The next meeting of the Sutherland Monitor Farm will focus on the important, but often neglected, topics of achieving lifestyle balance and succession planning.

At the meeting, which will be held at Brora Golf Club on Tuesday 30th January, Heather Wildman from Saviour Associates will lead a workshop aimed at supporting local farmers and crofters to plan and tackle this often rather sensitive subject.

“When you are busy running a business, it can be difficult to find time to consider long term succession planning. However, it makes sense to consider succession planning at an early stage if you wish to secure the success of your business for the next generation,” said Mrs Wildman.

Mrs Wildman, who has published a guide to succession aimed at farmers and crofters, will suggest ways for those who attend the meeting to work with their families and prepare for their own succession.

She will also address some of the reasons why those involved in farming too often avoid planning for succession and suggest some questions farmers and crofters should ask themselves at that start of the process. 

Victoria Ballantyne from Clynelish, the Sutherland Monitor Farm, is hoping this meeting will help support farmers and crofters in the area who are looking for ways to tackle this sometimes emotive subject.

“Succession is often a subject that many families fear and dread and as a result they find it difficult to talk about,” said Mrs Ballantyne. “We hope that this meeting will help to address that and encourage farming families on the best way to open up the dialogue on this topic and prepare for the future.”

Victoria Ballantyne and her husband Jason are strong advocates of establishing a good work life balance. “Vic and I both believe that it’s crucial to have a good work life balance. As most farmers live and work in the same place it can be really difficult for them to switch off,” said Mr Ballantyne.

He added: “We both enjoy rugby, socialising and travelling so have set up the farm to minimise work at weekends. Our simplified system means someone can come in and look after things without it being too complicated or time consuming. This gives us a chance to get away, enjoy ourselves and unwind.”

After lunch, the group will visit Clynelish farm where the Ballantynes will give an overview of how their winter grazing system has been working and share the recent calf weights with the group. Clynelish have previously sold their store calves at Thainstone at the end of March when they are around 10 months old. This year there have decided to keep some of the angus cross heifers for replacements and finish around a dozen of their angus cross steers. They will also unveil their plans for the Sutherland monitor farm for 2018.

Clynelish Farm is one of nine monitor farms established in Scotland as part of a joint initiative by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds with funding from the Scottish Government. The aim of the monitor farm programme is to help improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of Scottish farm businesses.

The meeting at Brora Golf Club on 30th January, which is free to attend and open to all, will begin at 11am, with coffee/registration from 10.30am.

If you are interested in attending the next Sutherland Monitor farm meeting can you please confirm your attendance with the facilitators Willie Budge or Cat MacGregor by phoning SAC Thurso on 01847 892602 or emailing FBSThurso@sac.co.uk

Soils expert Mark Hodkinson will emphasize just how much yield potential farmers could be missing out on due to poor drainage systems at the next Lothians Monitor Farm meeting on 25 January.

Mark says: “Drainage is one of the major limiting factors for farmers looking to improve their yields, whether of arable crops or grass, but it can be costly. I argue however that drainage systems are well worth the investment as poor drainage results in a genuine decrease in yields and profit as the land may be being farmed at a fraction of its potential.”

At the meeting Mark will take the community group through recognising and treating drainage issues and outline the potential cost benefit in investing in new systems.

“The best thing about investing in drainage systems is that they should be paid off in a matter of years thanks to the extra yield the improved land will produce,” he explains, “and as they last such a long time the improvement to the bottom line will continue for decades.”

The group will also hear from Andrew Stirrat of Pro Test on fertiliser basics. His very practical session will cover how to make the best use of fertiliser through targeting the right areas, checking your spreader is performing effectively and of course tackling striping which can lead to increased lodging risk, yield loss and decreased quality.

With the increase in sheep numbers at Saughland Farm ensuring a healthy flock is a priority for Farm Manager Peter Eccles and a local SAC Consulting Vet will present on fluke and worm control. Also at the meeting, Emily Grant, Knowledge Transfer Specialist from Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), will give an overview of the ‘Better Grazing’ programme which aims to help farmers identify opportunities to improve their utilisation of grazed grass.

“Good grazing management can help reduce costs such as purchased feed, but it can also have a positive impact on flock or herd health & performance” Emily said.

The Lothians Monitor farm – a partnership between neighbouring farms Saughland and Prestonhall – is one of nine new monitor farms established in Scotland as part of a joint initiative by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds with funding from the Scottish Government. The aim of the monitor farm programme is to help improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of Scottish farm businesses.

