More than 90 people attended the recent launch meeting of the Lothians Monitor Farm, one of nine new monitor Farms established in Scotland as part of a joint initiative by QMS and AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds with funding from the Scottish Government.
The Lothians Monitor Farm is comprised of two farms – Prestonhall and Saughland, near Pathhead. Bill Gray, manager of Prestonhall, said he was keen to be involved because there are many challenges and uncertainties ahead. 
“I wanted to take a fresh look at the business and benefit from the knowledge within the group. With the Monitor Farm we’ve got the opportunity to have a structured approach to business improvement. I want to know how well we are doing now and what we can do better.”
Peter Eccles runs the livestock enterprise at Saughland which is situated a few miles away and is within easy travel distance to Prestonhall.
Peter said: “I want us to be the best we can be. We aim to build a sustainable business model we can be proud of. Enjoyment is a big factor of what we do too. I’m excited about the future, and feel confident we can overcome the challenges we face. The Monitor Farm process will help us all to find new ways to make our businesses succeed.”
One of Peter’s main aims for this year is to tag all lambs at marking with electronic identification (EID) and weigh them regularly to calculate and monitor growth rates and worm strategically based on their performance.
Improving shelter around the farm is another. “One of my fears is what the weather can bring at lambing time. At the end of April last year a four-five hour spell of high winds and heavy snow cost us 30 lambs,” Peter said.
Through the Monitor Farm programme, Peter hopes to look at whether he can sell stores, as he is now lambing later than the farm used to do. He also plans to investigate finishing lambs at Prestonhall.
At the end of the meeting the group of farmers did a quick strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats assessment of the two farms.
One of the key strengths that the group identified was the opportunity to develop business models around the two units and their managers working together to future proof their businesses. 
The group also felt that a strength of both farms was the people involved and the opportunity to use the project to mentor both them and the wider Community Group.
Both farms have ideas they would like to implement, but are looking to find the measurable benefits which they can use to make informed decisions, as well as making use of the skills and experience within the Monitor Farm community.
One of the project facilitators, Stephen Young, of SAOS, said: “The owners, managers and staff are all open and forward thinking, and have a hunger to drive the businesses forward in what are going to be challenging times.
“The Monitor Farm project is all about sharing knowledge. The people who know about farming in the Lothians are these people in the group. We are going to have a fantastic three years learning from each other.”
Those interested in being involved in the project should Colin MacPhail, one of the project facilitators, on 07747 046 461 or at colin@macphailconsulting.co.uk