It has been a challenging spell. We got through lambing and although not a good one, we will certainly not be as bad as some who bore the brunt of the extreme weather.

We have really struggled for grass this spring and early summer and would say we are only now starting to edge ahead of demand. We moved very quickly from a cold and wet late spring into baking hot and dry conditions which don’t suit our farm well at all. This has resulted in poor grass growth and constantly chasing grass. We rotationally graze stock at this time of year and although it was difficult to start a rotation this year due to the lack of grass, it has still proven worthwhile as ewes and lambs are always moving on to a fresh sward albeit not of the height we would like!

Our deer enterprise is now up and running, and now that we have a few calves on the ground it makes all the stress and worry of starting a new enterprise worthwhile. We are pleased with how our sheep and cattle enterprises are developing but were always keen to diversify the business to increase profitability, spread our risk and hopefully make the business more sustainable and resilient in what are sure to be challenging times over the next 10 years. My issue was that I had no interest in off-farm diversifications and with my wife Aileen working four days a week as a teacher it limited the time and opportunities we had for other diversifications as well as the fact that I couldn’t afford to neglect the core business. This led us to the conclusion that any diversification had to integrate with the existing system and be something we were passionate about. Deer were the answer to this.

Our first deer arrived in mid-February and we have added some yearling hinds since then to give us around 100 females.

We currently have around 16ha deer fenced and will add more fields as our numbers grow. We are also about to start constructing handling pens and altering a shed to house the calves in over winter. Moving into venison production is a big step and the investment in infrastructure and stock is significant and wouldn’t be for everyone or every farm.

However, we are confident it will be a sound investment and feel we can apply the same principles of grassland management as we do with the cattle and sheep to drive production and achieve a good output.

The large investment required to establish the deer enterprise has been made easier by the fact we have entered in to a joint venture agreement with our landlord, Buccleuch Estates. When we had initial talks with the estate about our plans they had an interest in deer farming, so we explored the idea of working together for mutual benefit. We feel very fortunate as new entrants to have secured a tenancy. However, due to a number of factors, good tenancies on commercially viable units are few and far between with no signs of this improving. If people want to break in to the industry they must be more open-minded and joint ventures and share-farming agreements could be part of the answer to this issue.