Every square inch and every penny count in Tom’s business, an 80-strong suckler herd on a “mostly ploughable” 200-acre farm at Nether Balgray, near Crawfordjohn in Lanarkshire. Ninety percent of the farm is region 1 and the remainder region 2.

Tom is a tenant of Douglas and Angus estates, his parents having settled in Balgray almost 50 years ago when Tom was a toddler.

Tom’s parents have since passed away, his sisters work elsewhere and he now runs the farm pretty much single-handedly.

“One of the benefits of being a one-man band is that you have to turn your hand to almost everything, even the jobs you don’t want to do. I’m very much self-sufficient, and always have been,” says Tom.

Wise to manpower limitations, Tom uses contractors to plough, sow, spray and combine the barley, which he grows for feed.

He does all his own silage, however, around 1,200 bales, which “writes off” July. In the past year, he has also engaged local man Kenny, who works one or two days’ a week with Tom, and the rest of the week at two other local farms.

Nether Balgray is high, with fields at 1,000 feet, and shallow soil giving way to rock not far below the surface. Tom places strong emphasis on soil management, with a programme of regular re-seeding, pH testing (Balgray’s pH goes down to 5.3) and annual lime applications. “I’m aware of the low opinion of granular lime,” Tom says, “but Balgray has greedy ground.”

Making every acre pay

Throughout our conversation, Tom continually emphasises the need to make every acre pay. “Better not bigger” is his maxim. With strong competition for land, there is no scope to expand the business; the only “diversification” is the fact that his wife, Anne, works full-time as headteacher of a local primary school, and budgets are closely scrutinised and controlled.

Heifer numbers hover around 70, and Tom buys in replacements to his Heinz 57 herd, which currently includes Belted Galloways, stabilisers, Belgian Blues, Blondes, Limousins, Simmenthals, and Angus.

He prefers Limousin and Belgian Blues, but stock replacement is strictly governed by the budget, spending no more than £1,700 to £1,800 at local marts. Tom reasons: “It’s difficult to justify spending any more, unless you’re buying future breeding potential, especially when the cow could go toes up in a month’s time!”

Tom calves mainly in the springtime, some in the back-end, and a few year-round. “I’m not too rigid about calving,” Tom is happy to admit, “It’s more important to have a calf alive than get the timing perfect.”

Whereas he previously sold animals aged from nine to 10 months and around 300kg – not even wintering them – Tom now tries to take his cattle to 400kg. It’s all about maximising output.

Cull cows go to Lanark, where prices aren’t as good as Tom would hope, but he won’t complain, as he hasn’t invested in the herd recently as much as he could. Though, until two years ago, he replaced one sixth of the herd annually, theorising that the average cow lasted six calves.

This was a costly exercise, however, and Tom succumbed to the temptation not to buy replacements for two years. “You live and learn,” Tom concludes. He’s not one for complaining.

With such a high farm, cattle are all housed throughout the winter. Tom did experiment with longer outwintering, but the animals ate 50% more silage and were never content.

Tom has therefore built a new shed, in conjunction with the estate, and utilises a further two sheds on neighbouring farms, where cattle remain until around 10 May.

Winter feeding is made up of 1,200 bales of silage and balancer added to home-produced barley, which in turn produces bedding. Tom is upfront about his high bedding costs, around £75 per cow each winter, and twice as much as the QMS benchmark figure, but on this point, Tom is firm: “I like my cattle clean.”

Calves are creep-fed, and from September onwards, eat home-produced barley and balancer.

There are few watercourses on the farm, so Tom uses the fields with the least water for cropping and keeps the cattle on the fields closest to the farm.

Options are limited at Nether Balgray, but Tom does plan to establish a sheep flock, perhaps zwartbles, not least for his young daughters who – thanks to Bobby and Anne Lennox of This Farming Life – have become interested in farming.

Tom planned to start the sheep this year but has postponed the idea, as he is concerned about Brexit. His business has already taken a hit in the move to BPS, and he is worried that future payments will depend increasingly on agri-environment schemes.

Here at Nether Balgray is a stark example of the difficulties this presents on some farms. Tom has been turned down twice for an agri-environment scheme that would recognise the work he is undertaking to provide habitats for wading birds.

The farm is just too small to give more land over to grasslands, which are favourable to waders, and a habitat mosaic, but he is resolute that his third application – which could yield around £4,900 – will be accepted.

“It will present difficulties with stock exclusions and stock-rate restrictions, but I’m determined to get the benefit. I’m not going to miss this time,” Tom insists.

Nether Balgray’s biggest challenge at the moment is coping with reduced support, and Tom tells me that local stock numbers would not be as high as they are without support. Indeed, many in the area have already put off their cows and only have sheep. “Anna feels guilty that she doesn’t do more for the business, but she has to bring home work every night too,” says Tom.

A question of time

Time will tell in which direction Tom’s business heads. The options for proactive change are not altogether apparent, as they probably involve expansion, which is not likely to be possible due to local competition for land.

And, as someone who does not like to complain, Tom’s final observation is that while options for tenant farmers can be restricted, he is wholly admiring of new entrants, such as fellow Farmer Writes columnists Mark and Harriet Donald, who have overcome long odds to get started in the business. “Better not bigger” is a good motto.