Wedderlie home to Aberdeen-Angus and Cheviots is one not to miss out on

The unit is managed by John and Marion Tilson and their daughter, Wanda and her partner, Julian, along with shepherd, Robert Craig and cattleman, Andrew Sadler.

This year is the 10th year that the herd has produced a catalogue of bulls for sale on farm

They run a herd of 230 pure Aberdeen-Angus with the main intention of producing bulls with commercial, profitable traits both for those selling store or finished cattle, and for buyers breeding their own replacements.

This year is the 10th year that the herd has produced a catalogue of bulls for sale on farm with the herd split between spring and autumn calvers to ensure there are bulls available at all ages all year round.

“We are now well placed to supply bulls and females for different management systems. By selling them off farm we don’t need to push them for a sale, they can thrive and flourish to the buyer they are ready to work and grow on,” said Wanda who is now responsible for many of the breeding decisions as well as setting the price on each individual bull, with 70-80 leaving the farm every year.

John added: “It is interesting to meet so many of our customers and get to know their system and what works well for them. By delivering the bulls we get the opportunity to see the customer’s farm and type of cows and we can work together to help their selection.”

The family has now managed to create a name for their stock and have many repeat customers, from Shetland down to Somerset, and rely heavily on word of mouth as opposed to advertising the herd.

“Relying on that repeat custom we can both trust each other, so much so that many of our bulls have been bought unseen from the description given by Wanda,” added Marion.

the most recent purchase has been the 38,000gns Blelack Dean Martin which was bought in Stirling in February from Neil and Graeme Massie’s dispersal

The herd mainly relies on home-bred bulls as well as buying in the occasional stock bull which normally features the Wedderlie breeding at some point. At present, they are running seven stock bulls, with the most recent purchase being the 38,000gns Blelack Dean Martin, which was bought in Stirling, in February, from Neil and Graeme Massie’s dispersal.

Other notable bulls include Aynho Rossiter Eric, which was bought in 2004 at Perth for 16,000gns in partnership with the Frasers of Idvies and Nightingale El Paso, which was sired by a Wedderlie-bred bull. Both have left a real stamp on the herd over the years.

The team run 230 Aberdeen-Angus at Wedderlie

“When we are buying bulls in, we are looking for locomotion and structural correctness. We don’t need them to be too extreme we need a well-balanced animal, but temperament is foremost in any animal on our farm,” added Marion.

The Aberdeen-Angus breed has always been suited to the farm, having begun in 1914 but bought by Marion’s grandfather, Capt Tom Elliot, in 1942 for his son, Jack, who died at the end of WWII, leaving the farm in Marion’s mother's name, which has been passed down since.

As the breed declined alarmingly in the wake of competition from the import of continental breeds, the herd decreased the number of Angus in the 1970s by selecting only heifers which had bred well to an Angus. The remainder of the cows were put to a variety of breeds, including Charolais, Beef Shorthorn, Romagnola, Meuse-Rhine-Issel and Maine Anjou, to identify which worked best.

“The demand for the Angus soon returned when the premium was created for them and Aberdeen-Angus is now the No 1 breed in the country,” said John.

By keeping everything pure, surplus heifers are in demand for breeding both in the UK and in Europe, which has become more challenging since Brexit. Stock females are selected primarily on the three F’s – fertility, functionality and femininity with great attention to temperament and udders.

the herd split between Spring and Autumn calvers to ensure there are bulls available at all ages all year round

Any additional heifers not retained are mainly sold through the store ring at United Auctions, Stirling, as the family aim to retain that commercial herd aspect. Any heifers not in calf are culled. To increase fertility, heifers calve at two years old, with bulls running with the cows for eight weeks only aiming to retain the heifers from the first crop to improve fertility.

“We do run a strict culling policy as we are very selective of our breeding. We want our herd to be peas in a pod and we put our mark on that. If they are not good enough for us they aren’t good enough for someone else,” said John, adding that cows are fed a bespoke meal – made by Davidsons Animal Feeds – three weeks prior to calving to ensure the colostrum quality and quantity is there.

