The latest Shetland Monitor Farm meeting saw another large turnout of over 40 attendees, with guest speakers John Scott from Fearn Farm and Ian Eadie from Germinal Seeds making the trip north to share their bespoke practices, knowledge and experience.
Host farmers Kirsty and Aimee Budge from Bigton Farm started the meeting, which was held at Bigton Hall, by updating those present with the farm activities over late Spring and Summer.
With the weather in Shetland said to be better than the weather in Cornwall for some of July, this has resulted in a bumper crop of silage at Bigton with more bales made than expected. The dry spell of weather also gave the girls the opportunity to make an additional 500 small square bales of hay and 180 large bales of haylage, with half of the hay bales already sold via advertising on social media.
Also at the meeting, Tain farmer John Scott spoke about his time as a monitor farmer and encouraged local farmers and crofters in get involved with the Shetland Monitor Farm programme. The Shetland 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.
Mr Scott is known to many as he appeared in the hit BBC series ‘This Farming Life’ and was also crowned Farmers Weekly Sheep Farmer of the Year in 2014.
At the meeting, he spoke enthusiastically about his experience of being a host monitor farm and how being part of the three-year programme had changed his farming enterprise. “Since taking part in the monitor farm programme I have gained more confidence and it has opened my mind to change within my business,” said Mr Scott.
Prior to being a Monitor Farm during 2006-2009, Fearn Farm was, by Mr Scott’s own admission, a more modest business, with 100 suckler cows and 1,000 ewes over 400 hectares and employing only one full time member of staff.
Since then the farm has expanded dramatically and today has 230 Beef Shorthorn and Luing cattle, over 5,000 ewes and an additional 1,500 hoggs. The size of the farm has increased too, and now comprises 410 hectares of owned land and 1,300 hectares of rented land as well as an additional 800 hectares of grazing agreements/contract farming that John and his family have taken on.
Mr Scott was keen to stress the important role that staff, as well as family and fellow farmers play in helping monitor farmers during the programme. Their contribution, he said, was vital to the success of the project and key in ensuring that everyone involved in the programme embraced and enjoyed the experience.
Although his time as a monitor farmer is over, Mr Scott is still involved in the Monitor Farm programme and currently chairs the Sutherland Monitor Farm Management Group. He highlighted to the Shetland community group how important it was to get involved in feeding back ideas to the monitor farm which could, in the long run benefit the wider farming community in the area.
He said: “embrace change, take opportunities, challenge yourself and others and take the little gains that will help improve the overall aims.”
Ian Eadie from Germinal Seeds then led a discussion about grass mixture options and highlighted the new grass mixtures that Kirsty and Aimee have sown at Bigton. The meeting then moved to nearby Bigton Farm so that those present could visit the reseeded fields, before returning to Bigton Hall to discuss grass variety types that best suit Shetland’s conditions. The group also discussed possible ways to deal with the leather jackets, which seemed to be a common issue for the farmers and crofters present.
The next Shetland monitor farm meeting will be held on Sunday 8th October 2017, with sheep the hot topic of discussion as the crucial tupping period approaches. Kirsty and Aimee are also hoping to discuss 2017’s harvest results with the group.
To book your attendance (and lunch!) please contact the project facilitator Graham Fraser, SAC Consulting Lerwick on 01595 693520 by or email frbslerwick@sac.co.uk
The fascinating subject of soil health will be the focus of the next meeting of the Lochaber Monitor Farm on 7 September.
Strone Farm, a 1,200-hectare hill farm located in the Great Glen, is run by Chris Cameron in partnership with his father Malcolm and mother Eileen.
At the next meeting, which will begin at 11am and includes lunch, Dr Bill Crooks, Soil specialist from SRUC, Scotland’s Rural College, will explain how soil health influences grass growth, describe the essential soil nutrients and highlight options for improving soil structure. There will also be a tour of three different fields at Strone to assess their soil health.
The microbial activity of soil, an indicator of soil health, can be visually assessed in a simple practical experiment.
After the last Lochaber monitor farm meeting in June, ten local farmers (including Chris and Malcolm Cameron) agreed to bury some cotton underwear in the soil on their own farms for a period of eight weeks. The #soilmyundies experiment originated in Canada and is now a popular trial on many monitor farms.
On 7 September, the Lochaber farmers will dig up their simmets and bring them along to the meeting, along with a plug of soil where they were buried, where the group will discuss and judge the microbial activity of the soil on each of the farms that took part.
One of the challenges the Camerons face is that some of the fields at Strone are prone to poaching damage from their herd of 40 pedigree Limousin cattle over a long grazing season.
