business and a different one - we like the fact that we have a big manufacturing unit here on the farm. I am keen to develop what we've got, to maximise our cash position and our net worth and also to create something a bit special.

''We've been carrying out a lot of tree planting, for example; we're about to create an arboretum and we have plans to improve our roadways and old buildings. It's a matter of balance - to keep the company strong, at the same time, to try to do what we would like to do.''