Buchaam Limousin and BB cross heifers regularly top Thainstone

Father and son Charlie and Keith, together with Keith’s wife Lynne, and their children Chloe (15) and Aiden (13), farm 900 acres of upland ground across three units at Strathdon, in Aberdeenshire, running 100 suckler cows and 37 heifers which are all spring calving.

Despite being situated well above 1000ft and farming against extreme climates, the family grows 150 acres of barley for malting when sold through Aberdeen Grain, producing average yields of 2.5 tonnes per acre and up to 3 tonnes per acre in a good year.

Surplus grain is used at home and additional straw is bought in.

The majority of land is permanent and rotational grassland, with some hill ground recently planted into trees due to supporting very little or zero grazing.

Buchaam has been in the family since the 1960s and was initially home to a successful pedigree Aberdeen-Angus, before switching to continentals to produce progeny with good carcases and a bit of style for the sale ring.

some of the Buchaam heifer that are being retained for breeding replacements Ref:RH100222044 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

“The herd includes Limousin cross and British Blue cross cows, as well as a few pure-bred Limousins which all really suit our upland system here,” began Keith, who works alongside his father and two additional helpers during the spring and harvest periods, with a contractor brought in to do the majority of field work.

“We used to run pedigree Limousins to produce bulls for selling at auction but we didn’t agree with how pushed they had to be if you wanted to compete with the rest of the breeders. We’re now breeding our own for home use, while selling the odd bull privately off farm.”

Although they are now reaping the benefits of controlling diets of future stock bulls and of course saving on buying costs, Keith did add that they enjoyed great success selling pedigree bulls to a top of 7000gns to average 4500gns.

It was the Royal Northern Spring Show held at Thainstone, where the majority of bulls were sold through the sale ring, having only ever made one trip to the Stirling Bull Sales.

Impressively, a Buchaam-bred bull has just been behind the top priced Limousin bull sold at Stirling recently from the Graham family’s Burnbank herd. Their sale topper, the 14,000gns Burnbank Rockstar, is out of a dam sired by Buchaam Funambule.

Charlie and Keith tend to follow a criss-cross breeding policy, using both Limousin and British Blue stock bulls over the females. Most of the pure Limousins are bulled to the British Blue, as are some of the heifers, with Keith pointing out that they seldom have calving problems.

young cattle are feed a ration twice a day with access to home grown haylage Ref:RH100222036 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

“The Limousin breed just ticks the boxes for us as the cows last long and consistently produce top class calves for the store ring,” said Keith.

“We’ve used the British Blue for a number of years now and believe there’s a strong place in the industry for it, with locomotion and ease of calving greatly improved over the years.

“A lot of farmers seem to think the name screams calving problems but you can have calving troubles with all breeds. The British Blue calves are really quiet so the heifers are good for replacing and they milk well.”

Although most of the Limousins used in the herd are home-bred, Charlie and Keith do buy top end bulls at Carlisle and Stirling Bull Sales to introduce new blood to the herd.

“We never pay silly money for bulls or put ourselves under pressure that we have to get a bull that day because then you would end up paying a fortune,” said Keith.

“I like to have spare bulls about the place too so I have the opportunity to change bulls often or have back-ups if there is an injury.”

The herd at Buchaan is run commercially, cows with calves at foot and store cattle sold through Thainstone Mart Ref:RH100222027 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

Two of the current stock bulls in the herd are Goldies Parade, purchased at Carlisle in February, 2021, and Solway View Mustang, which Keith paid 6000gns for at Carlisle in September, 2019.

The Goldies bull has been put to five heifers which have all calved unassisted, as well as five pure Limousin cows in the hope that he will be breed some good heifer replacements.

Mustang, the British Blue bull, has bred really well for the herd, with his third crop of calves now arriving on the ground.

Selling heifers with calves in the spring through Thainstone has become a main focus for the family, where they regularly average £3000, producing top prices of £3600 on two occasions.

The heifers are kept in a tight pattern and calve from January 15 onwards, with plans to sell around 20 head at this year’s sale in April.

“We used to go out and buy heifers with calves at foot but the type we were after just weren’t around,” explained Keith.

“Our aim is now to breed our own replacements and then sell any surplus through Thainstone. It’s become a good market to be in as there is a large pool of buyers at Thainstone, with more and more producers no longer buying in bulling heifers and switching to heifers with calves.

“We are very careful in what we breed though as we tend to produce what we would keep ourselves. The heifers aren’t the meaty, muscly type – we like to breed maternal looking females with size and scope.”

All cattle are housed on straw-bedded courts throughout the winter, with cows calving from mid-March onwards. When inside, they’re fed a basic diet of either silage or straw, with calves introduced to creep in August and then weaned in December.

Hefiers calve first with the cows following on later in the Spring Ref:RH100222024 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

“I’ve been holding off weaning to a later date now for health reasons so the calves are vaccinated when they come inside and are left to settle down with their mothers,” commented Keith.

“The weather was so mild in December that I actually left the youngest calves on their mothers into the new year and I can see the benefits as they’re thriving now.”

There is no feed wagon at Buchaam so the calves are fed ad-lib silage alongside a home-mix twice per day which includes home-grown propcorn barley. They are then sold at Thainstone in small batches from March onwards, regularly topping the price per kilo section, with heifers often selling to top producers for breeding.

Last year, the dearest batch sold in the spring saw stots average 290p per kg or £1191.67 and heifers level at 270p per kg or £1130.59, with a top price of £1260 achieved.

The Oggs are fairly strict when it comes to culling and anything with a bad temperament as a heifer is put down the road. Keith did point out however, that you must spend time amongst your cattle for them to get used to people.

“There’s an added advantage with the Limousins and British Blues when it comes to culling them out as they seem to come to good money in the cull ring at Thainstone,” said Keith.

“We cull out any females which aren’t milking well as they must be productive cows as there is no room for passengers here.”

Ref:RH100222051 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

With calving underway at Buchaam and some promising four-legged youngsters on the ground, Keith and family are hopeful that this year’s sales in the spring will produce strong returns for the business.

Keith concluded that he is indebted to his family and of course the self-employed lad and retired farmer who are always available to help, usually at short notice.

Aiden is also looking forward to launching his very own firewood enterprise so if you’re local and looking to stalk your fire, you know where to go…