Farm Profit Programme: 2020, a year to remember

This year’s highlight?

The Stirling bull sales back in February were a real highlight. We sold bulls well to £13,000, £12,000 and £7,000, with one being a reserve junior champion.

Anything new done on the farm this year?

We bought Fleckvieh heifers from Germany to receive embryo recipients. We also built a footbath for the cattle.

Anything you got wrong on the farm in 2020?

We missed the weather window for first cut which meant it was later. We could have sold barley for a higher price, but also could have sold it for much less too.

How has COVID-19 affected the business?

Luckily, pedigree bull sales are still going ahead and bulls are selling well, but they are a different affair.

Plans for the farm in 2021?

Maybe look at another shed. We will continue to expand the pedigree herd.

Stock or crop changes for 2021?

We will still be calving around the 100 mark next year, which is unchanged. We sold a good few cows and cows with calves at foot.

We are replacing our spring oats with more spring barley. The crops yielded well and we had them contracted at a decent price, but the straw isn’t as good as barley straw.

This year’s highlight?

Finally getting planning for the new shed. We decided to build in spring but got the building warrant through at the end of November. It will be a race against time to get the shed up ready for calving.

Anything you got right this year?

I bought cows and calves at £1,680 earlier in the year. It was sheer luck, as a month later they were back up to £2,500 an outfit.

Anything you got wrong on the farm in 2020?

I didn’t put vermin control in the stack of bales left over from last year. I have poison down now, and it is solving the problem.

Anything new done on the farm this year?

I have put an old Angus bull on to my heifers for the first time. Previously it was a Shorthorn, but we’re trying an Angus.

How has COVID-19 affected the business?

Not being able to go to the sales has had a big impact. I bought some heifers without being able to see them and the first batch were not what they were supposed to be. Usually, if they are from a few miles away I can put them back, but when they came 300 miles it is more difficult. If I had seen the cattle myself, I wouldn’t have bought them.

Stock changes for 2021?

I have nine more cows calving and 40 bulling heifers going to the bull next year. So the herd expansion in under way.

This year’s highlight?

Well I had my son Max home for lambing at the start of COVID-19 because he was furloughed for a couple of weeks. The extra pair of hands was a real boost.

Anything you got right this year?

The swede turnips and stubble turnips have done well. I have my spring-calving Simmental cows on the stubble turnips and the Shorthorn cows will be on to the swedes in the next few days. Being a hill farm, I don’t have that much depth to my soil. So I can keep cattle out in wetter conditions than other farms.

Anything you got wrong on the farm in 2020?

I had a bad accident in the tractor earlier in the year where I went through the front window. I am fine now, but it wasn’t clever and not recommended.

Anything new done on the farm this year?

We usually grow stubble turnips, but have not grown swedes for a long time. This year’s crop has been a success and I will be doing it again. We have a lot more deer fences now, which means that we managed to keep many more of the turnips than we used to.

How has COVID-19 affected the business?

We have a large Agri-Environment Climate Scheme which needs a lot of fencing done. This year we have had lots of delays in materials for fencing. The Polaris has had a breakdown and needs a belt from the US, which is taking its time in arriving and COVID is the excuse we are getting.

This year’s highlight?

We had a great harvest in good conditions. We managed to get 4t an acre on the wheat and over 3t for the barley. The bushel weights were also good.

Anything you got right this year?

Bringing the sheep in for lambing was the right thing to do. We got more lambs being inside than we would have if we lambed outdoors.

Anything you got wrong on the farm in 2020?

We didn’t harvest enough fodder beet and it is all lying out in the wet at the moment. We should have lifted five acres and would have liked to have done 10, but the machine broke down.

Anything new done on the farm this year?

We lambed 100 gimmers for the first time. They were easier than I thought and lambing indoors made a difference.

How has COVID-19 affected the business?

It hasn’t had much of an impact other than looking at what has affected everyone else. In the wet weather, you are stuck in the house a lot more.

Stock changes for 2021?

We might expand the sheep enterprise, but likely keep the cow numbers the same as we don’t have the shed space. We have 50 acres more barley this year coming than last.