farmingscotland.com Issue 145

farmingscotland.com September 2022 • Issue 145

The Sheep Game Scottish National Sheep Dogs Trials Columnists – Alex Brewster & Johnny Templeton Sheep Shearing Records Latest Machinery Netherwood Farm and much more...

1

Contents BUSINESS

Report on Methane Emissions British Cheese Popular in Canada RSABI Awards Fall in Agricultural Emissions New Tax on Single Use Plastic RSABI Celebrate 125 Years SRUC Alumni Awards BSE Silo Survey Dedicated Net Zero Fund My Name’5 Doddie Land Report by SRUC

4 5 5 6 6 7 8 8 9 11 13

New Sheep System Sheep & Goat Trip to France Scottish Dog Trial Team Willie Welsh Singles Winner Seumas Secures Scottish Brace Sheep Game Netherwood Shearing Records Scottish Sheep Shearing Team Investigating Options for Blackface Wool

10 14 24 26 28 30 36 42 44 46

Sheep & Goat Project New Courses at SRUC The DNA of Water

14 14 12

SHEEP

EDUCATION

MACHINERY

24

Claas Introduces New Combines NeW marriage for Lemken Zero Emmisions Power Source for Tractors New MF 65 Series Joins the Ranks JCB adds New Telehandler to Range Winning Cattle Crush

52 54 55 56 58 59

Barbara’s Outstanding Service AA Sponsorship

22 23

BEEF

WORLD TRAVELS/ INTEREST

Book Reviews A Success Story from the Heart of Germany Redesign for Craigies Farm Shop & Cafe Agricultural History at East Lothian Steading

AROUND THE REGIONS

NZ Catch UP – Johnny Templeton Alex Brewster – Rotmell Farm, Dunkeld

51 60 64 65

16 18

farmingscotland.com

44 15 52

36

46

Editor

O

Eilidh MacPherson

n September 3rd 2003, the first copy of farmingscotland.com magazine came off the press.

Nineteen years on I have decided to put the publication online and revert to the farmingscotland.com title. (The magazine had to be renamed Farming Country when it went into the shops in 2012.) The website is being redesigned at the moment and will be live at the end of October. Please follow and like us on Facebook –https://www.facebook.com/farmingscotland/ I would to take this opportunity to thank all the businesses who supported the printed magazine with advertising, the readers and freelance journalists and PR people who have provided copy over the years.

The Sheep Game has taken off on You Tube across the world and we caught up with Cameron Wilson, who recently had his 100 000th Facebook follower, at the beginning of the shearing season (p32).

Sticking on the shearing theme we have reports on the Scottish Team for the World Shearing Championships 2023, Eilidh MacPherson Editor/publisher farmingscotland.com Magazine Marbrack Farm Carsphairn Castle Douglas DG7 3TE

shearing records here and NZ and wool projects.

Earlier this year, as Chair of the Dumfries & Galloway Blackface Sheep Breeders I was invited by the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere to visit the British Wool Marketing Board Depot at Galashiels. They are investigating options to produce a line of outdoor clothing to maximize the value of the Blackie fleece. I took the proposal to the Blackface Breeders Board and they agreed to back half the project. Read their story on page 50.

Columnist Alex Brewster and his wife recently launched their brand of outdoor clothing – Torramor – from p 18, while our Kiwi writer Johnny Templeton and his wife Sharon have moved from the High Country to the Canterbury Plains.

I do hope you enjoy reading the first online version of the magazine and feel free to share any links or pages you feel may be of interest to your friends or followers.

Here’ wishing the Scottish Team all the best in Yorkshire this week.

016444 60644 0797 7897867

www.farmingscotland.com farmingscotland.com on facebook

Report Highlighting Gains of Ruminant Health on Methane Emissions

N

ew report highlights the role reducing key endemic diseases in ruminants can play in contributing to the Global Methane Pledge formed at COP26 to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030.

