ABERDEENSHIRE young farmer, Duncan Morrison, has had his fair share of turmoil in trying to become an independent farmer, but he's now up and running – with no Scottish Government funding.

Duncan, 26, currently the Scottish Association of Young Farmers Club's Agri and Rural Affairs Committee vice-chairman, was brought up on his family's farm near Inverurie. But, like many family farms across the country, it is not big enough to make a living wage for everyone involved.

Last November, Duncan was given the chance to farm Meikle Maldron, a 226-acre unit near Banchory, on a five-year tenancy from Crathes Estate, with his girlfriend Claire Johnstone, who works as a vet nurse at Woodside Veterinary Group, near Banchory.

"When the last farmer left, the farm was split in two and the estate was keen to have two younger people farm the two units and more so, work together," said Duncan. "It couldn't have worked out better, as I had previously worked on the farm so I knew the ground well and also Gavin Coutts, who farms the other unit next door".

But it's taken a good few years of experience, determination and patience to get to farming his own place. After leaving Craibstone with a degree in agriculture, he worked as a stockman on a few places, including Meikle Maldron, as well as a farm manager, mainly with Simmental and Aberdeen-Angus cattle.

He also purchased a few store cattle each year and grazed them at home through the summer as just a hobby and a chance to make some extra pennies. But this meant Duncan was not entitled to receive the New Entrants Capital Grant Scheme, as he was already recognised as farming.

"Perhaps having no farming connections would have helped but I think having just a few store cattle through the summer should prove that you are at least trying to get a start in the industry," he said.

In 2014, he won the Aberdeen-Angus Youth Development Programme, which awarded him a three-week scholarship in New Zealand through the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society.

"New Zealand taught me a lot. It was a real eye opener and I've picked up many of the country's farming methods and techniques, purely because it's more cost effective and simple which suits my system," Duncan explained.

However he was dealt a bitter blow on his return from New Zealand, full of enthusiasm and ideas – he was made redundant from the farm he was managing.

Devastated, he nonetheless resolved to move forward, deciding to go self-employed and, with the help of a stocking agreement from Aberdeen and Northern Marts, as well as a loan from RBS, he purchased 49 suckler cows from the farm, mainly Simmental and Aberdeen-Angus crosses, and luckily was able to keep the cows at their current home by renting the grass there in the summer for grazing.

At Meikle Maldron – as well as still working self-employed on neighbouring farms and carrying out a lot of fencing work using hired machines – Duncan still has those original 49 cows which are overwintered all year round and calve in the spring.

"They're low maintenance cows which are rotationally grazed and produce natural calves which are sold at six-months-old immediately after weaning," Duncan said. "You have to spend thousands to keep cattle and do them well, so I try to keep the process as simple as possible. They are grass-based cattle and only have additional silage bales and minerals.

"I purchased 100 bales of silage when I came here so that's kept them going." He uses a NZ method of having an electric fence round the bales, allowing them to be 'strip grazed'.

"It's great having Gavin next door as we're able to work together and I'm lucky to be able to hire his tractor, as well as other pieces of machinery from other neighbours who also give me work from time to time. Machinery is something that's just too costly at the start," he added.

Keen to make extra income wherever he can, a quarter of the land on the farm is still in stubble, which he hopes to let out on a contract farming agreement with neighbour Gavin, before hopefully having the whole unit into grass. Duncan also takes on 350 wintering sheep owned by the Ingram family from Logie Durno, which helps maintain the grassland.

With Duncan keen to run a profitable business without relying on the subsidies, he commented that 'working full-time is my real subsidy'.

"The next couple of years will include finding my feet and repaying back the loan. I'm hoping to be in more luck when I apply for the Young Farmers Capital Grant so I can make improvements to amenities like drainage and fences.

"I don't plan on increasing the suckler herd yet, as keeping it simple means I can still work off the farm, bringing in more income," Duncan concluded.