Turning out quality steers and heifers from a Bluegrass cattle system based on Highland cattle and British Blues is the name of the came for the team at Coul Estate, Newtonmore.

Estate manager Allan MacDiarmid feels the full potential of the progeny from a British Blue bull and Highland females has yet to be realised when at present they sell for double the price of pure bred Highlanders in the sale ring.

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Allan is also continuing in his father's footsteps, the late Charlie MacDiarmid who sadly passed away before following out further trials with Bluegrass cattle.

It was Charlie MacDiarmid, who back in the late 1990's established a Bluegrass system at Glen Elenelg, with the idea to increase the value of the calves at sale whilst maintaining an animal which thrives outdoors over winter.

“Dad heard about the system in part of American and set it up here,” said Allan.

“A rancher contacted Dad who was running a similar system with Longhorns and Belgian Blues and thought it might work here. But he didn't manage to see it through as he died a few years later. I feel Dad never got the chance to see the system through, so I would like to establish a market for them from here.”

Hence, when Allan took on the position at Coul they went about establishing a fold of 60 Highland cattle with the bulk bought privately from Invercassley, in Sutherland and others picked up from throughout Scotland.

Highland cows all go to the British Blue bull in the summer for calving outside in March bar 10 which are kept pure for replacements. Easy-kept, they are provided with bales of silage and minerals during the winter. Heifers go to the bull at three years to ensure they are big enough for calving.

“The trick is picking the right British Blue bull,” said Allan. “Our bull came from Gary Patterson at Aultmore and the calves are easy calved. The bull leaves them with good shape and no calving issues. We've only had one in four years. The Highland cow has a very big pelvis for the size of the her.”

Allan's top tips for producing Bluegrass cattle include: selecting an easy calving British Blue bull which has to be in working condition in the field and ideally weighing in around 800-900kg.

In-calf Highland cows should not be over-fed to minimise calving issues but once calved provide supplementary feeding and access to good grass.

Calving starts in March outdoors.

“Some days a calf can be found with half an inch of snow on its back. But Bluegrass calves are remarkably resilient and good at surviving in difficult conditions when they consistently inherit their mother’s thick hairy coat which is needed when they are born on the hill 800feet above sea level.

"We will on occasion take the odd one in to check if it has had colostrum but the majority are not handled after tagging and banding, until late May when they come in for dehorning and treatment for tick before being turned out onto the 8000 acres of hill.”

One of the biggest challenges is ensuring a high pregnancy rate. Currently the fold achieves a weaning percentage of around 80-85% – typical for a lowground farm and excellent for a hill unit. One of the challenges on a hill farm is ensuring the cows have access to the bull when females can range six miles of ground during bulling season. As a result, Allan regularly turns the cows back to the bull with the quad bike during the summer.

Bluegrass calves get the same treatment as a pure Highlander and are kept on the hill all summer with no creep feed.

“Last year we sold the steer calves at £870-£920 at 290kg liveweight which is more than double what we would get if they were pure Highlanders," said Allan adding that steers are sold at between six and eight months at Dingwall mid October.

Heifers are brought through to bulling at 24 months and the first of them are for sale in November, due to the British Blue Solway View Oden.

The owners Kevin and Sonya Fletcher, who purchased the estate five years ago, are also keen to establish a pedigree British Blue herd which currently numbers six cows. The vision is to build to 20 pure cows with an extra 15 Fleckvieh recips for embryo transfer.

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One of the turning points in the farm’s plans when they bought the British Blue bull Solway View Oden, for 27,000gns – a lot more than expected – at Carlisle last year.

Dragon Blues Olga, a heifer was bought the same day for 2300gns. She was so quiet and gentle, she inspired the Fletchers to go down the pedigree route and in May, they bought five heifers at Carlisle – two from Kevin Watret's Solway View herd from Dumfriesshire, to include the pre-sale champion, another from Jean MacKay, Harlaw; one from Gail Ellis, Trencom in Devon and the last from Iain MacInnes, Tiree.

They've already enjoyed some success with two of those heifers, Solway View Pixie and Harlaw Poppy, having scooped the reserve breed honours at Turriff and Grantown and the any other breed championship at Black Isle.

Next year they aim to take the cattle to the Highland, the Yorkshire and the Royal Welsh shows as well as the shows in the North of Scotland.

The cattle runs alongside a pheasant and partridge enterprise shooting 15 to 20 days a year as well as 40 let stags and 30 hinds. The estate is also home to 350 pure North Country Cheviot ewes.

Coul was established from amalgamation of the home farm with Blaragie to make a 9000-acre unit. The ground comprises 300 ploughable acres, 500 of permanent pasture and 8200 acres of hill. Allan was originally taken on to run the farm and the shooting having been an underkeeper for the Fletchers at the Kinrar estate, Aviemore.

“We run the farm and the shooting between myself and one other member of staff, Savio Genini. I find that running them together saves any conflict between the enterprises," said Allan.

Since the farm was purchased, new sheds have been constructed and up to five miles of deer fencing has been erected. Several fields have been rearranged and reseeded when some of the parks run along the flood plain of the river Spey which regularly floods and wipes out the fencing.

The farm grows 80 acres of silage which is cut once as well as 20 to 30 acres of fodder crop each year. This is then sown with an arable silage which is under sown with grass to establish a new sward. Fodder crops are stubble turnips and kale grazed off from December. The mix is planted into the old grass leys which are ploughed and cultivated field with 125kg of fertiliser.

“The neeps and kale are a good feed for the stock but they also provide cover for the game birds raised for shooting,” explained Mr MacDiarmid.

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Some 350 North Country Cheviots have been bought from Brian Ross, Mid Gruinard, Ardgay, to replace 800 Blackfaces which were previously on the estate. By having fewer sheep, the couple hope to encourage more deer to support the stalking on the hill.

Other Cheviots were purchased at the Migdale dispersal at Dingwall, with the aim being to sell two shear rams at Dingwall in October.

All the lambs are sold store apart from the ewe lambs which are retained until April for the hogg scheme. Lambing starts in the second week in April on in bye parks. Lambing percentage has been around 130% which Allan feels is sufficient, with ewes receiving silage and mineral blocks pre lambing only.