Produced by Moredun Research Institute in conjunction with Ruminant Health & Welfare (RH&W), the report; ‘Acting on methane: opportunities for the UK cattle and sheep sectors,’ details available interventions for priority health and welfare conditions to provide a starting point for discussions between farmer and vet, or animal health advisers, about the health status of their herd or flocks with methane reductions in mind.

“Methane is a powerful Greenhouse Gas (GHG) when compared with CO2, and on many farms contributes over 50% of total emissions. It’s important to remember that methane is the only short-term gas among the big three GHGs that has the potential, if managed, to slow global warming,” explains Nigel Miller, RH&W chair.

According to DEFRA, ruminants are responsible for 45% of UK methane emissions, the majority of which is

through rumen digestion, manure and slurry. However, the area the sector can really make an immediate difference in is the contribution of certain livestock diseases to emissions.

“The baseline work on GHG diseases, funded by both Defra and Scottish government, found that improving livestock health and welfare could reduce methane emissions by 10%. This new report takes us a step further than this by mapping the GHG profile of key endemic diseases identified by RH&W with the input of farmers and veterinary health professionals,” says Dr Philip Skuce, principal scientist at Moredun Research Institute.

“For example, studies reveal that gastrointestinal parasites lead to a minimum 10% increase in GHG emissions in lamb production.

Similarly, liver fluke infection adds an extra 11 days to slaughter in cattle, reducing growth rate by 4% and adding 2% to the GHG footprint.”

As emissions and productivity go hand-in-hand, reducing the burden of endemic disease contributes to improved productivity on livestock farms through better feed conversion

efficiency, live weight gain, and less involuntary culling.

“It’s important that despite global pressures we are facing, our livestock sector continues to remain focused on the big picture of how we can work towards improved livestock health, productivity and environmental impact.

“Ruminant health is one of a small, but important, group of mitigation measures which can reduce emissions while also delivering a cost-benefit.

Progress on health is identified immediately through herd or flock performance data, which feeds into on-farm carbon calculators and the national inventory. The tools and resources identified in the report, for example monitoring and mapping out disease goals, are already available for farmers to utilise now.

“Effective farm health strategies are a gateway into low emissions production, and should be a pillar of future low carbon production systems supported by flock or herd health security,” Mr Miller concludes.

To read the full report, visit: https://ruminanthw.org.uk/acting onmethane/

www.farmingscotland.com farmingscotland.com on Facebook – farmingscotland on Twitter New website will be live end of October

British Cheese Popular in Canada

A

ward-winning cheeses from Britain enjoyed a 40 per cent spike in sales following an AHDB-led promotion in Canada.

The successful campaign ran in four Denningers' stores – one of Canada's leading speciality food retailers – in the four weeks leading up to Easter.

The aim was to showcase the high quality and exceptional taste of six cheeses – Belton's Red Fox, Black Bomber, Colston Basset Stilton, Millbrook Dairy cheddar, Keens cheddar and Ford Farm cave aged goat's cheese.

During the event, the cheeses not only proved more popular than last year, but also made-up 15 per cent of all deli sales.

Canada represents a hugely important export market for UK cheese, with 2039 tonnes shipped to the country last year.

T

wo awards for outstanding contribution to RSABI were presented at a Jubilee event on board HMS Albion, attended by Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal.

The awards were presented as part of a range of 125th anniversary year initiatives by the charity – which supports people in Scottish agriculture – to thank the volunteers, fundraisers, and others for their invaluable support.The award for individual contribution went to agricultural journalist, Andrew Arbuckle, and a group award to Gregor Caldwell, representing the Ayrshire Volunteer Committee.

Andrew Arbuckle has raised more than £100 000 for RSABI – as well as lots of smiles - through the sale of a series of three light-hearted books. The books were compiled by Mr Arbuckle, with his late brother John also working on two of the titles. “Farming is a Funny Business” launched in 2016, packed full of jokes, stories and anecdotes contributed

Lucy Randolph, AHDB senior export manager for dairy said: "As one of our key export markets, it's fantastic to see a growing appetite among Canadian consumers for British cheese and it gives us plenty of encouragement for the future."

