Introducing our new Farming's Future columnists – 'Backed by Harbro's' competition winners, Huntly new entrant William Law, and John Johnston, from Sorn – who with nutritional, veterinary, and benchmarking advice, from Harbro and other industry experts, will be taking us through the various stages of how to improve farm efficiency, productivity and most importantly, the bottom line.
In forth coming monthly columns in The Scottish Farmer, we hope to be able to take you through the highs and lows of how the two competition winners and their livestock adapt to practical, nutritional and veterinary advice from the experts.
We aim to let you know what works, and just as importantly what doesn't, on their farms and how to overcome not only some of the seasonal difficulties that always affect agriculture, but also some of the colossal challenges hitting all sectors.
With farm input prices soaring out of control, finding the best way to curtail costs of production and reduce carbon emissions is a hotly contested topic for debate, and in our monthly Future Farmers articles, we hope to tackle such subjects with front line views from our new columnists on the ground.
Both farmers are hugely enthusiastic, progressive, passionate individuals, with two very different albeit sound management systems in place. In this week's issue, we provide you with an introduction to their farming methods and business policy.
West Cruichie near Huntly, Aberdeenshire Ref:RH060921096 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...
Few youngsters can afford to take on any sort of agricultural operation, given the huge financial commitment involved, let alone contemplate buying one and then make it pay, but then there are not many with the enthusiasm, passion and grit determination of Huntly-based farmer, William Law.
Having left school to go and work on his uncle, Peter Law’s farm at Comisty – two miles away from the family unit at Upper Ashalloch – William got the chance to buy West Cruichie, a nearby 75-acre predominantly arable unit in June, 2018, at just 24 years of age.
With assistance from his bank, a New Entrant Capital Grant Scheme and Aberdeen and Northern Mart’s stock on agreement scheme, he was fortunate to be able to buy the farm along with 25 spring-calving suckler cows and 330 Mule ewes, and set about his ultimate goal of building up a profitable beef and sheep enterprise.
Having purchased more in-calf heifers at the end of last year, he has more breeding outfits to sell with six to eight-week old calves at foot at the end of the month, Ref:RH060921067 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...
Just three years on, with support from Aberdeen and Northern Marts, and a lot of blood, sweat and tears, William is now farming 110 suckler cows split between autumn and spring calving herds; calving 120 bought-in heifers and selling them with calves at foot and lambing some 500 Scotch Mule ewes and ewe hoggs.
With a further 450 acres of seasonal grazing taken every year, William is able to sell all his lambs finished and shut off fields to make sufficient silage and grow up to 20 acres of barley and fodder beet for home-grown winter feed.
“I’ve always wanted to farm, but there was never enough work for my brother, Stuart and I at home, so when I got the chance to buy West Cruichie just down the road, I had to go for it. Farming is all I’ve ever wanted to do and now I just want to be able to build up a successful beef and sheep unit and pay back the loan,” said William.
Simmental cross Limousin cross stock cows are all bulled to a Charolais, producing the most valuable calf Ref:RH060921099 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...
There is no doubt, such debt will take a long time to finance, but going by William’s strong work ethic and ability, he is likely to be back in the black earlier than most.
Over the past couple of years, buying in-calf and maiden heifers to bull and calve down to sell with calves at foot is providing some of the best margins as William has been able to virtually double his money on them. Most of these will sell between £2700 and £3000 per outfit through Thainstone,with most having been purchased at anything from £1200-£1800 per head.
Primarily, he looks to buy Simmental cross heifers in calf to a Limousin, as these cattle provide the quickest turn over and are the most desired in the market place. However, by purchasing bulling heifers, William can select the type of heifers he wants and the bull to put them in calf to, which can make calving easier.
“I would always look to bull heifers to an easy-calving Limousin, but I don’t buy on figures, I like to buy locally-bred animals and purchase them privately. I would also always look to buy a bull with a good carcase as producing calves with a bit of shape and muscle is where the real money is.
“Farmers in this area look to buy a good Simmental or Limousin cross heifer with a good shapey Limousin cross heifer calf at foot,” William said, adding that his current Limousin stock bulls are from Newtack and Wedderburn.
Heifers are bought in calf at 24 to 32 months of age, usually from Alan Gibb, Backhill of Seggat, Turriff, and Gordon Dow, Upper Sauchen, Inverurie, with the aim being to buy darker coloured Simmentals.
Backed by Harbro competition winners
Most heifers are bought at the end of September/October, and depending on the weather, are either left out at grass or housed and fed a silage/straw ration. After calving, draff and barley is introduced to bump up milk quality and help put condition back on to the heifers before selling. Home-grown turnips are occasionally added too.
All calves are tissue tagged for BVD and the heifers are vaccinated for BVD and leptospirosis before being sold with calves either through ANM at Thainstone in April or at the end of May. Selling at this time of year also works well for William when he has extra mouths on the farm to feed and has limited grazing when also growing silage, barley and root crops.