Chris Cameron commented: “We are not very happy with the performance of some of our fields. We can get grass to grow, but are finding it difficult to utilise that grass.”
He added: “We look forward to hearing any suggestions from fellow farmers as to how we can come up with practical and cost-effective solutions to this problem.”
A full reseed has taken place in one of the fields in association with Watson Seeds. Progress on this reseed will be discussed with the group and those who attend will have the option to visit this field and see the grass performance.
The Lochaber 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.
The meetings are open and free for all farmers to attend. Attendees will also have an input into topics covered, speakers invited to meetings and visits to other enterprises and businesses.
To book your attendance (and lunch!) please contact Niall Campbell or Morven MacArthur on 01631 563093 or email fbsoban@sac.co.uk.
The potential of monitor farms to generate far-reaching legacies will be highlighted by former monitor farmer John Scott at the next meeting of the Shetland Monitor Farm on August 10th.
Mr Scott farms at Fearn near Tain and was Farmers Weekly Sheep Farmer of the Year in 2015. Fearn was a monitor farm from 2006-2009 and during that time the Scott family made significant changes to their farm business.
However, according to Mr Scott, the benefits his business has derived from the monitor farm experience go much further than that three-year period.
“It is now eight years since Fearn completed its three-year term as a Quality Meat Scotland Monitor Farm and something which has become very clear is the long-term ripple effect of what we learned from the process,” said Mr Scott.
“Certainly, the changes we introduced – many of them small with cumulative benefits – have continued to deliver improvements to our bottom line.
“However, a key long-term benefit was the discipline we learned during the process in terms of basing our decisions on data and bench-marking our performance against others. That has ensured that every part of our business is now regularly scrutinised to quickly identify any areas of underperformance,” he said.
Fearn extends to just over 600 hectares, two-thirds of which is grass, however the family run a total of 2,600 hectares between Easter Ross and Sutherland in a mixture of owned, contracted and tenanted farms.
At the start of the programme the farm was carrying 1,000 ewes and 120 cows. Now the business has 5,500 ewes, 1,500 hoggs and 250 breeding cows.
As well as invested in genetics, the Scott family have improved their grazing management, steadily improving the grass by reseeding, developing rotational grazing systems for both their sheep and cattle and setting up an outwintering system for the cows on stubble turnips.
Mr Scott believes the next few years will be challenging for livestock farmers and they will be forced to make changes to their businesses to improve efficiency and margins.
“Knowledge transfer is more important than ever in this scenario and the monitor farm programme is a real opportunity to access new and different techniques and ideas,” he added.
The Shetland Monitor Farm meeting starts at Bigton Hall at 11am when the host farmers, Kirsty and Aimee Budge from Bigton farm, will give an update on their activities since the last meeting.
Following the discussion of paddock grazing at the previous meeting, Iain Eadie from Germinal Seeds will lead a discussion on grass varieties, types and attributes, grass seed mixtures, and reseeding methods and techniques.
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 meetings are open and free for all farmers and crofters to attend. Attendees will also have an input into the topics covered, the speakers invited to meetings and visits to other enterprises and businesses. Lunch will be provided and the meeting will finish at 3pm.
To book your attendance (and lunch!) please contact the project facilitator Graham Fraser, SAC Consulting Lerwick on 01595 693520 by Monday 7 August, or email frbslerwick@sac.co.uk
The next Borders Monitor Farm meeting, at host farm Whitriggs on Wednesday August 9th, will focus on costs of production and soil health.
The 480-hectare farm near Denholm is run by Robert and Lesley Mitchell, along with son Stuart who are keen to develop their farm business and identify options to increase the efficiency of their production systems.
Whitriggs has 442 hectares of mainly semi-permanent and permanent grassland and approximately 40 hectares of winter wheat and oats to feed stock. The Mitchells recognise that healthy, fertile soil is vital in order to maximise yields.
At the meeting this month Mark Hodkinson from Soils4Life, will lead an infield session looking at the soil makeup at Whitriggs.
Mr Hodkinson, a soil agronomist from Nottingham, will highlight what the attendees should look for in their own soil as well as commenting on the structure and fertility of the soils at Whitriggs. He will also look at the requirements of soil for scenarios of cropping, grass and intensive paddock grazing.
The Mitchells have 140 suckler cows which are a combination of Beef Shorthorn cross and Aberdeen-Angus cross. One of the aims at Whitriggs is to increase cattle numbers and, alongside that, the output of the farm. At the meeting next week, the Mitchells will lead a discussion about the carrying capacity of the farm and look at potential opportunities to increase output.