Funding was jointly provided by AHDB, dairy exporters and Denningers, which enabled in-store promotion, magazine and on-line advertising, as well as a consumer competition.

The initiative was led by Paul Blake, AHDB's Dairy Agent, who was appointed last October to develop opportunities within the North American market.

Lucy added: "We are delighted with the success of our Easter promotion, and we hope that this, and other AHDB events in Canada, will help us to build on our already impressive cheese export figures in the year ahead."

by the agricultural community. The book was so successful it was followed by a second volume “Farming is Still a Funny Business,” with over 300 stories contributed for each of the books.

The third title, “Farming Facts and Fake News,” features a mix of essential information on all aspects of Scottish rural life, alongside many entertaining facts about farming, farmers and those who live in the countryside. Two of the books are still on sale online at www.rsabi.org.uk.

Gregor Caldwell, Deputy Head of Agricultural Staff at Scottish Government, founded the Ayrshire Volunteer Committee to support RSABI in 2009. Gregor has chaired the committee since it was set up and during the past 12 years, the committee has raised around £120 000.

Among the many activities undertaken have been three vintage tractor restorations. The tractors were then raffled or auctioned off and the

RSABI Awards

proceeds went to RSABI. A highly successful ladies’ lunch and fashion show has been running for several years at Turnberry and sponsored walks and activities undertaken have included a coast-tocoast walk – the Southern Upland Way. Pancake-making has also been a big success, with stalls at Ayr Market in the run up to Christmas proving very popular and raising funds as well as spirits.

David Leggat, Chair of RSABI, said: “During our anniversary year we are very much celebrating the extraordinary people involved in Scottish agriculture and thanking everyone who, in a huge variety of ways, supports the work undertaken by RSABI. The support of people like Andrew, Gregor and the Ayrshire Committee is absolutely vital to the success of the work we do, and our sincere thanks go to them and all the farming and crofting families and agricultural businesses who help us in different ways.

“Knowing we have the industry behind us is a huge strength, which underpins the work we do for people facing challenging times and this year we are also aiming to recruit a further 125 new Supporters’ Scheme members.

If you are not already a member of our Supporters’ Scheme, please visit our website and sign-up to help us reach our target.”

5

N

FU Scotland has welcomed the news that the latest Scottish Government statistics show a fall in agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The figures show a further decrease in agriculture emissions by 2.9% (0.2 MtCO2e) between 2019 and 2020.

Scottish agriculture’s emissions have now dropped 14.9% since 1990.

The reductions can be seen across all of the three main types of greenhouse gases created by food production: C02, Methane and Nitrous Oxide.

Reacting to the publication of the figures NFU Scotland’s Climate Change Policy Manager, Kate Hopper, said: “It is fantastic to see the hard work already ongoing across Scotland by our farmers and crofters to mitigate GHG emissions on farm reflected in the statistics published today.”

“Unlike other industries, which may

New Tax Measures on Single Use Plastic in Scotland

F

rom 1 June there has been a ban placed on what have been referred to by the Scottish Government as "problematic single use plastics" in Scotland.

This follows the implementation from April this year of a new UK wide plastic packaging tax in a clear initiative to encourage businesses to manufacture or use recycled plastics or even alternative materials.

Sean McGinness, Partner and Head of

6

Fall in Agricultural Emissions be expecting a bounce back in emissions as they move on from the impacts of Covid-19, Scottish agriculture maintained production in challenging times and kept the nation fed during the pandemic. This means the fall in C02, Methane, and Nitrous Oxide announced today are a clear sign of the industries commitment to meeting its climate change goals.”

“NFU Scotland is working with the Scottish Government on how best to support Scottish farms and crofts to reduce their emissions.”

