FARMING sustainably on an upland/hill unit in an era of ever diminishing returns and financial assistance is becoming an increasing problem and one which is only going to intensify, but it is an issue which the Kays from Hartside, Lammermuir, are addressing head on.
With 1800 ewes running on 580acres at Hartside, Oxton, Lauder, and a further 160 acres of seasonal grazing, Sheila Kay, son Jack, and his uncle, Andrew Kay, have always looked to maximise returns by concentrating on breeding superior quality breeding stock to sell privately or through the live auction ring. 
Input costs have nevertheless been curtailed in the past few years to such an extent that all work is done in house, with only exception being lambing time when a night lamber is taken on. 
And, instead of owning costly machinery to make their own hay and silage, contractors are brought in to do all forage work for the 75-cow suckler herd, which is now outwintered in an old quarry, instead of renting sheds for them. 
Add to that maximising grass production to sell as many lambs as possible without concentrate feeds, and fixed and variable costs have been reduced further. 
“We have taken a long hard look at the way we farm to see how we can reduce our costs and make the farm work more for us,” said Sheila. “We all have to move forward with the times and farm within our boundaries because subsidies as we know them are not going to last forever.”
Having previously farmed the heather hill farm at Burncastle, Lauder, just up the road, Blackface sheep have and always will take pride of place here, but add to that a pedigree flock of crossing Bluefaced Leicesters established 10 years after the family moved to Hartside in 1996, and a few Beltex, and the business has increased returns from this upland/hill unit which mostly sits above 1000ft. In doing so, they also reap the benefits of having a mostly self contained flock with reduced input costs.
Starting at top of the hill, 550 Blackface ewes are kept pure to breed home-bred replacement females and tup lambs and shearlings to sell at Stirling, Dalmally and Lanark. At Burncastle, these values peaked at £36,000, but young Jack has also made his mark at Hartside, with such rams selling to £20,000.
A further 550 Blackies are crossed to home-bred crossing Bluefaced Leicester tup lambs bred from the family’s 60 pedigree Blue flock, to produced Mule ewe lambs to sell privately and for stock ewe lamb for the business’ lower ground 620 Mule and Texel cross commercial flock. These are mostly tupped to home-bred Beltex lambs bred from the family’s 25-ewe flock, with the majority of the progeny, finished off grass and through Scotbeef.
It’s these lambs which are boosting cash flow at a traditionally lean time, with the first Beltex/Texel cross lambs sold every fortnight from early July onwards at 38-40kg to produce 19.5kg E and U classification carcases which regularly sell up to £90 per head. Mule wedder lambs are also paying their way, having peaked at £85 per head, when selling at 40kg with mostly U and R grades.
“The Mule ewe is the best all round commercial female as she is so motherly, prolific and milky,” said Jack. “She is an absolute workhorse, putting everything into her lambs and she’ll produce more lambs than the Texel cross Mule. 
“Texel cross ewes will produce slightly better quality lambs which are worth more deadweight and through the live ring, and they’re worth more at the end of the day, but they are not as motherly as the Scotch Mule,” added Jack, who lives with his wife Katie, who is a full-time PE teacher and helps out on the farm at lambing time.
Backing up these statements, Sheila added the system worked well at Hartside, as they are able to make maximum use of grass to finish lambs at the right time to hit the specification demanded by the abattoir. As a result, all lambs are weighed and drawn off when they hit 40kg live, with the right fat cover, and sold through Scotbeef, every fortnight.
“We look to keep the farm in good ‘heart’ and spend more on reseeding and fertiliser instead of forking out for concentrates to finish lambs. We also look to breed good milky females with good hair – it’s more cost effective finishing lambs off their mothers and good grass than having to buy in concentrates,” said Sheila adding that 800 prime lambs have already been cashed this way.
It’s a policy which runs true for their Blackface, Blue and Scotch Mule flocks too. “You’ve got to breed good heads if you want to sell breeding stock as that is the first thing that stops a potential buyer when they are walking past a pen in the market. Good breeding stock will always sell, so we always look to buy stocktups with good conformation, shape, skins, hair and a good breedy heads in our Blackies and our Blues,” added Sheila.
It’s a policy which is bearing fruit too as while the majority of wedder lambs are sold off grass, 300 Mule ewe lambs have already been sold privately through Borderway Livestock, to two regular buyers, and a new customer, to average in excess of £100 per head.
Outwith relying on a good hardy clean Blackface ewes with good hair and coats to breed Scotch Mule females, the Kays have also improved the breeding potential of their Bluefaced Leicester flock by cashing in their traditional blues to make way for the crossing type, which they have found produce darker coloured cross-bred progeny, while also breeding a slightly hardier, milkier ewe. 
Hence, eight crossing-type females were initially bought from the Wights at Midlock in 2006, to breed home-bred tups, but have since been built up to 60 pedigree ewes all of which come under the Hartside Lammermuir prefix.
This ensures sufficient numbers of tup lambs to use over their crossing Blackface flock which are then sold the following year at the Kelso Ram Sales, or at United Auctions, Stirling.
They are certainly adding to the business too, with the Kays’ pen of 10 sold at Kelso having sold to £1700 in the past, to regularly average £800-£1000 per head. They also look to buy stock tups at Kelso or Castle Douglas too, with the best having been purchased from the Midlock, Firth and Dalpeddar flocks.
Farming at virtually 1000ft above sea-level, Blues have to be hardy at Hartside, as all are outwintered although they are brought inside to lamb a couple of days before they are due. Lambed inside mid-March alongside the Scotch Mules and the Beltex, they are given free reign to the great outdoors as soon as the weather permits to harden them up.
All ewes are fed blocks from November and homegrown haylage and hay from December, with concentrates from mid January onwards, although timings are weather dependant as winters can be severe here.
The pure Blackies are nevertheless lambed outside, starting early April, and fed blocks only from mid-January onwards, while the crossing Blackies to the Blues start lambing at the same time, but are housed as they are due.
“The whole system is geared towards selling good quality breeding stock which will always attract higher prices compared to the very best of commercial stock. Producing good breeding stock isn’t just about good breedy heads and hair though – a belief held by generations of the Kay family past and present – you also have to get the basics right and breed from sheep of a good size, length, legs, skin and mouth,” added Sheila.
The next couple of months are two of the busiest, but with so many lambs already finished off grass or sold privately for breeding, there can be no doubting the potential of the Bluefaced Leicester, combined with good stockmanship to add value to any breeding sheep flock. Just take a look at the Hartside Blues destined for the sales at Kelso, next week…