The meeting on 25 January will be held at the Juniperlea Inn, Pathhead, EH37 5TE, all are welcome and the event is free. Tea and coffee will be available from 10am and lunch will be provided, however for catering purposes those interested in coming along on 25 January should confirm attendance with Colin MacPhail on 07747 046461 or at colin@macphailconsulting.co.uk. The meeting is expected to finish by 2.30pm.

Farmers are invited to the next meeting of the North Ayrshire Monitor Farm on Friday 26 January.

The focus of the meeting will be a review of the first year as a monitor farm and the plans to improve the profitability and sustainability of their business.

Girtridge Farm, which is managed by John Howie in partnership with his mother Margaret and sister Mary, finished 220 cattle last year, all of which are housed over the winter.

At the meeting on 26 January, which begins at Girtridge Farm, Dundonald at 10.30am, there will be an opportunity to view the progress of the installation of a new cattle handling system on the farm. There will also be a chance for the group to discuss the proposed changes to the cattle sheds in order to improve ventilation, minimise respiratory problems and improve livestock performance in the housed cattle.

Mr Howie, is keen to receive feedback from local farmers about how his family’s farm’s performance can be improved. He will share Girtridge’s performance figures and costings for 2017 and invite suggestions from the group for ideas for how the business can develop in 2018 and beyond.

Following lunch at a nearby Inn, Stephen Burns, Project and Technical Manager at the Agricultural Engineering Precision Innovation (Agri-EPI) Centre will give a presentation to the group.

The Agri-EPI Centre has been established to drive growth and support innovative ideas to help farmers and business owners become more profitable and sustainable. 

It has over 140 members and brings together leading academic institutions with industry partners to design and develop research and innovations that will support growth in the food and farming sectors.

John Howie is looking forward to hearing how new technology can be adopted on farm to help farmers in Ayrshire.

“As farmers we are constantly trying to find ways to increase our businesses’ efficiency and profitability, so I am intrigued to learn more about the Agri-EPI centre’s support of innovative products to help livestock enterprises become more sustainable,” said Mr Howie.   

The North Ayrshire Monitor Farm is one of nine monitor farms that have been established across Scotland in a joint initiative by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds, with funding from the Scottish Government. The aim of the programme is to help improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of Scottish farm businesses.

The meeting on 26 January at Girtridge Farm, Dundonald, KA2 9BX will begin at 10.30am. Lunch will be provided and the meeting is expected to finish by 3pm. All are welcome and the event is free.

For catering purposes, those interested in coming along on 26 January should confirm attendance by calling 01292 525252 or emailing FBSAyr@sac.co.uk

The first Shetland Monitor farm meeting of 2018 will focus on finishing cattle and sheep for markets both on and off Shetland.

The meeting will be held in two parts, with the first part on Sunday 14^th January looking at the finishing process on farm. This will be held at Kergord Farm, courtesy of GB & AM Anderson.

The Andersons buy in 100-150 mainly continental cross cattle each year from farms across Shetland and occasionally Orkney, and finish them for the local market on Shetland. They also have a breeding flock of 750 cross ewes and 300 Shetland ewes. The majority of their lambs are sold to farms outwith Shetland for finishing, however they also finish some of their own lambs each year for the local market.

At the meeting, Poppy Frater, Sheep Specialist with SAC Consulting, part of SRUC, will give a presentation on lamb finishing rations and Derek Hanton from SAC Consulting will lead discussion on finishing cattle. Around an hour will be spent on the farm assessing cattle which are at a variety of stages in the finishing process.

The group will then move to Shetland Mart at Lerwick where Lauraine Manson, manager of the Shetland abattoir, will give an overview of what local markets require in terms of grades and specification.

Local farmers and crofters will be able to see a selection of live lambs of different ages and breeds and members of the group will have an opportunity to grade lambs themselves prior to slaughter.

To provide a contrast to the continental cross cattle seen at Kergord, Robert Ramsay of South Collafirth, Ollaberry has kindly agreed to bring in two or three Shetland cattle that are nearing slaughter condition for members of the group to see and discuss. Lunch will be provided and the meeting will finish at 3pm.

The second part of the meeting, which takes place on the evening of Monday 15^th January, will offer an opportunity for local farmers and crofters to visit the abattoir based at Shetland Mart.