The family is constantly looking for ways to improve the performance of their suckler herd and their 1,000 strong Lleyn flock and at the meeting the Mitchells will share the costs of production for both the beef and sheep enterprises, for the group to comment on.
Whitriggs farm 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 9 August will start at Whitriggs Farm, Denholm, TD9 8QR at 10am. There will be a BBQ lunch with Scotch Beef burgers and the meeting is expected to finish by 2.30pm. All are welcome and the event is free.
For catering purposes, those interested in coming along on 9 August should confirm attendance with Stephen Young, one of the project facilitators, on 07502 339613 or email stephen.young@saos.coop.
The next meeting of the Sutherland Monitor Farm on Friday July 28th will focus on maximising lamb profitability and consider the outlook for the lamb trade and the need to meet market specification.
Farmers and crofters are invited to the free meeting at Clynelish Farm, Brora (run by Jason and Victoria Ballantyne) which starts at 2pm, with coffee/registration from 1.30pm.
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 Ballantynes currently run 900 breeding ewes, of which about half are Lairg type Cheviots and the other half are Lleyn crosses.
Stuart Ashworth, Head of Economics Services with QMS, will be speaking at the event when he will take a close look at the outlook for the sheep market.
Mr Ashworth will focus on carcass weights, meeting market specification and the wider challenges and opportunities facing rural communities. He will also look at the unique selling points of the Scotch Lamb PGI brand and the opportunities to promote the brand.
“We will also be taking a close look at the Clynelish lambs and data ahead of the forth-coming sales,” said Cat MacGregor of SAC Thurso, one of the joint facilitators of the project.
She added: “This will include a breakout session, where the attendees will be split into groups to assess pens of lambs and discuss the potential marketing options for them.”
The Ballantynes also run 80 suckler cows, which are a mainly Simmental cross native breeds. Calves are born outside in May, weaned in November at five or six months old and sold as stores at Thainstone at 10 months old.
Stranraer farmer Robert Parker, whose farm Drumdow is the current AgriScot Scotch Beef Farm of the Year, will also be speaking at the meeting and will outline the work he has done to drive his beef enterprise forward and share his experiences and views on the future.
The event will round-off with a spit roast of Scotch Lamb for those who attend.
To book your attendance at the meeting at Clynelish on Friday July 28th please contact Willie Budge or Cat MacGregor, the project facilitators at SAC Consulting Thurso on 01847 892602 or email FBSThurso@sac.co.uk
A close look at the opportunities to improve sheep enterprise profitability will be on the cards at the next meeting of the Nithsdale Monitor Farm at Clonhie on Thursday July 27th.
The meeting, which is free to attend and starts at 1.45pm, will examine the gross margin figures (£/head and £/ha) at Clonhie. These will be compared with the QMS Enterprise Costings figures and targets for the future will also be set.
Iain Macdonald, Senior Economics Analyst with Quality Meat Scotland, will give an overview of the sheep market and the outlook for trade as well as leading a discussion on the future opportunities and challenges for the industry.
And Dewi Jones from Innovis will take a look at where the opportunities for sheep farmers going forward may be. He will consider what composite/New Zealand breeds have to offer in terms of performance compared with traditional breed types, along with the science and selection behind the concept.
Host farmer Andrew Marchant will also give an update on areas including lambs sold, over-seeding, silage and bulling and how the grass is performing on the farm. There will also be an opportunity to view the kale crop and to see the ewes and lambs and cows running with the bull.
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 and the Clonhie meeting will round-off at 4.30pm with a BBQ.
To book your place please contact Judith Hutchison, by 12 noon on Tuesday 25th July on 07718 919055 or email judith.agridigm@icloud.com .
Planning ahead will be the key theme at the coming Angus Monitor Farm meeting on Thursday 20 July held at Mill of Inverarity farm in Forfar.
The mixed unit is run by the Stodart family with a 200 hectare arable enterprise, as well as 200 suckler cows, 500 breeding ewes and 300 bought in store lambs.
Discussion on the day will include winter crops, under sowing barley with grass, pre tupping management and housing cattle, with the group assessing how best to approach those areas at Mill of Inverarity.
Monitor Farmer Rory Stodart explains: “For me this is really the start of a new farming year, it’s the ideal time to look forward and form a tailored plan for our arable and livestock enterprises over winter.
“At the meeting we’ll share how we normally manage our systems and we’re keen to hear how and why other farmers in the area might do things differently. All the day’s discussions will feed into how we manage the farm this coming season.”
On the arable side Sam Ruddell of Agrii will outline the Stodart’s current approach to winter crops, which include winter wheat and winter oilseed rape, and the group will discuss whether the farm is best suited to a high or low input system.
