Low Holehouse Farm in Galston, East Ayrshire, was founded over 50 years ago and is currently home to Robert Campbell and his family. Robert said: “About 40 years ago my Dad was milking 80 or 90 cows on 120ac and breeding his own replacements.

“As more land became available the best way to stock it was to keep all the dairy calves and rear them to beef. The opportunity to buy in-lamb ewes also presented itself and the farm diversified from there.”

Robert worked on the farm from an early age and there was never a doubt he would return home to work on the farm. Having studied agriculture at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) Robert now works with his parents on Low Holehouse Farm.

Currently the farm consists of around 160 dairy cows, 200 cross ewes and around 350 youngstock and finishing cattle, mostly from the dairy herd.

Currently the Campbells buy in all dairy replacements and all cows are put in calf to a Simmental, Angus or Limousin bull. This year a Fleckvieh bull ran with the cows also.

“The Fleckvieh has been running with the cows for the last four months,” said Robert.

“My aim is to have a batch of Fleckvieh cross heifers to calve down in the autumn at two years of age.”

He added: “I’m looking for a uniform cow that will yield 7,000 to 8,000 litres for six years, I also need to get a good beef calf off her. I think this is achievable with the Fleckviehs.”

Extreme weather brings both challenges and opportunities

Currently, Roberts’s priority is grassland management. He said: “We did a lot of reseeding this year and we didn’t grow any wholecrop.

“We have 75ac of barley but the focus has been on reseeding. There was a lot of land damaged and poached in the spring so the dry spell has given us an opportunity to work on drainage and remedy damage done.”

He added: “We have quite a heavy soil. We can grow large quantities of grass for a small portion of the year. The focus usually for the farm is to produce high amounts of a good-quality forage for the winter.

We haven’t ruled out robotic milking systems, if you had asked me five years ago I would have said no, but the recent progress has made them a very feasible option for the farm in the future

“Over the next three years we plan to put in one mile of roadways to increase access to cows for more grazing – having two or three points of entry into each field will reduce poaching. We hope to extend the period of having cows outdoors during the summer. It’s mad to think this time last year all the cows were in for good.”

Robert feels technology is going to be paramount for the development of Low Holehouse Farm going forward. He said: “Right now we are not very technology-focused on the farm but I am eager to learn.

“GPS mapping for nutrient management really interests me because of the type of land we have, variable slurry rates are also something worth looking into. I would go so far as to say we haven’t ruled out robotic milking systems. If you had asked me five years ago I would have said no, but the recent progress has made them a very feasible option for the farm in the future.”

Benefits of the study trip to California

“I will be really interested to see the farms and systems in California, it almost has its own micro-climate, and to see how that is manipulated to increase efficiency will be really interesting,” said Robert.

He added: “I’m eager to learn about the diversification of crops over there. I’ve been lucky to have visited farms in Denmark and Canada before but this will be a whole new experience. As far as I know, land prices are close to $30,000 so they have to optimize the return off the land they have.

“To see how they make smaller systems viable in that economic and physical environment will be incredible.”

Discussing the benefits of going on the trip with other members of the Young Farmers, Robert added: “The group going seem like a really interesting bunch. We met up at the Royal Highland Show and some I have known for years. The great thing about the trip is we’re seeing farming on the other side of the world, but also learning about farms the other side of the country from people in the group.”

Off the farm, a great deal of Robert’s time is taken up by Young Farmers. He has taken part in a various competitions as well as concerts and talent spots.

“I have just completed my year as chair of Crossroads. I thoroughly enjoyed my year as chair, however, I have had a few less meetings to attend this year,” Robert added.