More than 70 visitors attended the first monitor meeting for the Smith family recently, farming within the Cairngorms National Park, who rely on good calving percentages, quality stock and a forward-looking family team for their success.

Creating a long-term vision for the family and farm, outwintering opportunities and looking more deeply into bull fertility were suggestions for consideration by attendees.

The Strathspey Monitor Farm, at Auchernack, Grantown-on-Spey, is hosted by Malcolm Smith, his wife Sammie and son Calum, supported by QMS and AHDB and funded by Scottish Government. The farm, their livestock, their diversification, their drive and enthusiasm will be catalysts for many discussions over the next four years of the Monitor Farm programme.

Auchernack is an 800 acre farm, farmed by the Smiths since 1936, in which they are home to 140 suckler cows and 120 store cattle, with a focus on store calf production using predominantly Limousin sires. For ease of management, cattle are overwintered indoors. Calving is split, with a third of the herd calving in autumn/winter and the remainder in spring. Sammie is also a partner and runs a successful self-catering business.

The day concentrated on first impressions, with Malcolm explaining the farm’s autumn and spring calving pattern, Sammie the bull choice and health status and Calum calf performance and housing.

Attendees highlighted more than 70 points of positive practice at Auchernack, including the right sized cows, good calving percentages, compact nine-week calving periods and efficient use of slurry from the slatted sheds.

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Suggestions for improvement included greater focus on bull and cow fertility to get more calves in the first three weeks of calving, with a recommendation to pick bulling heifers from early calving cows. Attendees mentioned that the choice of heifers could be based upon pelvic scoring, that the Smiths could consider different grassland systems to extend the grazing season and that they might benefit from taking a more strategic look at the business. The Smiths will aim to make more use of data as the whole herd is now EID tagged.

The Monitor Farm programme is supporting a deeper look into Auchernack through the Farm Advisory Service’s Integrated Land Management Plan and Specialist Plans which will help create a farm vision and suggestions for future development.

Malcolm said: “People offered valuable insights into our business. We were pleased to hear that we were doing some things well and were inspired by suggestions to take the farm to the next level, even in challenging times.”

Added to this Peter Beattie, Regional Adviser for three North of Scotland Monitor Farms said: “Attendees were impressed by the quality stock and the attention to data and detail. Suggestions for improvement were pragmatic, informative and thought-provoking.”

A Monitor Farm Management Group, comprising of attendees who were keen to become more involved, will work with the Smiths to discuss improvements, trial ideas and benchmark data.