The group will also look over the farm’s current trial of under sowing barley with grass which aims to produce good grass growth for sheep over winter, without reducing the yield of the spring barley. The family has experimented with five different grass varieties, all sown at different seed rates, and the group will consider which has been the most effective.
Independent sheep expert John Vipond will be on hand to take the group through pre tupping management, with a practical exercise on condition scoring, and then a discussion on grazing management, preparing rams and optimum ewe-ram ratios.
Vet Tim Geraghty will tackle key winter issues of cattle health and pneumonia, while SAC Consulting’s Karen Stewart will take on the topic of preparing cattle for housing focusing on nutrition, creep feeding and weaning.
She says: “I’d really like to get the group thinking about grass quality, as often the quality can deteriorate earlier than farmers realise, and so it may be beneficial to start feeding them outside in some areas to ensure their weight gain remains on track.”
As with the arable areas, the group will discuss the Stodarts’ current practice and work with the family to develop a plan for cattle care over the winter.
Mill of Inverarity is now part of the Monitor Farm Scotland initiative, managed by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds.
The aim of the programme, which is funded by the Scottish Government, is to help improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of Scottish farm businesses through practical demonstrations, the sharing of best practice and the discussion of up-to-date issues.
The meeting will be held at Mill of Inverarity Farm, Forfar, Angus, DD8 2JN from 10am to 2.30pm, with lunch will provided on farm.
The event is free to attend but to assist with catering attendees should book a place by contacting Stacey Hamilton by phone (01569 762305) or email (stacey.hamilton@sac.co.uk).
The upcoming Lothians Monitor Farm meeting on Wednesday 19 July will see soil expert Mark Hodkinson digging into the challenges of soil health.
Both Bill Gray, farm manager at Prestonhall Farms and Peter Eccles, farm manager at Saughland Farm, are both keen to improve the health and structure of their soils over the course of the Monitor Farm Scotland project.
With 660 hectares of cereals and oilseeds at Prestonhall Bill Gray is most interested in the nutrient status of the soil, as well as assessing compaction.
He says: “Soil is the most important resource we have on farm and we need to make the most of it. As our arable land is cultivated regularly we need to identify if and where we are creating compaction, which will of course impact negatively on the crop’s root structure. I’d also like to have a closer look at our nutrient levels, not just the traditional pH, P and K and Mg but other nutrients such as calcium which have an effect on soil workability.”
Peter Eccles at Saughland, having recently purchased an additional 500 Romney ewes with easy care lambs, is focused on ensuring his soil is capable of producing enough grass to feed his 2,250 strong flock.
He says: “Livestock health and performance is intricately linked to the health of the land they live on so we must have a better understanding of what is going on within our soils. Similarly, as we are increasing our stocking rate we need to ensure we have enough grass to go round, and that begins with getting soil health right.
“We have previously taken a fairly traditional approach to soil management, sampling every five or six years, but can we go another step further? Replacing offtakes of P and K following cuts of hay and silage is vital to ensure we don’t deplete nutrients as we increasingly look to clovers in the sward to fix nitrogen for us.”
Soil samples from both farms will be analysed before the event, with results shared on the day. Attendees will be able to view the soils for themselves and discuss a wide range of topics with Mark including nutrient status, soil structure and fertility.
There will also be a range of other discussions on the day. For the livestock farmers present Peter will be looking for advice on land carrying capacity, forage budgets and wintering plans, while Bill will be canvassing arable growers on grain storage options, as he is keen to have new system in place for next year’s harvest.
Cover crops will be a focus for both groups as it is a key part of the initial collaboration work between Prestonhall and Saughland. The group will discuss options for a cover crop which can go in at Prestonhall, and then be used to feed Saughland’s sheep over the winter months.
The Lothians Monitor Farm is one of nine Monitor Farms recently established across Scotland in a joint initiative by AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds and Quality Meat Scotland (QMS). The aim of the programme is to help improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of Scottish farm businesses.
The Lothians Monitor Farm meeting will begin with tea and coffee at 9.30am on Wednesday 19 July at Saughland Farm, Pathhead, Midlothian, EH37 5XP. The meeting will finish at 2.30pm. The event is free of charge but to assist with catering it would be appreciated if you can book a place by contacting Colin MacPhail on 07747 046461 or at colin@macphailconsulting.co.uk.
The malting potential of new barley varieties will be a key theme for the coming Morayshire Monitor Farm meeting on Tuesday 11 July at Corskie Farm. There will also be discussions on cattle creep feeding and weaning, biostimulants and grain markets.