Those who come along will be able to see the same lambs that were graded live, the day before, hanging on the hook in the chill. It is hoped to have various types of lambs available, from pure Shetland lambs to cross lambs from terminal sires such as Texels and Suffolks so that their carcases can be compared. Depending on what was killed the previous week there may also be cattle carcases in the chill to inspect and discuss.

Most of the youngstock from the monitor farm run by the Budge family are sold at a year old as store calves, but in 2017, encouraged by the monitor farm community group, they decided to finish around 15 head of cattle.

“Up until this year, our calves have usually been sold at Lerwick auction market at a year old and a target weight of 500kg. However, this summer we finished 15 of our calves, which were sold to our local butcher at an approximate deadweight of 350kg,” said Aimee Budge.

Kirsty Budge added: “At the moment we sell most of our lambs as stores but we also finish some which are sold at Aberdeen and Northern Marts.

“This two-part meeting will give us, and everyone who attends, a great insight into different potential marketing opportunities as well as practical guidance on grading and achieving target specifications.”

The Shetland Monitor Farm is one of nine monitor farms that have been established across Scotland in a joint initiative by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds, with funding from the Scottish Government. The aim of the programme is to help improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of Scottish farm businesses.

The Shetland Monitor Farm meeting is open and free for all farmers and crofters to attend, though booking is essential for this meeting.

If you would like to attend one, or both parts of the meeting, please contact the project facilitator Graham Fraser, SAC Consulting Lerwick on 01595 693520 by Wednesday 10 January, or email frbslerwick@sac.co.uk

Optimising farming systems has emerged as the stand out theme of the first year of the Monitor Farm Scotland programme.

Each and every one of the nine farms in the programme is working hard to ensure they have the right systems in place for their farm, and are then reviewing elements with their farmer business groups to ensure they are as efficient as possible.

Nine monitor farms have been established in Scotland last year as part of a joint initiative by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds with funding from the Scottish Government. Monitor farms can be found in Nithsdale, Scottish Borders, North Ayrshire, Lothians, Angus, Lochaber, Morayshire, Sutherland and Shetland.

“It’s really heartening to see all our farms are making the most of this opportunity to ensure their enterprises are sustainable in the long-term,” said Gavin Dick, AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds Knowledge Exchange Manager.

He added: “Across the entire programme we are seeing practices reviewed and tightened up, both in arable and livestock, and all the farms have business groups which are benchmarking so they can compare both where they are performing strongly and also where they might be lagging behind.”

Many of the farms have focused on grass management, both in terms of grass quality and in the use of rotational grazing for both cattle and sheep. Sutherland Monitor Farm is one of the farms which has tested the nutritional quality of the grass itself, rather than focusing solely on the soil.

Monitor farmer Victoria Ballantyne explains: “We are so reliant on our grass to provide almost everything our cattle and sheep need, we run a low input system with animal performance coming almost entirely from forage so we need our grass to be high quality. Soil testing is important, but we wanted to better understand what the animals were actually eating and how we could improve it.”

Like grassland, soils have also been an important element for all nine farms with many carrying out work to improve the structure and nutrients in both pasture and arable soils, and many trying out the popular #soilmyundies experiment, burying cotton underpants and digging them up eight weeks later with more the degraded underpants indicating healthier soils.

Livestock management has also featured heavily this year with many farms assessing diet and nutrition, handling facilities, health, weaning and fertility.

The Angus Monitor Farm is currently considering fairly major changes to its herd and has been reviewing its breed, calving system, selling store or fat and the benefits of AI versus natural service.

Monitor Farmer Rob Stodart says: “I think 2018 will see changes to how we farm here at The Mill.  We need to ensure we are working as efficiently as possible and we’re really open to new ideas and hearing other farmers’ experiences to help us decide the future of the herd.”

With such a plethora of farming issues up for debate and discussion it’s no surprise that the programme has attracted plenty of local interest; on average there are 53 attendees at each meeting with some farmers travelling up to two hours to be there.

QMS Head of Industry Development Doug Bell says he believes that programmes like these provide vital support to farmers and growers building sustainable and productive businesses.

 “Sharing information and best practice is at the heart of the programme.  There is no doubt that the most effective knowledge exchange takes place between farmers. ‘Been there, done that’ experiences add credibility to messages which practical farmers really value,” said Mr Bell.

