Modern cloud-based technology and over inflated automation are often deemed the way forward for agriculture but the old, traditional ways of mixed farming can be just as productive and be a lot more sustainable.

It might be a fairly simplistic business model, but by ensuring sufficient livestock manure is fed to arable soils and easy fleshing cattle and sheep are bred from maternal-type females, has always proved a winning formula for the Tweedies from Middlethird, Gordon.

“You need livestock to be truly regenerative and we wouldn’t have a viable business without livestock,” said Jamie, who up until 2012 was a major in the British Army having served on operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland.

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“We keep being told we have to be more productive, cut costs and improve levels of efficiency and I came home from the Army to do just that, but why change it if it’s not broken,” he asked, adding that the business has always been based on a good commercial Aberdeen-Angus herd cattle providing superior quality beef from home-grown forages.

Some of the bullocks that are 16 months old and will be finished on farm Ref:RH230921028 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

Some of the bullocks that are 16 months old and will be finished on farm Ref:RH230921028 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

“Aberdeen-Angus beef is absolutely tremendous and much of that is to do with its marbling characteristics and the fact it is a native breed. We also have a great story to tell in marketing a native breed in Scotland which is being looked after to the highest level being out at grass for most of the year and fed home-grown forages inside during the winter,” Jamie said.

A mixed farmer with some 1050acres of permanent and improved pasture and arable ground, Jamie, farms in partnership with his parents, Douglas and Senga Tweedie, wife Fiona and their children, Jemima (10) and Hugo (7).

He also relies on shepherd Neill Kinghorn who has worked for the Tweedies for more than 30 years ably assisted by tractorman, Billy Fenwick, plus part time apprentice Ellis Wilkinson

Most of Jamie and Neill’s work revolves around the cattle and sheep, with the beef herd based on 170 home-bred milky Aberdeen-Angus females upgraded from Blue Grey and British Blue cows from the dairy herd over the decades.

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These Angus females are mostly bulled to an Aberdeen-Angus to produce finished beef at a premium for Dovecote Park.

One of only a handful of farms north of the Border producing such high quality beef for this select scheme, the Tweedies do however have to adhere to some fairly strict management procedures. Their cattle have to boast the best of health and welfare and come from a farm that looks to enhance and protect the local environment.

cows which are in the autumn calving block start calving from the first of September Ref:RH230921025 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

cows which are in the autumn calving block start calving from the first of September Ref:RH230921025 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

Hence, cattle are mostly grass fed and when they do come in for the winter, they are housed in straw-bedded courts bedded by telehandler and without the use of a machine ‘bedder.’

No soya is permitted in the feed ration, which is based on silage, straw, oats and bought in dark grains. Antibiotics are kept to a minimum too.

The Tweedies have also planted trees as shelterbelts and hedgerows – practices Jamie said were done in years gone bye when farming was more profitable, to add value and increase biodiversity.

The family is nevertheless rewarded with a premium, producing Scottish high quality, high welfare beef to Dovecote Park

Jamie added: “We are extremely fortunate to have this Dovecote Park contract which was obtained when the scheme was introduced more than 25 years ago, because they do pay the best, but the cattle have to be treated well too. We like to think our cattle have had a happy life here.

“Even the slaughter house where the cattle are processed down at Pontefract is state of the art. You never see anyone using a stick to move the cattle and there is never any stress on them right up until they are stunned, so you’ll not taste better quality supermarket beef than that of Dovecote Park Aberdeen-Angus,” he added pointing out that the scheme has been closed to new applicants for several years now.

In all 85% of the cattle sold off Middlethird are finished through the scheme which is based on animals being sired by a pedigree Aberdeen-Angus bull and having lived a stress-free comfortable life outside at grass and in wintered on straw.

Surrounded by Angus breeders, Rawburn bulls have been bought privately in the past from John Elliot, and more recently, Wedderlie boys from the Campbell family’s neighbouring herd.

the herd is run commercially and Aberdeen Angus bulls are used to provide good calves that finish well from grass Ref:RH230921036 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

the herd is run commercially and Aberdeen Angus bulls are used to provide good calves that finish well from grass Ref:RH230921036 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

With the herd virtually pure Aberdeen-Angus, Jamie has used a Limousin in a bid to introduce a bit of hybrid vigour to the females, which resulted in progeny with a bit more shape, with the resultant females being bulled back to an Aberdeen Angus. These will continue to be bulled back to an all-black, with another beef breed bull introduced in four or five years again to add hybrid vigour.

Having culled out difficult calving animals, poor milkers, any that fail to hold to the bull or with temperament issues, Middlethird Angus females last into double figures. Heifers calve at two years of age and go on to produce seven or eight calves before being sold St Boswells Mart

And, having selected sires for ease of calving, milk and ease of calving daughters, not only is the herd producing good milky home-bred replacements but also growthy calves that can be finished within 16-21 months, mostly off grass.