Monitor Farmer Iain Green and his team farm 1,416 hectares of cereals, sheep, cattle and pigs. The majority of the arable lands goes for spring barley for distilling, although they also grow winter barley, winter wheat and spring oats. On the livestock side they have 380 commercial Simmental crosses, 200 pedigree Simmentals, 600 Mule and Mule cross Texel sheep, and an indoor breeding herd of 380 sows.
The group will take a walk through Corskie’s winter and spring barley trials and for Iain, the chance of discovering potentially high yielding new varieties is very exciting.
He says: “The farm is trialling some of the very newest varieties on the market, like Dioptic which is currently under trial for distilling and Laureate, which is high yielding and was recently approved for distilling, as well as some of the usual suspects such as Concerto.
“We will have a good look at how the various varieties are performing, the winter barley should be especially interesting as the grain will be filling out, and for the spring we should be able to assess the young heads and flag leaves. I want to see good healthy plants, brimming with potential.”
Hugh Thomson, a farmer and vet who also sits on Corskie’s Management Team, will cover cattle creep feeding, looking at whether it is beneficial to production and less stressful for the calf.
Iain says: “At Corskie we currently creep feed using home grown cereals and ready mixed creep feed, but there are other options, different types of feed, and it will also be useful to know whether the practice is good value for money.”
Hugh will also discuss weaning and mastitis control, giving guidance on best practice, as well as asking the community group to share their experiences.
Gavin Will from GrainCo will outline how things are looking on the local and global grain markets as well as advising attendees on getting the best out of grain contracts.
The group also will get the chance to look more closely at barley plants dug up from the ongoing Alltech biostimulants trial. These products should stimulate plant growth and so the group will expect to see better root growth on the treated plants compared to those untreated.
Corskie Farm is one of nine recently selected to host the three year Monitor Farm Scotland programme, a joint initiative between Quality Meat Scotland and AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds and funded by the Scottish Government.
The Monitor Farm meeting will take place on Corskie Farm, Garmouth, IV32 7NN, on Tuesday 11 July from 1.30pm until 5pm, with all welcome to stay on for a BBQ at the close of the meeting. 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 ).
Making the most from grass will be the main topic for discussion at the next meeting of the North Ayrshire Monitor farm on Thursday 6 July.
John Howie runs the 140-hectare Girtridge Farm in partnership with his mother Margaret and sister Mary. They also own an extra 35 hectares of grazing nearby. Mr Howie is keen to make the most of the grass at Girtridge and to finish as many of the farms 200 store cattle off grass as he can.
He said: “We have heard of other farmers who have managed to reduce their feed costs and finish their stock quicker by improving their grazing, so are keen to see how we can improve things here at Girtridge.”
Local farmer and chairman of the management group at Girtridge, Craig Bryson, will chair the meeting and explain how he has managed to reduce his feed costs for his 300-head finishing unit at Newmilns by improving silage quality.
At the meeting, farmer, Nuffield scholar and self-confessed ‘grass geek’ Michael Blanche will talk about the importance of soil quality in grassland management, describe some of the different grazing techniques and describe how they can be established on farm.
“The better you can use a pasture, the more you can make from it. Grazing fields at the right time, at the right height, with the right amount of stock, is the key to making the most from grass,” said Mr Blanche.
As well as the 200 bought-in cattle that they finish, the Howies run their own small suckler herd as well as 140 breeding ewes. At the meeting Mr Howie will give an update on what has been happening at the farm since the last meeting in May.
One of the things that has been established at Girtridge this year is paddock grazing for the cattle. The Howie’s have established eight, two hectare paddocks using electric fencing. They then move a group of 79 finishing cattle to a fresh paddock every few days, aiming for a target rotation of 21 days. The benefits of managing grassland in this way will be discussed at the next meeting and there will be a tour of the fields so that those who attend will be able to see the paddock grazing in action.
The impact of Girtridge’s farming activities on the climate will also be highlighted and the results of their recently undertaken carbon audit shared. Facilitator Carol-Anne Warnock will then lead a discussion to explore how the Howies can reduce the farm’s carbon footprint resulting in both environmental and financial benefits.
The North Ayrshire 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.
Girtridge Farm will be hosting regular meetings over the next three years as the North Ayrshire Monitor Farm. The focus will be on the technical and financial challenges that their business, and many other farming businesses in the area, face.
The next North Ayrshire Monitor Farm meeting will begin at 10.30am on Thursday 6 July and will be held at Girtridge Farm, Dundonald, KA2 9BX. Lunch will be included and the meeting is due to end at 3pm.
To book your lunch and confirm your attendance please contact facilitators Raymond Crerar and Carol-Anne Warnock, SAC Consulting Ayr on 01292 525252, or email FBSAyr@sac.co.uk