Banff and Buchan Monitor Farm

Sauchentree Farm, at New Aberdour, on the north-east coast of Scotland, is run by Bruce Irvine in partnership with Vicky, his wife and his mother. Help at lambing comes from art-lecturer Vicky, sister and brother-in-law and their two daughters are starting to get involved in the farm. Recruitment for a new chicken unit in summer 2025 will provide extra labour for the business.

In total, Bruce farms 263ha (650ac) with cereals, sheep and cattle. Bruce believes the three enterprises are as important as each other, with livestock providing fertility for the arable side. Bruce markets their lamb and beef through Woodhead Bros, Turriff and ANM at Thainstone and enjoys competing with neighbouring farms on yield and lambing percentage.

The family have been at Sauchentree for over 200 years.

About the Farm

As a Monitor Farmer, Bruce aims to produce healthy, profitable, and fast-growing stock.

He runs 110 stabiliser cattle, 450 ewes and has around 120 arable acres. Much of the farm is under grass, including mixed species swards alongside cover crops and brassicas.

The farm exited organic production in 2023, though yield benefits from fertiliser use are still limited.

Bruce is part of the AHDB/QMS Baselining project and is exploring how farm enterprises interconnect.

However, an Integrated Land Management Plan (ILMP) revealed the challenges of running multiple enterprises alone, highlighting the need for additional staff. Inspired by a management group member, Bruce is establishing two 16,000-bird free-range egg sheds, creating two new jobs and improving his work-life balance.
The land

Poultry manure now replaces bought-in supplies, and improved soil testing has led to better lime application, boosting grass growth.

A focus on producing better quality silage has seen a move to earlier cutting, testing clamps and allocating different qualities to appropriate stock. Where silage was delayed by bad weather in 2024, a decision was made to cut the later maturing fields first for the pit, with the earlier crops then baled. “I’ve got really good silage in the pit as a result and can feed the poorer quality bales to cows. The Monitor Farm programme gave me the confidence to change the order I cut the silage.”
Livestock

In the suckler herd, genotyping has identified a £43 per cow per year difference between the best and average cows. The first genotyped heifers will calve this year, with significant results expected by 2026.

Bruce says, “I think this could be the best tool yet for suckler producers.”

“By the end we should see some decent results – if we can add that sort of value to our cows each year, it will add up.”

Bruce has introduced smaXtec bolus technology into his cattle, working with smaXtec, his feed supplier and vet to provide real-time information on cattle health, calving and bulling.

“I would really like to look more into the practicalities of all the technology we can use – what works, what doesn’t and how can we tie it all together?”

Sheep productivity has also improved, with a focus on nutrition and health. Pre-lambing vet sessions for the team have streamlined processes and boosted lambing success. Grazing management is under review, with rotational grazing being explored.
Bruce Irvine

Bruce had a clear idea of what he wanted to achieve when he became a Monitor Farmer – healthy, profitable, fast-growing stock. But the Integrated Land Management Plan (ILMP), an overall farm business assessment carried out at the start of the programme, highlighted a key issue that needed tackling; he was a one-man band running multiple enterprises, putting the business in a vulnerable position should anything happen to him.

“I knew my work-life balance was not good, but the ILMP showed how bad it was – it said I should have 4.5 members of staff to run the arable and stock enterprises.”

Employing people can often be difficult to justify on-farm, but the key to tackling this was found via one of the Management Group who also runs a free-range egg production and packing business.

Bruce is now putting up two 16,000-bird sheds to supply him with eggs – and is taking on two members of staff as a result. “One will be full-time with the hens, the other will work across the hens and other enterprises, so we can cope with holidays and have a better work-life balance.”
Cropping

The arable enterprise has seen change too, with the farm coming out of organic production in 2023, but he is yet to see much of a yield benefit from using more fertiliser. A crop of barley and peas planted to increase home-grown protein in rations performed well but is yet to be fully costed. “The barley grown with the peas was lower in N than barley grown on its own, which makes me wonder if there’s an opportunity to do malting barley this way,” says Bruce.

Scottish Agronomy has been calculating arable costs for Bruce with the work showing the tight profit margins in wheat and barley crops.
Key highlights

-Genotyping project boosts cattle performance

-Pre-lambing vet meeting reduces health issues

-Joining AHDB/QMS carbon baselining project

-Trialling cattle boluses in collaboration with tech company, vet and feed supplier

-Body Condition Scoring and Nutrition Workshop for cattle

Meeting Reports

December 2022 Meeting Report

Calving Patterns are a Focus for the Family & First Impressions
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June 2023 Meeting Report

Low Input, High Outputs
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January 2024 Meeting Report

Small Changes, Big Impact
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Resilience in Grassland Management

This report, by Poppy Frater, SAC’s Sheep and Grassland Specialist looks at ways to enhance Sauchentree's resilience against varying climate conditions.
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Woodland creation an option and opportunity

Bruce Irvine invited Steven Elton, 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.
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Preparing and Planning Productivity at the Banff & Buchan Monitor Farm

Achieving net zero is ‘a marathon and not a sprint’, says Professor John Gilliland, farmer and QMS & AHDB special adviser on Net Zero. ‘Net zero means the sum of a farm’s emissions, minus the sum of its sequestration. It is not zero emissions.’ John said, “While I can talk about carbon, water quality, biodiversity and so on, profit is important, and we also need to produce good quality food to deliver good human health.” ‘’The key thing is to have more sophistication in measuring and managing.’’
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Winter Planning at the Banff & Buchan Monitor Farm

Bruce Irvine, Sauchentree, by Fraserburgh, the Banff & Buchan Monitor Farmer, highlighted the importance of hands-on condition scoring of his cows, keeping his ration planning simple and choosing his replacement heifers through a combination of visual preference, vet assessment and genomic traits. The attached report summarises key messages from Simon Turner, SAC, on Body Condition Scoring, Lauren Porteous, Zoetis, on Genomics and David McClelland, Norvite, on Nutrition Planning.
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North East Crop Plans and Profitability

Crop nutrition plans and profitability came under scrutiny at the February meeting of the Banff and Buchan Monitor Farm, where Scottish Agronomy’s Zach Reilly and Donald Paterson led a crop walk across the farm and discussed its arable performance.
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Efficiency and Time at the Banff & Buchan Monitor Farm-Part 1

The idea for 'Streamlining' at Sauchentree Farm, came from the Banff & Buchan Monitor Farm Management Group. Over the last 2½ years they’ve set Monitor Farmer Bruce Irvine challenges to improve his business management. Perthshire Farmer, Michael Blanche, led the way in discussions on this tricky topic at the June 25 Open Monitor Farm Meeting.
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Efficiency and Time at the Banff & Buchan Monitor Farm-Part 2

In this piece, John Ritchie, Montalt Farm and Iain Chapman, Farmlay Managing Director shared their thoughts on management of grassland and laying hens at the June 2025 Open Monitor Farm Meeting.
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Presentation

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