MAKING an expansion to a well-established farm business can be a daunting task but for Jack Arnott at Haymount, building up a flock of pedigree Texels to run alongside the existing Aberdeen-Angus herd and arable enterprise has been achieved thanks his attention to detail and great eye for stock. 
Set on the north face of the Tweed valley just outside Kelso, the 800 acres of Haymount have some of the best views in the valley across the ‘Dukeries’ and to the Cheviot hills, and have been home to the Arnott family, now represented by Tom and Wendy together with Jack, John and Joanna, since 1904. 
The farm is host to a herd of 100 pedigree Angus females and followers that was established from just four families back in 1932 and has witnessed its own claim to fame, producing an 18,000gns bull back in 1962 while, more recently, Haymount Precursor won the championship at Stirling in February, 2014, before going on to match that 18,000gns.
But in recent years Haymount has welcomed a small flock of Texels and for self-proclaimed cattlemen, their Texels followed in very similar footsteps to the cattle as just four embryos were bought for Jack from the Nisbets, of Alwent, who the Arnotts shared a Charolais bull with at the time. 
These embryos, all by Haltcliffe Jackpot and out of one of the best Alwent ewes in the flock that also produced a 7000gns tup from the same flush, resulted in four ewe lambs which set strong foundations for the Haymount flock in 2005. 
Joining the initial four females was another one each from Rascarrel, Stonefieldhill and Loosebeare, and a rolling ET programme has been followed from the beginning to develop the flock to the 50 ewes which are run today. 
“Rather than expanding the flock with continuous purchases of females, I bought the best tups I could buy, and used them in a flushing programme with my best females to develop the ewe flock to carry the traits I look for most,” explained Jack, adding that these days six to eight females are flushed annually with the aim of producing more tups and future stock ewes from the best breeding females.
“As cattlemen, we find we can relate to the Texel breed and have the same breeding aims as we do for our Angus herd. We like big, powerful sheep with plenty length – a real commercial type with a great carcase.
“They’ve also got to have plenty character, style and a smart head on them, as not only are they much nicer to look at but we find, as with the cattle, they breed better too,” Jack added. 
One of the first rams to join the flock was Wester Crosshill Prody, a joint purchase at 10,000gns at Lanark in 2009, whose first son, Haymount Ringmaster, sold the following year through Lanark for 4000gns. 
Sadly, Jack lost himbefore his second season and so another tup was purchased in 2010, Scrogton Powerhouse. 
This Douganhill Monarch son was bought in partnership with Thrunton at Kelso in 2012 for £10,000, the top price of the day, and was the first sire to really stamp the shape and style Jack is looking for. 
“He was big, long and stylish, and crossed well to those original females – he was a real flock maker and really pulled the ewes together,” commented Jack, adding that daughters of his have bred sons to £3800 and have produced around 100 or so tups in total that have averaged out over the years at more than £800. 
A year later at Lanark, in 2013, the 7500gns Knock Topaz was jointly purchased and also came up with the goods, siring Haymount Umpire that sold to the Elmscleugh flock for 5800gns. 
Topaz proved to be an exceptional match to Powerhouse daughters, with the proof of this pudding seen in this year’s strapping show ewe that picked up the red, white and blue sash at both Kelso and Berwickshire Shows. 
Then Ettrick Tartan Special joined the flock after standing champion at the pre-sale show at Kelso. His best son made £2800 when snapped up by the Brijon flock last year at Kelso, while another noteworthy sire was the privately purchased Kidston Tyson whose first two sons sold in 2014 for £3600 and £3500. 
While the pedigree of Powerhouse, Topaz and Tartan Special feature strongly in the current flock females, it is a couple of different sires that produced the goods in recent years, namely a 30-strong batch of performance recorded shearlings showing plenty shape and style heading to Ring 5 at Kelso Ram Sales next week. 
The majority of these are by Ettrick Vagabond, of which a half share was bought privately, while others are by the 13,000gns Clinterty USA, whose sons sold keenly last year.
“I first started selling small numbers of tup lambs through Lanark but the tups we started to use in the following years left a definite Kelso type so decided we’d try selling there instead,” explained Jack.
“There’s a good, reliable trade year in, year out at Kelso and it is just 10 minutes down the road which couldn’t be handier for us! We’ve also started getting a lot of repeat customers – one man last year took 10 – so it would be silly to turn that custom down.
“We’ve had tups sell to Orkney, Devon, Wales, and Ireland and everywhere in between. Plus, there are more and more pedigree men buying there now too as well as the commercial breeders.”
“Texels are generally pretty low input and we run them as commercially as we can – they’re not fed ahead of lambing and therefore generally lamb away themselves with any problematic ewes weeded out. 
“The entire flock is inseminated using fresh semen with the aim of giving a tight lambing period at the very end of February and into March so that lambing is finished before calving starts,” pointed out Jack who commits himself entirely at lambing time, leaving Tom and John to get on with the spring arable work.
For Tom, however, it’s more than just the ease of management that has worked well at Haymount as he’s also witnessed significant improvements in the arable and cattle enterprises too. 
“The management of the farm, since the sheep arrived, has changed. Both the soil structure and pasture quality have improved dramatically and made a fantastic job of improving the fertility of the arable crops and the cattle have fared well too with better pasture to graze on,” he pointed out.
“There’s been a major reduction in the amount of fertiliser used and the general management is very balanced. We’re now a fully integrated stock system, using all our own grain and straw to feed and bed the livestock – it’s such a forward thinking idea that we’re almost going back 100 years when most farms had cattle and sheep alongside arable land.”
There’s no doubting that the addition of sheep to Haymount has proved profitable and the Texel breed has well and truly made its mark on Jack: “The Texel is the ultimate terminal sire. They offer a happy medium between the pedigree and commercial market place and bring together the best pieces of their counterparts.”
So if it’s strong, stylish and commercially focused Texels you’re after from well-bred families, make sure you head to Ring 5 to check out the Haymount pen. And with 30 on offer there’s bound to be at least one, or even 10 if you fancy, to catch your eye.