Increasing the Sustainability of your Livestock Farm

Around 40 members of the farming community attended the summer meeting at Lands of Drumhead to hear from guest speakers, Robert Gilchrist, Alex Pirie, and the Moredun Team – Stewart Burgess, Mara Rocchi, Lynsey Melville, and Eilidh Geddes, as well as the brilliant Duncan Family for being such welcoming and open Monitor Farmers.

Specialist Advice Report – Recommendations & Actions​

Review of control of parasites in cattle and sheep

Bruce Irvine the Banff & Buchan Monitor Farmer has invited Steven Elton, Grampian Woodland Officer with Scottish Forestry, to look at woodland creation at Sauchentree Farm.
Bruce is clear that planting should complement the farm’s mixed farming operations (sheep, cattle, arable) and improve shelter, local landscape quality and biodiversity values.

Around 55 members of the farming community attended the winter meeting of the South Ayrshire Monitor Farm.  

We looked at three key areas:

•Managing sheep lameness

•Feeding fodder crops in Winter

•Electronic weighing and recording

More than 75 farmers attended day of discussions and practical demonstrations at United Auctions in Stirling to find out what farm management software and technology is right for their farming business.

Helpful information from our key note speakers Matt Blyth and Ross Robertson are in this event report.

During previous, recent dry summers, Sauchentree has dried up. Coastal winds add to drought issues around the critical lambing period.

Lack of grass can lead to thin ewes, resulting in increased instances of prolapses and twin lamb disease.

This report, by Poppy Frater, SAC’s Sheep and Grassland Specialist looks at ways to enhance Sauchentree’s resilience against varying climate conditions. Poppy reckons this can be achieved by optimising grass use and incorporating a diverse range of crops.

The Smith family are aware of the expertise in livestock ventilation of Jamie Robertson,
LMS design, and invited him to their rented farm ,Congash, near Grantown on Spey, to
assess the steading and make recommendations with the help of the Monitor Farm Management Group.

There’s a daunting challenge to farmers,
including those the North-East of Scotland
where new exciting ideas on managing
livestock emerge weekly.
However, over the last year, the Monitor
Farm Programme at Bruce Irvine’s
Sauchentree Farm, near Fraserburgh, has
focused on small gradual changes to farm
practices, which are relatively easy to adopt.

Matt Blyth meet David Andrew via Zoom to support with farm software choice and integration with existing tech on farm.

The South Ayrshire Management Group visited Tom Shearlaw to see his dry dairy cows wintering on fodder beet on 7 February 2024.