Photographs by Rob Haining

Balancing a busy profession as Scottish representative for the National Sheep Association, with his own sheep farming enterprise was never going to be easy, but with the right breeds, George Milne, is doing a pretty good job.

Depending on the difficulties facing the industry, George can be up to his eyes in meetings in Edinburgh, London, Malvern or Brussels, fighting for the best outcome for the Scottish sheep industry.

However, he also has a busy farm to come home to at Kinaldy, St Andrews, where he runs no fewer than 275 ewes of various breeds and crosses, with an additional 700 lambs bought in for both gimmering and finishing.

North Country Cheviots are the favourites – as George, like his late father, has always been an avid fan of the breed, having established a flock in 1947 which remains one of the oldest in the flock book.

Add to that a further 12 pedigree Aberdeen-Angus cows with surplus bulls and heifers generally sold privately each year, and it can be a busy place when you think George is away with work so often.

At present the farm is home to 60 pure-bred park-type Northies; 40 hill-type Northie ewes; 15 pure-bred Texels; 10 pure Bluefaced Leicesters and a further 150 cross-bred ewes.

This compares to previous years, when the business relied more on lambed larger numbers of ewes.

Instead, with George’s role in the NSA becoming increasingly demanding, ewe numbers have been reduced slightly to make way for an additional 500 ewe lambs to be bought in for gimmering, which in turn also fits in well with forage supplies on the farm throughout the year.

Adding to the productivity of a unit that comprises of 270 acres is additional clover stitched into all fields, which has not only reduced input costs as no artificial fertiliser is applied, it has also enabled all store lambs to be finished off grass alone.

The new system is working a treat too, given the fact it’s North Country Cheviot store lambs that are bought in every year at Lairg.

“There’s always a demand for Cheviot lambs in the spring time, so we’ve been buying up to 200 wedder lambs at Lairg every year which fit in well here,” said George.

“North Country Cheviot lambs sold finished in the spring attract some of the best prices purely because they are suited to longer keep. The other good thing is I can finish them off grass alone.”

He added: “Cheviot ewes are easy to keep and manage with little if any feeding as they pretty much lamb themselves, and they produce great lambs – although the park-type will produce slightly higher lambing percentages than the hill type.

“There has been a good demand for Cheviot shearling tups recently, too. Apart from the top end of rams going to the Lockerbie society sale in September, I’ve been supplying a farmer in England with tups for the past three years to put over Suffolk cross ewes, which he says produces the ideal lamb for him being hardy and easily lambed outside.

“North Country Cheviots can be put over any ewe, including a Shetland and they produce good, hardy lambs for which there is a ready demand. There is also a growing demand for Park-type females to breed Cheviot Mules across the country.”

In saying that, George has always concentrated on the maternal characteristics of the breed, buying stock tups with good silky hair and not too coarse in the bone, with Allanshaws rams in particular working well for him.

He also records all his lambs at birth and only retains ewe lambs from the milkiest and most productive ewes, as replacement females.

It appears to be paying dividends in the sale ring too, as the eight in-lamb gimmers sold at this year’s breed sale at Lockerbie in February averaged £470, and at last year’s tup sale, also at Lockerbie, Kinaldy’s eight shearling rams cashed in at £900 from a lead price of £2000.

This year’s bunch look even better too, being stronger and full of character, with all being sons of Allanshaws Pamsin, a £2000 purchase at Lockerbie in 2013, of which a half-share was bought back by his breeder, Roderick Runciman.

Pamsin, which was out of one of Roderick’s top show ewes, Allanshaws Pam, to date has produced many four-figure priced tups and is also in demand outwith the UK, with semen being exported to Norway and Canada from him.

He was also the sire of most of last year’s shearling rams, and several of the gimmers sold at Lockerbie in February.

Last year’s stock rams, Allanshaws Sunrise and a Linburn ram, have also stamped their mark, having sired a right bunch of growthy, typey ewe lambs, including the reserve female champion at the Highland Show this year.

Last year, George also bought 360 Mule ewe lambs at UA Stirling and 150 hill-type Cheviot ewe lambs privately, to sell this year as gimmers, which have proved easier to manage than additional ewes when he is away with work.

Despite the problems faced by the entire sheep industry relating to Brexit and the potential loss of European markets, George remains positive for the future too.

And, he is particularly hopeful for the opening of the American market for beef and lamb next year, which was bolstered by a visit to the US by himself, NFUS vice-president, Rob Livesey and former Scottish rural minister, Richard Lochhead.

“We did meet up with the United States Department of Agriculture division, when we were over last year, who promised to bring forward the consultation paper for the return of beef and lamb imports from Britain and they have. It’s now up to us to push it further, especially when they get so excited about anything from Scotland.

“This is an exciting opportunity for the industry and a market which could potentially add to that of France, which has not been importing as much lamb in recent years,” George said adding that the industry has to look at all new markets following the Brexit vote.

Moving forward with Scotland’s BSE free negligible status, which has already been agreed by the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers and all other stakeholders, should be another plus point for the Scotch beef and lamb export market.

George’s long-term goal of making Scotch lamb as popular as Scotch Beef could, nevertheless, take a bit longer, but even it too is achievable, he said.

“I am determined to see Scotch Lamb get the same recognition as Scotch Beef, and it is up to us as farmers, and the Scottish Government to see that is achieved.

“The industry could be £1m per year better off if the Scottish levy repatriation money was returned to us and that should be spent on promoting Scotch Lamb to ensure it gets the status it deserves,” George concluded.