“The last 12 months have seen unprecedented levels of communication within and between the Monitor Farm community groups all with the common goal of improving the bottom line and long term sustainability,” He added.

Of course, becoming more productive and profitable is a key driver for many of the farmers and all nine Monitor Farms will be using the AHDB benchmarking system Farmbench over the coming months to better understand their figures and where they could make savings or add value.

Already the Borders Monitor Farm is looking at whether organic certification could provide a premium as well as the possibility of bringing deer onto the farm, while other farms are looking at more targeted use of fungicides and fertilisers, improving scanning percentages, use of genetics and under sowing barley with grass to ensure they are making the most of their land and their livestock.

As is often the case with these initiatives the farmers are learning as much from other farmers as they learn from expert speakers, and indeed just bringing together the local farming community has big benefits, as Lochaber monitor farmer Chris Cameron says:

“In the past we have kept ourselves to ourselves a bit, so it has been a big change having regular community group meetings, discussing our farm and how we do things openly, and being challenged to do things differently.

“But it’s been great, getting to know people, listening to their ideas and experiences, it’s the best part of being a Monitor Farmer.”

Building better relationships and fairer prices for farm products comes from supply chain collaboration rather than negotiation, so said dairy farmer Rory Christie at the recent Lothians Monitor Farm meeting.

Rory was describing his experience setting up the Milk Suppliers Association (MSA), a co-op which supplies Lactalis and has secured the first negotiated milk price contract since the Milk Marketing board was disbanded.

He said: “It was through working with Lactalis that we were able to secure a negotiated contract, rather than a discretionary one, and it was through our collaborative work we helped secure significant cheese contracts, which are hugely important for local suppliers and the community.

“But we didn’t get there through blaming the big companies for not paying us enough, or taking an adversarial approach. We recognised we had very little power which meant there was little to be gained from negotiating. Instead we got there through starting discussions and working out how we could work together to benefit both parties.”

Stephen Young, who works with SAOS, agrees that collaboration is the way forward. “What we need to be asking our customers is ‘what do you need from us that allows you to pay us a premium?’ and then we can work on how to supply it. That is what the Milk Supply Association has done, as well as other successful co-ops like OatCo.”

But developing those relationships isn’t easy and takes time and perseverance. Rory and his colleagues have spent three years working on a supply management system which aims to bring long term stability and decrease volatility.

He says: “This system ensures the MSA’s milk volume is pooled so that we are viewed as one farm rather than 143. We agree a production limit, we will only take a hit if we overproduce and it will be up to us as farmers to guard against that.

“I’m nervous about it, but it should protect individual farmers and help the company balance supply and demand, a win-win for each side.

“It takes a long time to work out systems like this which benefit producer, processor and retailer, and you need to be exceptionally determined, but it is worth it.”

Monitor farmers Bill Gray and Peter Eccles both recognise the value in developing relationships with the supply chain.

Peter says: “Working more closely with the supply chain in developing niche premium products would be really exciting, it is an area I am particularly passionate about and wish to explore. Understanding what the market wants and delivering such products consistently to specification would be the challenge. By working cooperatively with other farms we could develop ways to ensure our target market is supplied 12 months of the year, removing the need for one business to supply all year round.”

The Lothians Monitor farm is a partnership between neighbouring farms Saughland and Prestonhall. It is one of nine new monitor farms established in Scotland as part of a joint initiative by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds with funding from the Scottish Government. The aim of the monitor farm programme is to help improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of Scottish farm businesses.

The Mitchell family, who run the Borders Monitor Farm in Denholm, are turning their attention to how they can safeguard their flock from some of the main infectious diseases that can affect sheep productivity.

At the next monitor farm meeting on Wednesday 10 January, the family will look at some of the factors limiting flock performance on their farm.

Husband and wife team Robert and Lesley Mitchell, run Whitriggs Farm and neighbouring Denholm Hill Farm, along with their son Stuart. They are constantly looking for ways to improve the performance of the livestock on their 480 hectare family farm, which has 1,000 Lleyn ewes as well as 140 suckler cows.

“Flock health is very important to us,” said Lesley Mitchell. “There are lots of sheep diseases that can affect productivity and we want to ensure that we remain fully aware of them all, so that we can develop robust health plans with our vets and optimise the health of our flock going forward.”

At the meeting, the Mitchells will give an update on what has been happening on their farm since their last meeting in November.

