by John Elliot

June promises to be a busy month for us – apart from the usual seasonal tasks, such as AI and silage, we are preparing a stand for the Scottish Beef Event, cattle for the Royal Highland Show and after that a tidy of the farm for the visit of the World Angus Forum on June 27.

We expect about 300 visitors from many countries. The planet earth is a classroom, so hopefully they will enjoy the experience and will take home happy memories.

The first World Angus Forum I attended was held at Aviemore in 1977. I was a bit player then, with only two or three pedigree cows.

I didn’t realise it at the time, but learned soon after, that our UK Aberdeen-Angus had fallen behind the rest of the world. The second forum I went to was in South Africa in 2005. The scenery – Table Mountain, the Drakensburg Mountains and the High Veldt, where distance melts in the crystal air – blew me away. The third, was in Alberta eight years ago.

Although we were frequent visitors to western Canada and had seen it all before, the endless prairie and jagged back drop of the Rockies were equally unforgettable.

An added interest was that we had access to their bloodlines and found a bull which did well for us.

It will be interesting to find out what our visitors think of British cattle, as every country has different economic drivers which shape their breeders priorities.

In many countries, market demand focuses on and pays a worthwhile premium for beef which tastes better.

Our own EUROP grading system, on the other hand, encourages high muscularity, low fat and increased yield. In all countries, labour is short, so ease of calving is a priority.

The difficulty is getting it without losing the growth we already have. A particular difficulty in the UK is the poor accuracy of calving EBVS.

The economic importance of the polled factor is noticeable too. Several breeds which we regard as horned are predominately polled in other countries. They are often black, which hints at where the polled factor came from.

The cattle world is an exciting place to be and, provided that we are given half a chance by those negotiating Brexit, should become increasingly profitable.

One of my regrets is that so much of the meaningful research is being done overseas. But, the continuing driver for economic success with beef cattle must be to improve the product at consumer level.

Experience in North America and Australia has been that this stimulates demand and raises prices for those producing the right article.

Over several decades, a primary source of genetics in our own herd has been North America. The enormous cattle population in USA and Canada offers a great choice in finding what’s hot, what works and what’s next.

While segregation still exists, to an extent, between performance cattle and cattle winning shows, today industry demands that they are one and the same – using eye appeal and EBVs for total evaluation.

We have been lucky in that, for the past 40 years, American cattle have compared closely in body type with those that would sell well here.

Satisfying our genetic wish list has become more difficult in recent years. For instance, the Americans have downsized their cattle, which have become very deep-sided and have less hindquarter than we have. Whether good or bad, we would find that type difficult to sell.

Despite that, it is important that we keep our eyes on the horizon not just on the bottom line.

Our rotational grazing project is going fine. We were late in starting, so the grass got ahead of us. Prolonged cold, dry easterlies sorted that out and the grass is now where it should be.

Thirty heifers, a bull and 220 ewes with lambs at foot graze 37 acres. We would never have achieved that set stocking.

Our rule of thumb, in the interests of simplicity – which, I suspect, would make the purists shudder – is to move stock into a paddock when the grass is six inches high and move them on when they graze it down to two inches.

The QMS sward stick is a handy tool and priced attractively (it's free). I have no doubt that, as we gain experience, we will roll rotational grazing out on a bigger scale.

Its success is a tribute to both modern grasses and also to modern electric fencing.

But, my experience with electric fencing over my lifetime has been rather mixed. Reeling wire in and out seemed and endless task.

Lambs had no respect for high voltage, whether conveyed by net or wire. Vegetation shorted the system out and cows walked away with wire hanked round feet and legs.

The new materials are much more effective and very economic. Most of it originated in New Zealand – but it seems that most of what is revolutionary, be it fencing, grazing methods or sheep that can survive with minimal human input, has come from New Zealand.

Let us hope that we can beat them at rugby, because they aren’t bad at that either.

When we moved from Rawburn, a high hill farm, to Roxburgh Mains, mainly an arable farm, in 1993, we had a dilemma of whether to tool up for cropping, employ contractors or use the Borders Machinery Ring, which hadn’t been long in existence.

Economics to the sum of £12,000 per annum dictated that I used ‘the ring’. It was one of the best decisions I ever made, particularly as our own inclination was to four legs over four wheels.

Apart from contracting, we now get fuel, electricity, fertiliser and casual labour through ‘the ring’.

It was a pleasure to attend the ceremony to open their new offices in Earlston. We wish them a long and successful future there.