“While there is still a lot more work to do to get to net zero, these figures show that with the right future policy support Scottish agriculture can get there.”

“This includes the Scottish Government’s recently launched National Test Programme, which is working towards baselining and more

accurate reporting of on farm GHGs. The programme will also be leading work into what on farm actions best reduce emissions.”

“Our members have been working hard carrying out carbon audits to identify where improvements can be made, along with their on-farm energy use, switching to renewables and looking at how to reduce the inputs they use.”

“Going forwards we also need to look at how the UK’s national inventory records GHG emissions. All carbon sequestration is currently recorded against the land use sector, including measures such as tree planting carried out on our farms. Farms have huge potential to store carbon, and we would like to see this balanced against our emissions, whilst we continue to produce high quality, sustainable, healthy Scottish food.”

VAT, Saffery Champness and a member of the firm's Land and Rural Practice Group, says: "The new Scottish measure will affect some of those with catering businesses and significantly those catering at outdoor events. The ban covers predominantly plastic cutlery and plates, cups, stirrers, beverage and food containers in expanded polystyrene and covers and lids. Single use plastic straws have been excluded from an outright ban and are subject to some exemptions.

"The plastic packaging tax is aimed at more high-volume importers and manufacturers of finished plastic packaging and is levied at a rate of £200/tonne where the material contains less than 30% of recycled plastic. The rules around what is within the scope of this new tax are complex."

There are a number of exemptions to the tax including: businesses importing less than 10 tonnes of finished plastic packaging in a 12-month period; certain packaging used to import goods into the UK for long term storage such as pallet wrap; and plastic packaging manufactured in the UK, or imported to

the UK, but which is then exported directly.

Sean McGinness says: "In that this is a new tax its application may be confusing and we anticipate some time for it to bed down. However, the Scottish ban is black and white and will be subject to enforcement by Local Authorities. Those who have on-farm catering businesses, cafés or who offer a take-away food service or who cater at the many events that will be taking place this summer should take note and be careful not to fall foul of the new regulations."

RSABI Celebrate 125 Years

R

SABI, the organisation, which provides emotional, financial and practical support to people in Scottish agriculture, has launched a new helpline number – 0808 1234 555 - which is free to call.

The easy-to-remember freephone number will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round to ensure farmers, crofters and others involved in Scottish agriculture can access support at any time of day or night.

The new number, which will not appear on phone bills, has been launched as part of a move by the charity, which is this year celebrating its 125th anniversary, to ensure it offers the best possible service.

RSABI is grateful to the Royal Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) for providing funding of £16,000 towards the cost of running the Helpline and also to the Scottish Government, which provided £15,000 to assist with the set-up costs of the new 24-hour Helpline.

“Our aim is to provide a friendly, professional and confidential service for people of all ages, involved in a wide range of roles in Scottish agriculture and our message is very much that we are here for everyone in times of need,” said David Leggat, Chair of RSABI. “With challenging times expected in the coming months, we are also calling on people throughout the industry to help us to spread the word and increase awareness of RSABI’s wide range of services. We can provide financial help – including Help with Heating grants and a range of domestic items – as well as farm reviews and practical help with steps to get people back on track.”

Demand for emotional support from the agricultural community has stepped up significantly in the past year and is now the biggest area of support offered by the charity. RSABI is able to arrange counselling sessions very quickly when

required, at a time when a referral via a GP could take months.

“We are pleased that more and more working farmers are reaching out to us.

In recent months we have seen some exceptional results in terms of the mental health of farmers – aged in their 20’s upwards – who we have referred to our professional counsellors,” said Chris McVey, RSABI Welfare Manager.

“We are pleased that emotional wellbeing – and the steps to maintain and improve this – is increasingly being freely discussed in the agricultural community. This is very encouraging and we are reminding people that, they can also contact us on behalf of someone they may have concerns about, to get the ball rolling, as long as they have been given permission to do so.”