They will be joined by Lynn Gibson from SAC Vet services at St Boswells, who will talk about the infectious “iceberg diseases” which could be affecting flocks without farmers realising.

The main “iceberg diseases” in UK sheep are Maedi Visna, Johne’s disease, Jaagsiekte (OPA), Caseous Lympadenitis (CLA) and border disease. They are called “iceberg diseases” because there are very few diagnosed cases (tip of the iceberg) but in fact there are far more infected animals than farmers and vets recognise. 

The meeting will highlight the control programmes that are available for each of the “iceberg diseases” and help farmers develop effective control plans for their own farms.

Another topic for discussion at the meeting will be the implementation of recommendations from an environmental audit. As part of the monitor farm programme, an environmental audit was recently carried out at Whitriggs. 

“An environmental audit is something that any farm can do to identify the full extent of its environmental impacts,” said facilitator Stephen Young.

“It can also be used to determine whether the farm is eligible for any environmental schemes and gain an understanding of how it can sustain or improve its environmental performance going forward.”

Mr Young will share the results of Whitrigg’s environmental audit at the next meeting and then lead a discussion with the group to see how its recommendations can fit in with the Mitchells’ current farming practices, which include recently having felled and sold an area of woodland.

Whitriggs farm is one of nine monitor farms established in Scotland as part of a joint initiative by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds with funding from the Scottish Government. The aim of the monitor farm programme is to help improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of Scottish farm businesses.

The meeting on 10 January will be held at the Auld Cross Keys Hotel at Denholm, TD9 8NU and will begin at 11am. Lunch will be provided and the meeting is expected to finish by 3pm. All are welcome and the event is free.

For catering purposes, those interested in coming along on 10 January should confirm attendance with Stephen Young, one of the project facilitators, on 07502 339613 or email stephen.young@saos.coop.

The Green family will be on the hunt for bright ideas for 2018 at the next Morayshire Monitor Farm meeting on 12 December.

At the event the group will review the various activities which have taken place over 2017, as well as discussing the possibilities Corskie farm should explore in 2018.

The event will begin on farm with a demonstration of different sheep handling facilities at Corskie as the family is considering investing in a new system. The group will look at a fully automatic system, as well as more standard set ups and discuss the costs and benefits of upgrading the facilities on farm.

Monitor farmer Iain Green says: “It’ll be really useful to evaluate different systems as handling sheep always takes a fair amount of time and labour and if we can find a system which makes us more efficient that would be ideal. I’m also interested in looking at how the recording technology differs in different systems to see what data we could gather and how that could then be used to improve management of the flock.”

The meeting will continue at the nearby Fochabers Public Institute with discussions on calving indicators and detectors, particularly focusing on the Moocall calving sensor which they have been trying out at Corskie. This device, which was launched in 2014, uses the movement of the cow’s tail to predict when calving may be imminent to try and reduce calf mortality.

Project facilitators Derek Hanton and Samantha Stewart from SAC Consulting will then take the group though some of the highlights of 2017 including soil health and compaction, biostimulants and heifer pelvic measuring, as well as a session on how the spring and winter barley trials have fared this year,.

Corskie has been trialling a number of varieties including Laureate, Fairing and Bazooka, and Iain will share the full yield results of all the trials, as well as the results of the biostimulants project.

The day will end with a discussion on what the next year has in store for Corskie, both on the arable and the livestock side and the group will be encouraged to think outside of the box when it comes to pitching in ideas.

Iain says: “I’m looking forward to hearing everyone’s suggestions on the day.  I’m particularly interested in seeing how the heifers calve compared to their pelvic measurements and I’d like to do some weight recording and growth figures for our lambs next summer. On the arable side I’d like to carry out more barley trials.”

The Morayshire Monitor is one of nine monitor farms established in Scotland as part of a joint initiative by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds with funding from the Scottish Government. The aim of the monitor farm programme is to help improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of Scottish farm businesses.

The Monitor Farm meeting will take place on Corskie Farm, Garmouth, IV32 7NN, on Tuesday 12 December from 11am until 3pm.  The event is free of charge but to assist with catering it would be appreciated if you can book a place by contacting Samantha Stewart by phone (01343 548 787) or email (samantha.stewart@sac.co.uk).

Farmers and crofters are invited to the next meeting of the Sutherland Monitor Farm, which will focus on developing a sustainable business.