The grower meal is designed to complement the sole cut of 230 acres of silage which achieves 12.8 yield to the acre and aims for 30% DM. Some 55% of the dry matter comes from this forage with the remainder coming from the feed, which is fed in a TMR system through BVL feed mixer.

All bulls are kept entire to ensure no mistakes are made too early.

Bulls not kept for breeding are finished at 12-14months of age through AK Stoddarts, with most producing 370kg U and R carcase grades when hung up.

All bulls for future breeding are weighed monthly to record liveweight gains and collect data, with most boasting average daily liveweight gains of 1.5kg per day.

This has been the system for eight years now, having previously run steers on the farm, but moved to this selection process for ease of management and the increased demand for bull beef.

There has also been a future push towards reducing the age of slaughter, so this suits the system well.

Nothing would go right without the two collie dogs!

The sheep enterprise which is made up of a 1600 ewe flock is split 50:50 split between North Country Cheviot ewes and Cheviot Mules, which are put to a Texel.

“Originally it was all Blackface sheep here, until 12 years ago, when we crossed the hill flock out to produce the Cheviot. When you compare the value of a cast ewe, the lamb, and the wool, we found the Cheviot superseded the Blackface all day every day,” said John, who has been very selective with the breeding behind the Cheviots.

“The Cheviots have also improved grazing on the hill significantly, which at the end of the day is the main aim behind any sheep breed,” added John who is running 1200 acres of rough grazing and 630 acres of heather hill, which sits at 800ft above sea level rising to 1200ft.

Lambing takes place in April, with a scanning percentage of 184% for the Mule gimmers, 201% for Mule ewes and 164% for Cheviot ewes, there are a reasonable number of twins on the ground.

Calves on the ground have to go through a strict breeding policy

After scanning ewes and gimmers are split to allow a careful eye to be kept on the gimmers and give them any extra requirements.

Everything is lambed inside as the facilities are there, having 300 individual pens set up come the spring, there is plenty of room to cater for all.

The team also gets additional help when required hence the requirement to keep the lambing period tight.

From 2015 to 2020, the Tilson family bought 3-4 crop ewes or ewe lambs from Lairg, from various flocks including Welbeck, Auchtertool and Badenloch, also gimmers at Lockerbie from Hownam Grange. Tups have been bought from Northhouse, Commonside, Hethpool, Kelsocleugh, Newbank and Whitehope with a Commonside 5000gns at Lockerbie last year.

Cheviot ewe lambs are split in half with 50% going back to the Cheviot to produce replacements and the remaining going to the Bluefaced Leicester to produce Cheviot Mule lambs, which will go to the Texel sire.

Getting pictures on the farm isn't always easy when there is a dog loose...

Cheviot tups are bought at Lockerbie, with the Bluefaced Leicesters mainly coming from Kelso Ram Sales and the Texels again at Kelso or privately. The tups only get three weeks with the ewes, to keep the lambing period tight.

All cross lambs and Cheviot wedder lambs are sold deadweight to ScotBeef aiming to get to as close as 21kg as possible at four to five months of age. The last of the lambs will be finished off kale and complimented by Davidsons Animal Feeds pellets.

If that doesn’t keep the family busy enough, Marion also breeds a small selection of Section B Ponies also under the Wedderlie prefix which dates back to 1944.

Wedderlie has been in the family for more than a century

The Tilson family will be opening the gates to their farm on Friday, August 19, from 10.30am for all.

The day will consist of a tractor farm tour, trade stands, stockjudging competition, and a charity auction, which is supporting My Name’5 Doddie Foundation and the Ukraine Crisis Appeal.

Auction lots include a heifer which will be kept until PD’d, two Cheviot gimmers and two Cheviot Mule ewe lambs, all donated by the Tilson family.