Monday, September 9 – a sad day for north east Scotland’s farming community, as I attended the funeral of Stewart Stronach senior from Berryleys at Keith.
Stewart will be sadly missed – a very well thought of farmer who built up an exceptional herd of Simmental cattle. He passes on a great legacy to the next generation of whom he thought so highly – he was immensely proud of them all. Our thoughts go out to the Stronach family.
September brings many birthdays in our household including our youngest, Magnus, who became a teenager and our oldest, Rory, who is turning 20.
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I find it hard to believe I am the father of a 20-year-old as quite often I believe I am still nearer that age myself.
We are very proud of all of our boys and I feel there is no better way to raise a family than being brought up on a farm. It gives kids such a wide variety of learning experiences which sets them up well for the future, whichever way they choose to go.
It’s saddening to see the lack of young people in our industry now, with uncertainties over how financially viable farming will be in the next few years. It’s a tough lifestyle choice over other more well-paid and less tying forms of employment.
Last weekend, I enjoyed a great trip away with the Scottish and Northern Charolais Club to Dumfries, to visit two tremendous livestock farms. Firstly, we visited Richard McCormick’s Barnbackle Farm and then onto Alisdair Davidson’s Poldean Farm.
Both systems use Charolais bulls to produce uniform calves from Salers cross Angus/Simmental cows.
I was really impressed with both units, run by very smart, forward-thinking families, who are willing to try different approaches to maximise their farms’ potential.
It’s great to get away and see these different farming systems and I hope everyone took something away from the visit, along with a hangover from a sociable night in Dumfries.
It was then on to Allanfauld on our last visit, to view some of their Charolais for their reduction sale on September 14. As always, their stock was tremendous and I wish them all the best for the sale.
On the farm here, we are getting very frustrated with the weather. After starting harvest a fortnight ago, the combines have not moved in the last week.
Initial barley crops are good, with yield and quality high, so hopefully we can get going again soon to secure the rest. My spring oats, which looked to be a bumper crop, are now flat due to the heavy rain – we will need some very dry days before the combine can attempt to harvest them.
All bulls are now in from the cows apart from my pedigree Charolais which will get another week of the bull. Cows seem quiet, so hopefully most are in calf. The calves are now eating creep, feeding well, with most now receiving 2kg per head/day.
Over the next few weeks, all will receive their first pneumonia vaccine, the second a month later. We started this about 10 years ago and it seems to be working well, as we now have very few pneumonia outbreaks during the danger November/December period.
I calve 20 pedigree Charolais cows in the back end and they will start in the next few weeks. These cows have been kept tight of grass and I have been supplementing them with hay and latterly ad-lib straw to keep their stomachs full. Cow condition, I believe, is crucial when it comes to calving, especially in the back end when cows tend to be fitter where grass is plentiful.
It’s heartening to see the deadweight beef price rising again and hopefully it will encourage the finisher to pay a decent price for the weaned calves this back end, as they have had a tough summer with a lot of cattle losing money due to being bought very dear in the spring months.
On the bull front, we have four entered for the Stirling Bull Sales in October. I am very pleased with them and hopefully they keep improving until the sale. They are all by our stock bull Thurso Paul which is breeding well and proving to be very easily calved. All bulls will be semen tested in the next month and although this is not a guarantee of fertility, I think it gives buyers a reassurance that the bull is producing semen that would settle a cow.
Many buyers ask now if they are tested and it does reduce insurance costs a bit, which are now becoming utterly ridiculous and unaffordable. My yearling bulls will be housed for the winter in the next few weeks – they are running at grass but grass quality is reducing and they are starting to look a bit weathered with the inclement weather.
I hope the weather improves for us all over the next few weeks and everyone can secure their harvest. All the best.
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