Having purchased more in-calf heifers at the end of last year, he has more breeding outfits to sell with six to eight-week old calves at foot at the end of the month, at Thainstone, which again is a good time as it saves having to think about housing for the winter.
In contrast, his Simmental cross Limousin cross stock cows are all bulled to a Charolais, with the most recent bull having been purchased from Jock Wilson’s Kinclune herd.
“You get the size and the maternal traits from the Simmental and a bit of shape from the Limousin in the cow, but it is the Charolais that produces the most valuable calf in this area. I was selling 11-12month-old Charolais stot calves at £1100-£1200 earlier in the year, while the Charolais cross heifer calves were making £1000,” he said.
Costs are kept to a minimum during the winter, with cows in wintered on a silage and straw mix while the calves are introduced to creep feed in July before weaning in October when they are brought inside to be fed a feed ration of fodder beet, silage and minerals. William also makes a point of analysing his silage through Harbro too, thereby ensuring diets meet nutritional requirements.
While most of the cows calve in spring, inside on straw bedded courts, the autumn-calving herd which calve down outside at grass, picks up heifers and cows that failed to hold in the spring and for the home-bred spring-born Limousin cross heifers retained for breeding that are not bulled until they reach 18 months of age.
All ewes are tupped with Suffolk rams to produce earlier finished lambs straight off grass Ref:RH060921109 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...
If the cattle and cropping side of the business wasn’t enough to keep the young enthusiast on his toes, William also has a further 500 Mules to lamb from the first of March onwards, although he does get some assistance at this time when all are lambed inside.
The farm is also home to 40 Blackface ewes which are tupped to the Bluefaced Leicester to produce home-bred replacements, with a further 60 Scotch Mule ewe lambs bought at United Auctions’ sale at Stirling. As a result some 90 ewe hoggs are lambed either to a Texel or a Charollais cross Beltex ram for ease of lambing, which this year saw lamb crops of 125%.
All ewes are tupped with Suffolk rams to produce earlier finished lambs straight off grass, with the first lot normally selling around mid June through Woodhead Bros, of Turriff.
Virtually all lambs are sold off grass with the last lot being finished off fodder beet or turnips.
“Scotch Mules are much the same as Simmental cross cows in that they make great mothers. They might eat a bit of feeding, but they look after their young, and it is always good to get lambs away as early as possible, particularly when I am renting a lot of grass out and about,” William added.
Scotch Mule ewe lambs bought at United Auctions' sale at Stirling Ref:RH060921090 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...
With his brother, Stuart, running the home farm at Upper Ashalloch and also a small contractor's business from there, William is fortunate in that he can borrow a lot of the farm machinery to assist him at Wester Cruichie.
The two brothers also work hand in hand when need be, with the only outside labour brought in to sow a small acreage of fodder beet at West Cruichie, and a lamber for three weeks.
Managing such livestock numbers, the paperwork and financial risk involved is a huge undertaking for any new entrant. Add in the colossal amount of work that William has taken on to make the farm more financially viable and stock proof, is impressive.
Being a predominantly arable unit until he bought it three years ago, many of the fields had to be re-fenced and reseeded, which remains an ongoing process.
Two new sheds have also been constructed to house cattle, one of which was second-hand, thereby protecting valuable new-born stock from the outside elements.
Furthermore, a new cattle handling system complete, with weigh crate, has been purchased which has been found to be hugely beneficial.
William has ambitious plans for the future, with his main goal being to pay off the debt and become more efficient. But with land being the limiting factor, how to improve margins is a challenge when he believes his cattle and sheep businesses both be pay their way.
What will be interesting is finding out how much money his various beef and sheep enterprises actually return when full bench marking is introduced.
William is already aiming to boost lambing percentages and have a more compact calving period. It’s now up to the team at Harbro to help him come up with a strategy to improve levels of efficiency, end margins and help to reduce that debt.
FARM facts
Farm: West Cruichie comprising 75-acres of lowground arable land, bought in June 2018 with bank and New Entrant Scheme assistance.
Livestock: 110 spring and autumn calving suckler cows; 120 bought-in heifers to calve and sell with calves at foot through ANM, Thainstone; 500 breeding ewes and ewe hoggs.
Labour: All work done in house with family assistance when needed with a lamber for three weeks in March.
ONTHE spot
Best investment: The farm itself
Best advice: If your passionate about your job/hobbies and you get a chance of a life time like I did, take it and don’t give up
Where do you want to be in 2030: Hopefully get a bit more ground to be more self sufficient
What has made the biggest difference to your enterprise: Cattle handling system which makes working with cattle so much easier, safer and more efficient
If money was no object what would you buy: More ground to save seasonal grazing
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