Innovations specialist Stephen Burns from the Agricultural Engineering Precision Innovation (Agri-EPI) Centre will be the main speaker at this meeting which will be held at Brora Golf Club on Tuesday 5 December.

The Agri-EPI Centre has been established to drive growth and support innovative ideas to help farmers and business owners become more profitable and sustainable.

It has over 140 members and brings together leading academic institutions with industry partners to design and develop research and innovations that will support growth in the food and farming sectors.

Jason Ballantyne from Clynelish Farm, Sutherland’s Monitor farm, is looking forward to hearing how new technology can be adopted on farm to help farmers and crofters in Sutherland.

“As farmers we are constantly trying to find ways to increase our businesses’ efficiency and profitability. I think that initiatives like the Agri-EPI centre are intriguing as they can support the development of new ideas, which will hopefully help livestock enterprises become more sustainable in this challenging time,” said Mr Ballantyne.    

Also at the meeting, Mr Ballantyne and his wife Victoria will give a summary of how their first year as the Sutherland Monitor farm host has been – what changes they have made, and the results of those changes. The group will then take a look at the Clynelish costings, scenarios and ideas for 2018.

Clynelish Farm is one of nine monitor farms established in Scotland as part of a joint initiative by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds with funding from the Scottish Government. The aim of the monitor farm programme is to help improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of Scottish farm businesses.

The meeting at Brora Golf Club on 5 December, which is free to attend and open to all, will begin at 11am, with coffee/registration from 10.30am.

To book your attendance at the next Sutherland Monitor farm meeting on Tuesday 5 December please contact Willie Budge or Cat MacGregor, the project facilitators at SAC Consulting Thurso on 01847 892602 or email FBSThurso@sac.co.uk

Farmers attending the next meeting of the Nithsdale Monitor Farm will be given an insight into the management of the 250 breeding cows run by Robert Osborne on his tenanted farm near Thornhill.

Mr Osborne, who will host the meeting at Castlehill Farm, Durisdeer, is a member of Nithsdale monitor farm management group. At the meeting on Thursday 7 December, he will give an overview of the priorities of the cattle business which he runs with his wife Laura and their children.

Castlehill is around 800 hectares and carries a closed herd of 250 Aberdeen-Angus cross and Simmental cross suckler cows, with 75% calving in the spring and the rest calving in the autumn. The calves are sold store at about a year old. Mr Osborne joined the Premium Cattle Health Scheme three years ago, because he was concerned about health issues in his herd.

The upland farm comprises over 525 hectares of hill, 44 hectares of semi-permanent grassland and 190 hectares of intensive grassland. The Osbornes also grow 40 hectares of cereals to help feed their stock through the winter months.

At the meeting, which is free to attend and starts at Castlehill at 11am, Mr Osborne will talk about his herd management practices including housing and bedding choices, diets for different categories of cattle and share his forage results for this year.

He will be joined by Alisdair Padkin from Nithsdale vets who will give an overview of some of the health problems cattle farmers may see in their animals, at this time of the year. He will also talk about the benefits of joining a cattle health scheme.

Nithsdale monitor farmer Andrew Marchant currently has 20 Luing cows and is keen to see if he can learn from Roberts’ management to improve his current system.

“I’m really looking forward to visiting Robert’s farm and learning about his herd management,” he said.

“Robert is a highly regarded member of the local farming community and I am sure that, along with the other farmers who attend the meeting, I will learn a few things from him that I might be able to put into practice at Clonhie.”

The group will then move to nearby Durisdeer Hall for lunch, following which monitor farmer Andrew Marchant will give an update from Clonhie.

SAC Consulting Beef and Sheep Specialist Gavin Hill will then discuss the challenges of the 2017 summer and its implications for cow body condition scores and forage analyses.

He will be joined by Will Case, who has diversified and developed his traditional livestock farm in Cumbria to create a stronger and more sustainable business which now includes a dairy enterprise.

The Nithsdale monitor farm is one of nine monitor farms that have been established around Scotland in a joint initiative by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds. The aim of the programme, which is funded by Scottish Government, is to help improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of Scottish farm businesses.

Monitor farm meetings are open and free for all farmers to attend. The meeting on Thursday 7 December will begin at 11am at Castlehill Farm meeting and finish at 3.30pm, with lunch provided.

To book your place please contact Judith Hutchison, by 12 noon on Monday 4 December on 07718 919055 or email judith.agridigm@icloud.com .