Located just a few miles from Dunnet Head, the most northerly point of mainland Britain, the host farm, owned by the Sutherland family, extends to some 1,700 acres in total. Of this, around 1,250 acres are considered to be ploughable, while the remaining 450 acres is rough grazing. Each year, an additional 300 acres of seasonal grazing is taken by the family.

Highland Sheep

Highland Sheep is a biannual event held by the NSA Scotland. It includes sheepdog trials, sheep shearing, the NSA Next Generation Shepherd of the Year competition, cookery demonstrations, farm tours, a vast array of trade and breed society stands, and finishes with an on farm show and sale of ewe hoggets.

This sizable unit is home to 1,600 ewes and 400 suckler cows with lambing and calving in spring. There are five labour units on farm, with Kenneth Snr and sons Stephen and Kenneth Jnr working alongside two full-time employees. Two more labour units are brought in to ease the pressure during the busy lambing period.

Sheep systems

Within the 1,600-ewe flock there are multiple sub-flocks. Typical scanning rates average between 1.8 and 1.9 lambs/ewe to the ram. Lambing begins in the last week of February, with 50 purebred Texels and 60 purebred Suffolks lambing alongside 200 Suffolk cross ewes.

Next to lamb is the main commercial flock of 750 Cheviot Mules and Texel-cross Cheviot Mules, starting from the second week of March. These are followed by 300 North Country Cheviot ewes lambing from the last week of March. Around 200 ewe lambs and 250 Jacob and Texel cross ewes lamb down from the second week of April, with all lambing finished by the first days of May.

The pedigree Suffolk and Texel flocks provide most of the rams used on the commercial flock. In addition, around 50 shearlings are sold each year at breeding sales. While the Texels have been on farm since 1990, the Suffolks are a relatively new addition, first introduced in 2013.

The Sutherland family moved away from Cheviot ewes over 20 years ago in search of a more prolific ewe breed. However, in recent years, with the addition of more grazing ground, the breed was reintroduced. Most of the North Country Cheviots are kept pure, with a proportion mated to the Bluefaced Leicester to produce Cheviot Mule replacements.

Never afraid to experiment with different breeds, four years ago the family introduced Jacob to the mix. The main reasons for this was as a sire for ewe lambs due to ease of lambing, being hardy and quick to get up and suckle. They have been so impressed with the breed that they have started to retain Jacob-cross ewes for breeding and they are proving to be a highly prolific commercial ewe.

Recently erected sheep slatted sheds have eased management of ewes throughout winter.

Management

There is a major emphasis on output from grazed grass on the farm. This is clearly evident in both lambing and calving all occurring at the onset of the grazing season in spring. On the sheep side, the aim is to produce a 20kg carcase from grazed grass alone. Over the last few years this is being achieved, with as few as 100 lambs being housed for finishing each year. Drafting typically starts from 11 weeks of age with nearly two-thirds of lambs being drafted directly off the ewes. Last year over 70% of lambs graded U or better, with only four lambs failing to grade R.

In order to achieve these figures, the family keep fresh grass in front of stock at all times, with around 200 acres of grass reseeded annually. All reseeds include 0.5kg of forage rape which the family believes really helps the lambs thrive.

Over 450 acres of silage is made annually. Being so far north, the winter period can be long, especially for the cattle.

The addition of slatted sheds for the ewes in recent years has simplified the management of the pregnant ewe. Prior to having the slatted shed, ewes were outwintered, which led to greater feed bills from supplementation and also a shortage of grass in early spring when demand rapidly increased.

Currently, around 1,000 ewes are housed at scanning, with 900 fitting in the slatted sheds. These ewes are then drafted one week prior to their lambing date on to straw bedded courts. As space becomes available on the slats more of the later lambing ewes are housed.

Post-lambing, ewes and lambs are turned out to grass from 24 to 48 hours onwards, weather depending. Ewe rolls (large pelletted nuts) are fed post-lambing at grass.

Cattle enterprise

The 400-cow herd starts calving in mid-March and finishes 12 to 13 weeks later in mid-June. Moving through the fields of stock on the day, again, the Sutherlands confidence to experiment with breeds was prevalent. Two Longhorn bulls are running with cows, and it is clear they have left their mark on the herd since they were introduced over a decade ago.

Most of the cows are Longhorn-cross Simmental, with the family believing the Longhorn has brought down the overall size of the cow, as well as being easy-calving, docile and having plenty of milk. They see no difference in the prices achieved by Longhorn cross steers compared to Simmental crosses in the store ring.

However, the experimentation doesn’t stop there, with a Red Aberdeen-Angus bull introduced in the last couple of years to add some hybrid vigour to the genetic pool as they continue to search for the ideal suckler cow.

Apart from replacements, the reminder of mature cows are mated to Charolais bulls with the aim to produce a 400kg store animal at 10 to 11 months of age.