MANY farmers have tried different breeds of sheep, but for the Wallace family at Mains of Collin just outside of Auchencairn in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotch Mules have been the mainstay of their sheep enterprise for as long as they have farmed at The Mains.

"We've never been swayed to try easy care breeds or other crossing breeds" admits Robin Wallace, "as, for us, the Scotch Mule has all the attributes we require to perform on this farm."

Robin was brought up at Fingland Farm, Dalry, but has spent most of his life at Mains of Collin, initially as the lamber for the Cannon family, then being employed as their full-time farm manager.

In 1993, Robin and his wife Fiona got the opportunity to take over the tenancy of the upland unit and just last year, the family got the chance to buy the farm. Mains of Collin is run alongside two other tenanted units, Collin Mill and Bengairn Hill, a heather hill that they use for their Blackface flock.

Totalling just over 1000acres the family now run 1020 sheep in three different flocks - 500 Blackface ewes are tupped by Bluefaced Leicesters, 280 Mule ewe lambs are tupped by Beltex cross Texels, 240 Blackface ewes are bred pure and a small flock of 10 Bluefaced Leicester ewes, run alongside 110 Limousin cross cows and 12 pure Limousin cows.

Although looking out across the Solway, Mains of Collin rises to 1200 feet, with a full half of their acreage being rough hill grazing.

The farm is run by Robin and Fiona - who takes care of all the paper-work and helps outside when required particularly at lambing time - and also works as an Agricultural Officer in the Scottish Governments Rural Payments office in Dumfries.

Eldest son Blair (22) is a graduate land agent/rural surveyor in Lancashire and Finlay (19) is in the process of planning to go back to Australia and New Zealand, having been over there to work last winter, but both are keen and heavily involved in the farm at home.

"With the boys working elsewhere, a lot of work gets done at the weekend," Robin said. "Generally it's just me working away during the week, but the boys play a big part in the farm."

The composition of their livestock has, and is constantly changing, and Robin admits that it's work load driven. His Blackie lambing starts a fortnight before the Mule lambing with the hill ewes starting mid-April. All cows calve in the spring so there's not a lot of spare time in March or April!

Over the years the numbers of Mule ewe lambs tupped and sold as suckled gimmers has been increasing. Robin added: "Two reasons are driving this increase - the ewe lambs have a weaning percentage of 128% and at 2% a very low mortality, and the progeny are easily finished.

"In comparison the Blackies - bought as drafts or gimmers - crossed to the Blue are more expensive to buy in and their mothering ability can't compete with that of the Mule ewe lamb.

"The mortality rate in a Blackie can be upwards of 7% and if a single wedder lamb is reared there is not much margin left. This year, we intend to tup more than 330 Mule ewe lambs with the number of Blackies crossed to the Blue reduced."

The Mules are all shorn prior to being sent to land near Dumfries to be tupped and to develop a bit of condition before coming back home to Mains of Collin after scanning.

All Mule ewe lambs with twins are lambed outside, with singles lambed inside as some lambs need just a wee bit assistance at birth.

All twins born are left on their mothers to rear them, running on the best fields all spring/summer.

Although there may be four or five with bad udders each year, Robin feels that the way they perform is a 'real credit to the Mule hogg considering she is just a year old'. These are weaned around late July to give them time to rest and get back in condition in time for selling in August.

Robin sells all his Mule gimmers and ewe lambs through Wallets Marts, Castle Douglas, and has done so with considerable success over the years.

Last August, they sold the top priced lot of gimmers at £180 and averaged an impressive £160 for the 260. They see a lot of return customers buying their stock too, all of them having the view that suckled gimmers are more likely to go on and conceive twins and triplets as opposed to a fit gimmer that has never reared.

Robin said: "They really have proved their worth at just a year old. Having lambed as hoggs, they are fantastic mothers as gimmers - they've been there - done that!"

One regular customer is John Thomson, farm manager at Howick Estate in Northumberland. Robin says, John is looking for lengthy gimmers that have suckled and that he can cross with Suffolk tups. He keeps the progeny from this cross as stock replacements.

Robin tups all his hoggs with a Beltex cross Texel sire buying out of Kelso or privately.

"We've found that even weaning them that bit earlier, Beltex cross Texel lambs come good about Christmas time, which is ideal for us. We finish them on our own rape and turnips." Robin said. "Many of these lambs hit U grades and average weights last year were 20.5kg deadweight.

"We stick with this cross sire because the lambs are a good size to deal with at lambing time, and they're hardy. They also kill out well."

As well as selling females through Castle Douglas, Robin sells prime lambs almost solely to Woodheads to supply Morrsions.

"The way I look at my business is that it's a case of managing risk. I don't like to have all my eggs in one basket and have only one outlet for selling my stock.

"Selling gimmers and ewe lambs is a very important side of things, but so is the fat lamb market - it's another market and income opportunity.

"Selling to Woodheads is working well for us, although they have more standards to adhere to before the lambs actually get there, but we're happy with the prices and grades we get from them."

Robin breeds his own replacement Bluefaced Leicester tups but occasionally needs to buy a stock tup at Wallets Marts.

Showing wise, the family only show at Stewartry Show, their most local, and they have two ewe lambs picked out to attend this year's event in a few weeks time.

In 2013, they managed to win the Bluefaced Leicester championship with a home-bred ewe lamb.

"We do think it's important to support our local show" explains Fiona. "People are upset when smaller regional shows fall by the wayside, but if people don't support them, that is unfortunately what happens."

The Wallace's were also asked by the Scotch Mule Association to provide a hogg with twins at foot to go on the stand at this year's North Sheep, and they do think that it's important to take advantage of opportunities like that, seeing it as a 'shop window' for the breed and their own stock.

As far as the cattle side of things are concerned, although sticking with the Limousin base for their herd, Robin is trying to bring British Blue cross cows into the herd as well as keeping the Limousin cross.

They buy Limousin cross Friesian heifers with calves at foot from a good, well respected source in Cumbria.

"We're careful where we buy any stock in from," explains Fiona.

"We're very conscious of keeping a high health status - not just for our own good, but for the sake of our customers as well."

As far as the 12 pure Limousins are concerned, they AI them to produce stock bulls, which are used on their own cows, with any surplus sold privately.

Calving in the spring, calves are sold through the market the following April.

This spring the calves peaked at £1180 for a pen of 10 bullocks, with an overall average of £1000/head.

"We sell all our calves stores through Castle Douglas, as with the sheep, and there's a good market for what we produce there," Robin said.

"The Limousin is a great breed as far as we're concerned. They're good when it comes to calving, and they've got brilliant maternal qualities.

"They produce the end product we're looking for which is obviously the most important thing."

A focus on achieving the best end result possible seems to be the overall focus for the Wallace family at Mains of Collin, and with the results they've had in the sale ring, you can't really argue with that!