Ideally, Jamie looks to breed medium sized, easy fleshing cows of up to 650kg which will produce a good sized calf that weans at 265-270kg mostly off milk and grass.

Cows are split between spring and autumn calvers for ease of management and a more even supply of finished beef. With 800 commercial ewes lambing in March, inside, the bulk of the herd, (90) is calved from April 1 onwards with the remaining 70 from September 1 onwards.

Jamie has also invested in calving cameras which has made life a lot easier during the night as rather than travel up and down to the sheds to check the cows, all he and Neill have to do now is scan the cameras which also saves disturbing the herd and their own families!

After the grain is dress the waste is fed to the cows in a TMR mix to add more fibre to the diet Ref:RH230921027 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

After the grain is dress the waste is fed to the cows in a TMR mix to add more fibre to the diet Ref:RH230921027 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

While the cameras have proved a real asset, there are no fancy feeds involved here. Instead, the farm makes use of a 70-year-old dressing mill to keep costs down by enabling all the ‘dross’ or lights from the oat crop – a feed which has been used for generations at Middlethird to feed dry cows before calving during the winter – which would otherwise be wasted or come off as a cost by the millers if sold.

Easy fed during the winter, calved cows receive a TMR based on silage, straw and oat ‘lights’ devised by SAC, while those calving in the spring are fed straw, silage and minerals until they calve when oats and bruised barley are incorporated.

Spring-born calves have access to creep feed a month before weaning into the shed with the autumn-born calves having a similar feed from two to three months of age in the shed.

All cattle are summered at grass with 12-14-month olds finished on an ad-lib silage ration with up to 5kg of bruised barley and oats per head per day for three months, to produce bullock carcase weights of 330kg and heifers at 290kg. Most kill out with R4L grades.

Those sold as stores to make way for extra cows calving and ewes lambing inside in March, also pay well with spring-born calves selling to ££1180 to average £1080 per head for a batch of 20 stots sold through St Boswells, in late March.

The cattle are however just one piece of the jigsaw, which combined with the sheep and the arable enterprise work hand in hand to ensure a profitable, viable business.

two of the strong looking spring born calves at Middlethird Ref:RH230921032 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

two of the strong looking spring born calves at Middlethird Ref:RH230921032 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

“We operate a clean grazing system here so the cattle look after the sheep which look after the cattle and the arable ground benefits from both,”

The 800 ewes comprise a mixture of North Country Cheviots bred pure and to the Bluefaced Leicester to breed home-bred Cheviot Mules and Suffolk cross Greyfaces crossed to a Blue, again to produce replacements with such females then tupped with Texel rams.

Out with replacements, all progeny are sold finished off grass with 500 sold by speaning time straight off their mothers to average in excess of £100 per head this year through St Boswells and Woodheads at Turriff. Cast ewes have also met a phenomenal trade this year too with Suffolk crosses reaching £140.

Jamie added: “I like to take a holistic approach to the various enterprises here and how they all work together because we need livestock on this farm to make it sustainable. Profit margins can be out with our control too due to bad weather at the wrong time of year and difficult calvings and lambings.

“Each enterprise has to work hand in hand with the other which is why we now sow cover crops and plant stubble turnips to winter our ewe hoggs on. We’re also looking at how we can winter cows outside in some of the woods here, because Aberdeen-Angus cows are hardy enough to do that.”

“One of the most important things is getting new life on the ground but we also need to reassess the eating quality of our beef, so what could be better than a maternal breed like the Aberdeen-Angus cattle?” Jamie rightly asked.

It does not appear to be rocket science and it’s a sustainable way of farming that goes back generations. So maybe, just maybe, our farming systems are not in the poor state they are often perceived to be …

Middlethird home to the Tweedie family Ref:RH230921037 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

Middlethird home to the Tweedie family Ref:RH230921037 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

FARM facts

Family farm: Jamie and Fiona and young family of Jemima and Hugo and Jamie’s parents, Douglas and Senga.

Labour: Shepherd Neil Kinghorn and tractorman Billy Fenwick, apprentice Ellis Wilkinson. Casual labour brought in during lambing.

Acreage: 1170acres made up of 400 acres of permanent pasture, 470 acres of arable cropping and 200 acres of temporary pasture. 100 acres woodland, tracks, buildings

Livestock: 145 Aberdeen-Angus cows and 35 Aberdeen-Angus in-calf heifers, 800 commercial ewes. Home-bred replacements are retained from both enterprises. All progeny bar replacements are finished on farm with the exception of 20 store cattle in the spring to make space for cows calving.

ON THE spot:

Best investment? The calving cameras and also the new cattle handling and weighing system.

Biggest achievement? Returning from 14 years in the army and executing the succession plan!

Where would you like to be in 2030? An environmentally conscious, sustainable business that is resilient to market forces in the 21st century.

What do you miss most from the army? The camaraderie, being part of a large can-do organisation

What is easier – army life or farming? I don’t think one is easier than the other – they are both challenging in a different ways.