Getting the sheep to suit the environment and thrive on the fodder it can produce, is the mantra for Ewan and Shaun MacDonald of Connon Brae Farms in the Black Isle.
The MacDonalds have been successful farmers for generations and it is now employee Euan Ferguson who manages the flock, having previously worked for the Cadzow family on the island of Luing, up until 2020.
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This large farming business relies on 600 acres of cereals, as well as 240 Luing cows, but the cattle play second fiddle to the sheep and must fit around the flock while relying on byproducts from the arable crops.
The engine room of the farm is the flock of 2200 ewes which last year sold 2149 lambs to average £116 per head.
Sheep are split between the east farms and the New Kelso hill farm, by Loch Carron. When Euan arrived in 2020 there were around 410 North Country Cheviot ewes with 180 ewe hoggs and gimmers in the west.
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These Cheviots had been mainly bred pure but around 10 years ago, Texel tups were used to improve the carcase quality of the lambs. However, a return to a maternal breeding ewe flock has been made over the past three years.
Shaun Macdonald said: “We have always worked very hard to sell most of our lambs with a focus on carcase quality, but on that journey we noticed our maternal traits and flock health needed adjusting to ensure the continuation of a successful commercial flock, and the quality of our lambs."
To rectify this they purchased some Lleyn tups for the west coast as well as North Country Cheviots to reaffirm the maternal credentials of the flock. Another change made was to breed the 180 gimmers to a composite EasyDam tup, and lamb them down on the Black Isle.
Euan explained: “The ewes with more Texel breeding just don’t carry enough back fat over the winter. We were carting too much food to the west so we decided to breed out the Texel.”
Over on the west coast, the business employs Peter Stewart to run the sheep enterprise alongside managing the hydro system and maintaining the family's holiday lets. The business also rents land at Cannich, Culloden and part of Knockbain from the Lockett family, all of which are LFASS grazing ground.
The farms on the east coast have always focused on producing good quality carcase lambs for the butcher's market with many going to the Frasers Butchers in Dingwall. The flock is made up of around 25% home-bred Suffolk cross Cheviots and 25% Scotch Mules – purchased at the high health sale at Dingwall from Billy and Anne MacPherson at Blackford, Croy. The remainder of the flock are Texel and Charollais cross sheep which usually travel east after five lamb crops.
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Female sheep are put to Beltex cross Charollais, Beltex cross Suffolk or Beltex cross Texels rams which were bought at Kelso Ram Sale. Pure Suffolk tups were also bought from the Fowlies at Essie near Fraserburgh that produced lambs that mostly killed out with E and U grades.
However, after Euan's first lambing, he looking to a few alterations for ewes that were easier to lamb.
“I had some success with Lleyns and EasyDams in the past as I introduced a similar policy on the isle of Luing.”
Later that year the farm bought some EasyDam and Lleyn tups to start moving the east coast flock towards better maternal genetics. The team agreed a vision to move 80% of the breeding to maternal type ewes with 20% to continue catering for the butcher market. On buying tups Euan said: “When you know the breeding behind the sheep and the farm’s philosophy, it is quite easy to buy sheep, you just explain what you want and they send them up for you.”
Fortunately, following Euan's departure from Luing, the Cadzows were reducing their ewe numbers, allowing the purchase of 150 EasyDam cross Lleyn gimmers cut two years off the breeding programme.
The composite EasyDam sheep are from Robin Hulme at Pikeshead in Shropshire, which is based on 50% Romney, 25% New Zealand Texel and 25% East Frisian. The sheep use the New Zealand Sheep Improvement Limited (SIL) system for recording their EBVs. Euan feels the sheep suit the environment in the Highlands with larger pelvises for easy lambing and longer necks which cut the number of ewes that get stuck lying on their backs.
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Lleyn tups are bought from Neil and Debbie McGowan Incheoch Farm, Blairgowrie.
Euan typically pays around £800-£900 for rams which are run at one per 50 ewes for between four and five weeks to ensure a tight lambing with all gimmers and ewes giving birth at the same time in the spring.
In the coming years the Lleyn and EasyDam genetics will be criss-crossed with some North Country Cheviot blood from the west coast being mixed in. This will be alongside a fifth of the flock using the Suffolk, Beltex and Charollais genetics for good carcase lambs.
Over all, the business replaces around 25% of the flock year, which Euan admits is on the high side, but it allows for slightly harder culling and also quickens the pace of genetic change.
If there are any issues at lambing, a marker tag is put into the ewe's ear to ensure she doesn’t go back to the tup. Cull ewes are finished on farm and sold from September until March through Dingwall Mart with 580 sold last year averaging £106/head.
Tweaking the genetics is just one of the projects for the Connon Brae team, with the second aim being to get on top of some underlying health issues. Endemic and chronic foot infections are of key concern and after consulting the local Connon vet practice, they established the issue was foot rot. Consequently, they have restarted a footvax programme, and switched to Country Hoof solution in footbaths.
Euan explained: “We sat down with our local vet Claire Bell, and SRUC's Dr Franz Brulisauer at Alcaig Farm, part of CBF, where SRUC consulting relocated from Inverness five years ago. Claire and Franz have been hugely helpful, with not only the sheep health plan but the cattle too. We identified three key health issues, feet, abortions and too many poorly thriving lambs.”
The farm was also finding too many sheep which were scanned in lamb but never produced anything in the spring. Abortion was suspected as it was mainly younger sheep that were effected and it was across all the breeds, with the empty sheep looking fit.
After lambing this year they blood tested eight gimmers and discovered toxoplasma in the samples. As a result all 650 ewe hoggs/gimmers were vaccinated with Toxovax at £4.52/dose after clipping. One-crop ewes will also be vaccinated this year, with all new females vaccinated annually going forward.
It was also found that 10% of the lambs were not thriving as they should post weaning, which the vet suggested was down to mineral deficiency, particularly cobalt and selenium. The farm is now bolusing the lambs with Animax Tracesure following weaning and the ewes get bolused twice in October and at marking with Agromin 24/7.
Euan feels the parasite burden on the farm is not too heavy as the sheep are regularly treated for worms. The lambs get their first white drench to tackle nematodirus with Heptovac vaccine and a trace element dose in May. This is followed up with the second Heptovac jab and an Ivermectin wormer in June.
At weaning, lambs are dosed with the orange drench Zolvix with a final Ivermectin doze later in the year, if they are kept through winter. He is also looking into keeping 10% of the sheep untreated at each dosing as recommended by the vets.
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In March the ewes are bolused with Agromin 24/7, given a Heptvac booster and a combined wormer and flukocide to kill the adult parasites, called Norbrook Levafas. This is followed by a triclabendazole fluke dose in October.
On The Spot
Best investment for sheep business: 22km of hedging
Biggest achievement of the flock: Constant grades and loyal customers
Favourite sheep job: Drawing tupping groups for rams
Favourite show to attend: Royal Highland Show
Farm Facts
Farming business: 2200 ewes, 240 cross suckler cows and 600 acres of cereals.
Sheep breeding policy: Continue to produce quality lambs with improved maternal genetics.
Lambing: April, with singles and triples inside, and twins lambed in batches of 40 outside.
Markets: Two-thirds of lambs sold live through Dingwall with 1000 sold deadweight to Scotbeef. All cull ewes cashed through Dingwall mart.
Diversification: 300 acres of forestry, holiday lets and renewables
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