PLAYING to your strengths is key to making any farm enterprise work - especially in the current climate when farmers find so many factors against them - and that is exactly what William Stevenson and his team at Balrazzie, just above Ballantrae in Ayrshire, has been trying to do.

William, his wife Fiona, who also works at Ballantrae medical practice, and their kids Erin (13), Zoe (9) and John (6) and Williams's parents David and Janet run Balrazzie, Auchenflower and Ballkisock.

The family has been there since 1962, when David and his father bought and went first to Auchenflower, before purchasing Balrazzie from Dunlop family (now of Elmscleugh) three years later.

As the farm business has grown and evolved over the years, the one constant that has remained at the forefront, is Blackface sheep.

Covering 1300acres and rising to 1490ft above sea level, Auchenflower and Balrazzie comprise 500acres of in-bye land, with the rest all hill. The Stevenson's run this farm alongside Duhorn which is rented and is made up of 440acres of grazing ground three miles from home.

Balkissock, which is made up of 900acres of hill ground and 600acres of in-bye, is also run as a contract farming agreement.

Balrazzie, Auchenflower and the rented land at Duhorn is home to 700-head of Blackface ewes; 120 crossed to a Blueface Leicester tup, and 700 cross ewes - 300 Mules and 400 Texel cross Mules.

Balkissock is home to a further 340 Blackie ewes, 120 crossed and 440 Mules and Texel cross Mules.

Balkissock also runs 80 spring-calving cows running with a Charolais bull. In addition, the home farm has a further 140 spring-calving sucklers, which again are bulled to a Charolais.

Adding to the beef enterprise, some 200 suckled calves also bought each back end to be sold as forward stores the following year.

Blackies are the main sheep enterprise though, and along with shepherd Alan Porter and new shepherd, Chris Walton, the team run Blackies across all of the units.

"The Blackface breed are hardy and have character. They suit our job down to the ground" explains William.

"For one thing, Balrazzie hill is only suitable for Blackies, you would be hard-pressed to find anything else that would do on it. We scan at about 140%, which I'm happy with.

"In my opinion, Blackie ewes don't have to be great big massive sheep. A lot of folk criticise the size of them but a bigger ewe can take a lot of feeding and that's expensive and it's also harder to keep such sheep in the right condition.

"We would certainly rather keep our ewes a reasonable size as they are easier to manage as a flock that way," admits William.

Although William and the team at Balrazzie have established a system that works for them and plays to their strengths, he's more than aware and realistic about the challenges that face them and the industry as a whole.

"From what I can see, the CAP reform changes seem to disadvantage intensively farmed units like ours," he admits. "This is obviously a major worry, because it is these units that provide most of Scotland's food.

"The way I interpret the proposals, I can see my equivalent SFP being cut 30-40% come 2019, which would be concerning.

"If units start to cut stock numbers because of their new area-based payment, then livestock markets will obviously feel the strain just as much as us."

He continued: "The way I see it is that Richard Lochhead said there would be a minimum stocking rate enforced to do away with 'slipper farmers' but I'm led to believe that's not going to be the case in Region One and it's going to be too easy to show so-called activity and claim the payment.

"The people who need the money most are still not going to receive the financial help they could really do with, and that is a real worry to us and many others in the surrounding industry," William added.

Although there are perhaps worries for the future, the mood at Balrazzie is a positive one, and the main focus now are the tup sales just around the corner.

Things are in full swing too, trying to get this year's select offering from Balrazzie, ready for the sale ring.

Next month will see the best of this year's crop destined for the sale at Newton Stewart. However, with 30 shearlings and 10 lambs to sell between Newton Stewart, UA Stirling, Dalmally and Fort William, selecting the best tups for each market is no easy task.

"Newton Stewart is our main sale, as it has always been more of a breeders' market for us, while Stirling is more of a commercial sale," said William.

"But, I think selling between the centres is key to creating competition and trade between producers, and it keeps the markets on their toes as well, which is also important.

"Currently we send our best shearlings and lambs to Newton Stewart as it will always be the best sale for our type, but we do have to be realistic and keep an eye on moving with the times. The Newton-type are well bred but need to concentrate on keeping skins tight and keeping plenty of character in the sheep.

"The ewe lamb job is proving that the barer skinned lambs with plenty of character are getting a premium so Newton Stewart-type tups should concentrate on that. Female stock is the lifeblood of the farm in the grand scheme of things. Tups are a welcome bonus at the end of the day and help you put a bit more into getting the stock tups you want!"

William also takes this approach when selling his female stock between marts, with his ewe lambs regularly selling through both Wallets Marts at Castle Douglas, and Craig Wilson at Ayr. And in contrast to many farms this year, Balrazzie's ewe lambs increased £7 per head on the year to average £78 from a top price of £90.

"Due to increase in pure Blackie numbers in the past few years along with decent lambing percentages we find ourselves with a wee bit of a bigger selection for stock and sale females, which is ideal - it gives us options" explains William.

The business also sells 80 Blackface gimmers at Ayr and Castle Douglas, with four-crop-ewes kept each year to cross for an extra year along with Blackface ewes from a neighbouring hill unit.

"These ewes have been on heather all their lives until they come to Duhorn" explains Williams. "We find