Peebles-shire fencing contractors, Joe Swinton and Sons, aim on efficiency for their forward-thinking business, which was established almost 40 years ago.

The Scottish Farmer: Three generations of the Swinton family Ross, Joe and Brian Ref:RH181121081 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...Three generations of the Swinton family Ross, Joe and Brian Ref:RH181121081 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

From the old-fashioned way of fencing by hand, to a much more modern automated way, the father and son duo, Joe and Brian, have been through the lot. Being brought up in a farming community all of their lives, they originally starting out with general farm work, but both soon found their path to setting up their fencing business.

The Scottish Farmer: Brian working the post chapper mounted on the FIAT tractor Ref:RH181121077 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...Brian working the post chapper mounted on the FIAT tractor Ref:RH181121077 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

A forward-thinking family – Joe’s father was one of the first to own a tractor in Peebles-shire – Joe worked with various farms after leaving school but working at one down in the Yarrow Valley was 'the lucky one' asa that's where he met his wife, Margaret, and later had their two sons, David and Brian.

The Scottish Farmer: Jeff is using the rock spike to make it easier for the post to go in Ref:RH181121086 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...Jeff is using the rock spike to make it easier for the post to go in Ref:RH181121086 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

Life then brought the family to Innerleithen in 1979, where Joe worked with a local fencing company, but made the decision to branch out on his own in 1985, but continuing to do various general farm work and fencing jobs to keep the wolf from the door.

The Scottish Farmer: Jeff is making sure everything lines up before chapping the post in Ref:RH181121088 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...Jeff is making sure everything lines up before chapping the post in Ref:RH181121088 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

Brian left school the same year and following the family tradition started working for local farmer, Tom Renwick, at Nether Horsburgh, and he continued to work for the family until they moved farms and a worker was not required, pre-empting the move for Brian to start working with his father, where they continued with seasonal lambings to bring in money prior to forming Joe Swinton and Son fencing contractors.

The Scottish Farmer: The New Holland is equipped with duel wheel to help with softer and steeper ground Ref:RH181121084 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...The New Holland is equipped with duel wheel to help with softer and steeper ground Ref:RH181121084 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

Initially, fencing was all done by hand but with the help of a quad bike, the pair could be seen on all the local farms and hill grounds around Peebles and the Yarrow Valley where their first hill fence was high up at Loch Skene, above the Grey Mare's Tail, near Moffat.

The Scottish Farmer: Handy forklift for loading supplies onto the trailer in the yard Ref:RH181121078 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...Handy forklift for loading supplies onto the trailer in the yard Ref:RH181121078 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

After working on a fence at Broadmeadows Farm for Alex Telfar, he suggested the father and son duo got themselves a tractor and post driver to make the job easier and more efficient.

The Scottish Farmer: The Swintons erect a variety of different fences to the needs of the customer Ref:RH181121085 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...The Swintons erect a variety of different fences to the needs of the customer Ref:RH181121085 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

“It was a huge investment at the time, but it really allowed us to maximise our workload and be a lot more efficient with our time. Working without the post driver was hard labour day in day out,” said Joe, who knew there was plenty of work for the investment to be made.

The Scottish Farmer: Joe with his FIAT tractor and first post chapper Ref:RH181121076 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...Joe with his FIAT tractor and first post chapper Ref:RH181121076 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

Brian added: “Once we had purchased this machine, we never stopped fencing and had to give up on the general farm work. There was a niche in the market for this as it was just coming to the agriculture industry.”

The first machines, a Kinghitter post driver and a two-wheel-drive Fiat tractor were purchased, but after a year the tractor was upgraded to a four-wheel-drive machine which made working life a lot easier and safer for Joe and Brian, especially on the hill.

The Scottish Farmer: Brian making sure post is level before it is chapped in Ref:RH181121080 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...Brian making sure post is level before it is chapped in Ref:RH181121080 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

“Buying this kit allowed us to increase our workload and the ability to take on bigger jobs. We went on to do two full time fencing jobs,” said Brian, but harking back to his farming days, Joe still kept his hand in, in the lambing shed every spring, to which he carried on through until he was 68.

As the years went on, the busier the team got, in 2000 they purchased a second tractor and post driver allowed the family to double up on their work output. From there the team progressed from the Kinghitters to Vector post drivers, which were bigger and had more power for hitting the stobs in.

