Andrew and Debbie Duffusand their three sons, Sam, Ben and Max, farm just outside Tomintoul, in the Cairngorms National Park.

The farm is a hill unit, extending to 1,540ha, sitting at 370m above sea level at the home farm, rising to 675m at the highest point.

There is about 162ha of in-bye land and it is this ground that the Farm Profit Programme will predominantly focus on over the next three years. Stocking rate on the farm is low at 0.22 LU/ha or an adjusted hill rate of 0.74 LU/ha.

Stock

The farm carries 95 suckler cows, split evenly between spring- and autumn-calving. Cow type is predominantly Simmental-cross. Three stock bulls are used for breeding:

  • A Simmental bull to breed replacements

    A Charolais to produce store cattle at around the yearling stage

    A Limousin used for heifers coming into the herd.

  • There is also a sizeable sheep enterprise on farm, with a hill flock of 367 Blackface ewes. This flock produces mule ewes for a 270-ewe flock that grazes the in-bye land. Lambing starts in early April for both flocks.

    Benchmarking

    Benchmarking analysis for the programme has been carried out by SAC Consulting to establish independent baselines for each farm in the programme.

    From this data, challenging targets have been set for the focus farms. These include a gross margin/cow of £750 and gross margin/upland ewe (hill ewe) of £100 (£60). Current gross margin per cow on the Duffus farm sits at £400 for the spring-calving herd and £338 for the autumn herd.

    The challenges

    Over the course of the programme, the Duffus family will concentrate on three key areas to improve farm profitability:

    Soil fertility

    Soil tests indicate that virtually all of the farm has a low pH status. Average soil ph is 5.4, ranging from 4.2 to 5.9.

    This is going to take a major investment in lime over the next few years to increase soil pH. Andrew has started a reseeding programme, but the decision has now been made to divert all investment from reseeding to lime spreading.

    At current pH levels, a reseeded ryegrass sward would not only under-perform, but also regress and return to lower productive grass types within two to three years, leaving a very poor return on the investment.

    Therefore, 200t of lime will be spread in the next few weeks, provided soil conditions remain favourable. This is being targeted primarily at silage ground, with the best grazing ground also covered.

    Grassland management

    In the past, both cattle and sheep have been set stocked. This year, a simple rotational grazing system will be put in place for the cows and calves.

    Three fields have been earmarked to move the cows and calves around, with the option to further sub-divide these fields during the main grass-growing season.

    This will increase the sward digestibility ahead of the cattle and drive both milk yield in the cows and daily liveweight gain in the calves.

    Silage quality also comes under grassland management. With spring-born animals destined to be sold out of the shed as yearlings and an autumn-calving herd on farm, top-quality silage is of utmost importance to reduce the winter feed bill and make the cattle profitable.

    This year’s silage has an average D-value of 58. Therefore, energy has to be supplied in the form of concentrate.

    This year, the plan is to graze silage ground early with sheep, apply fertiliser and close up for seven weeks before harvesting.

    Early silage is not an option given the farm’s location, but quality can be improved by reducing the number of days the crop is growing.

    Measuring performance

    To maximise profit on farm, every animal must be working hard for the farmer. Measuring production such as weighing of cattle at specific times of the year, most importantly at turnout and weaning, will help identify problems.

    Which cows are underperforming? Is it all calves from one specific bull that’s the problem? Is the replacement policy working? These are all questions that cannot be answered without keeping sufficient records.

    A lot of this data is already being recorded on farm, but it’s about using it to make informed decisions in the future.

    By measuring grass growth, more informed decisions can be made going forward in relation to optimal stocking rates, turn-out and closing-up dates.

    By focusing on the three main areas outlined above during the course of the programme, the farm system will become more efficient for the Duffus family.

    It is at this stage that they can then look to significantly increase livestock numbers. Simply increasing stock numbers from the word go will not improve profitability.

    All too often, farms increase numbers to improve output, but if this output is not being produced in a cost-effective manner, then the farm will be no better off.

    Efficiency must come before expansion.