The winners of the AgriScot 2019 competitions have now been announced.

Scottish dairy farm of the year

Ernespie Farm, Castle Douglas. Farmed by the McMiken family, they run a 290-cow herd grazed by day in the summer months. A farm visitor centre has been added, which opened in the summer, that includes a restaurant, animal barn, soft play area and outdoor facilities. Twenty-nine members of full- and part-time staff are employed, with Rebecca taking responsibility for day-to-day running.

AgriScot Scottish sheep farm of the year

Kevin Stewart, Sharpitlaw, near Kelso. Predominantly upland 500ha farm split over three units, with 1,250 ewes, 315 gimmers, 970 ewe lambs, 1,080 feeding lambs, 520 ram lambs and 100 summer grazing cattle. The sheep enterprise is based on a forage production system, coupled with modern sheep genetics and home-produced forage. Technical performance is closely monitored through detailed records.

AgriScot Scotch beef farm of the year

Kingan Farms in New Abbey, run by the Kingan family. The farm is a 475ha owned and tenanted enterprise across four locations in Dumfries. The Kingan family run a beef finishing system, with a turnover of approximately 1,400 cattle per year.

Kingan Farms has been using electronic identification (EID) management tags for more than 10 years and have adopted new software on a Bluetooth system which has improved cattle handling and monitoring and has also allowed a paperless system at the crush.

Scottish arable farm of the year

Lacesston Farm, Gateside, in Fife. Farmed by John Weir, who owns 300ha, where the focus is on potatoes, along with cereals and finishes beef cattle.

AgriScot business skills competition

Jack Cooper. Fourth-year agricultural student at SRUC Aberdeen. Jack combines his studies with part-time work on a local farm.

AgriScot product innovation award

CLARIFIDE Plus from Zoetis. CLARIFIDE Plus is a dairy genetic evaluation product, which incorporates health and wellness traits in addition to the production traits delivered by standard genomic testing, helping to predict a heifer’s potential and their ability to reach it.

Agriscot silage competition

Beef category: Andrew McFadzean, Dalchomie Farm. Cut on 15 May this year, this sample analysed at 31.7 dry matter (DM), 12.3 metabolisable energy (ME) and 16.2 crude protein (CP).

Dairy category: Brian Weatherup, Parkend Farm. This sample analysed at 31.3 dry matter (DM), 12.2 metabolisable energy (ME) and 15.8 crude protein (CP).

Big bale silage category: Redknock Estate. This sample analysed at 71.7 dry matter (DM), 12.41 metabolisable energy (ME) and 14.93 crude protein (CP).

Young farmer category: Thomas Birkett of West Cairgaggan (Craigcosh). This sample analysed at 37.6 dry matter (DM), 12.1 metabolisable energy (ME) and 15.5 crude protein (CP).