The Scottish Farmer: Jeff measuring out the distance for the next post Ref:RH181121091 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...Jeff measuring out the distance for the next post Ref:RH181121091 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

Moving forward is always the ambition for Joe Swinton and Son, within the past five years two Bryce post-drivers with rock spike and quad shifts have been purchased.

Just last year, the team purchased their first new tractor from Lothian Tractors and now both the tractors they use have loaders on them, which means the handling of materials are at a minimum which means less manual handling reducing injury risk.

The Scottish Farmer: very labour intensive, Ryan secures the netting to the posts Ref:RH181121090 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...very labour intensive, Ryan secures the netting to the posts Ref:RH181121090 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

“Our workload had to double to justify the new kit, which meant our labour forces doubled. We are very lucky to have such hard-working staff that are long serviced to us. It makes our life easier being able to trust employees to be able to do a job,” said Brian, who now has a team of four behind him – Brian’s son, Ross, Jeff, John and his nephew, Ryan.

Jeff started working with the team in 2004 alongside Joe and took over the running of Joe’s tractor and post driver on his retirement. Hard work and dedication from Jeff earned him a spot in the partnership in 2011.

The Scottish Farmer: Post are kept handy on the loader of the tractor Ref:RH181121087 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...Post are kept handy on the loader of the tractor Ref:RH181121087 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

Joe retired from day-to-day work when he was 70, but is still an active member doing the book-keeping and sometimes driving the tractor when required, or going to get small bits of materials in his van – the team would be lost without him!

Ross is now the third generation to be involved in the business, having started working with the business in 2016. Brian and Angela’s younger son, Jaz, is a joiner to trade but is also very much involved, he can be seen to be helping with moving tractors at weekends, or borrowing the business pickup for touring about for ‘advertising’ as an active member of Peebles Young Farmers.

The business can cover areas all over Scotland, although do try to stay within a local workable radius, which is mainly around the Borders, up to Dunbar and into East Lothian, although have taken on work as far north as Durness in previous years. Whether it be fencing off pipelines, or working on a Crystal Rig Wind Farm, or fencing on hill ground, there is nothing the family will not undertake from a small garden fence to a security fence to stock fencing and deer fencing.

The Scottish Farmer: each of the two New Holland tractors have front loaders and Bryce Suma Profi post chapper and have set of duel wheels for softer and steeper ground Ref:RH181121083 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...each of the two New Holland tractors have front loaders and Bryce Suma Profi post chapper and have set of duel wheels for softer and steeper ground Ref:RH181121083 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

“Different times of years, means various job demands for us. We try to do the lower ground jobs in the winter to avoid the cold harsh wind on high grounds during winter months,” said Brian, who sources his main fencing supplies from James Smith Fencing and C Robertston, in St Boswells, along with getting all their gates from Ryan O’Neil.

Over the past year, they reckoned they will have fenced more than 50,000m along with erecting sheep pens, cattle handling areas, small sheds and covers in sheep pens

Brian added: “We have been lucky we work with such reliable suppliers that do their best for sourcing our requirements, particularly through the Covid-19 pandemic when materials were scarce. The last year everything has become harder to get and prices have increased significantly across all industries. As a firm we try and keep competitive but at the same time want to keep our level of workmanship high, from small to larger job with quality at the fore."

The Scottish Farmer: Sheep pen job undertaken by the teamSheep pen job undertaken by the team

The vast changes to the climate have witnessed many alterations for Joe Swinton and Sons over the years having already witnessed a huge change in machinery, as well as new work into the forestry industry and environmental schemes – for fencing off rivers and wet areas for flooding to help further down-river cope with flooding into towns etc.

“There is more work available now than ever, with new grants to push farmers on. We just have to hope we continue to remain busy and want to thank all our customers from the small garden fences to the 5000m-plus fencing projects," said Joe.

"Around 70% of our fencing work is solely farming orientated, but the remaining 30% has now moved into the forestry side of things as tree planting has seen a huge push in recent years. We are versatile and endeavour to try to undertake anything our customers require from small to large projects.

“Keep people happy and they will stay loyal, and help you out when you least expect it and most need it,” concluded Joe and Brian.