The charity, which was established on April 7th, 1897, will be launching a range of initiatives during the coming 12 months as well as extending its existing services.

As well as extending its Helpline services, the charity is also working on a

Photos this Issue:

Page 2 – Iain MacDonald Page 4 – Moredun Page 5 – AHDB Page 5 – RSABI Page 7 – RSABI Page 8 – SRUC Page 9 – Virgin Money Page 10 – Cottar Agritech Page 11 – H&H Page 12 – SRUC Page 14/15 – FAO Page 16/17 – MUSTER, A Munro Page 18 – Jane Brewster

new website aimed at clearly communicating the wide range of support it offers, in a way which is easy to navigate and resonates with younger people as well those more senior in age.

As part of this a web chat function will be added to the website this summer to further extend the ways people can reach out for support.

RSABI’s 2022 Great Glen Challenge has a new sponsor, United Auctions, and a #Challenge125 initiative, aimed at collectively clocking up 125 000 kms, started at the Royal Highland Show and runs until the Great Glen Challenge on August 26th.

The Supporters’ Scheme has now been firmly established as a cornerstone of the charity’s income stream and a target of 125 new individual, business, and corporate supporters from all parts of the industry has been set for the year.

RSABI will also be marking its 125th anniversary with a St Andrew’s dinner on December 2nd and details of the event will be announced in the coming weeks.

Page 22 – AA Cattle Society Page 24 – Lisa Soar Page 26 – Lisa Soar Page 28/29 – Willie Urquhart, WHFP Page 48/50 – Supplied Page 51 – Supplied Page 52 – Claas Page 54 – Lemken Page 55 – Campbell Scott Page 56 – Massey Ferguson Page 58 – JCB Page 60//62 – Petra Jacob Page 64-65 – Provided

7

A

Inaugural SRUC Alumni Awards

n ethical influencer and climate activist was among the winners at the first ever Alumni Entrepreneur Network awards, organised by Scotland's Rural College.

Laura Young, from Glasgow, scooped the Alumni Champion Award at the event, which recognised former SRUC students who are industry champions and a key part of Scotland's natural economy.

Laura, who has more than 50 000 followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and regularly appears on TV and radio providing advice about how to live an environmentally conscious lifestyle, was described as a "stand out" candidate in her category.

Tommy Dale, of Forth Resource

Management in East Lothian, won the Environmental Sustainability Award.

He was recognised for his work recycling green and agricultural materials, which would otherwise have gone to landfill.

The Diversification Award was lifted

by Anna and Ross Mitchell, Castleton Farm, Aberdeenshire, for their ‘impressive and sustainable’ farm shop and café. The couple have a network of biomass boilers and solar systems and produce more electricity than they use.

They also produce fruit for nine months of the year, cutting down on carbon intensive food miles.

Katie Philips, of Pasture Poultry in the Borders, took out the New Entrant Award. She has diversified from pet

food to supplying high end restaurants.

Lochy Porter, of Angus Soft Fruits, won the Innovation Award.

The event, which was hosted by former SRUC student Steven Mitchell at The Buffalo Farm in Fife, focused on enterprising businesspeople from the alumni community working in the food and farming sector.

Wayne Powell, Principal and Chief Executive of SRUC, said: "It is exciting to meet our former students who are really making a difference in the world and it's great to see them coming together to create an alumni community.

"It is a great advert for SRUC and our values, and it is also important in this economy, which is depending on more entrepreneurs."

On behalf of Defra and the Scottish and Welsh Governments, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is asking all cattle farmers to participate in a short survey;[https://defragroup.eu.qualtrics. com/jfe/form/SV_2hQOOblL7bZjD5Y] following the recent case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease) detected in England in 2021. This case was potentially linked to residual contaminated feed from a silo that had been in use since the early 1980s and was the most likely source of infection. This survey therefore hopes to establish whether you still use a silo, or any other container storing loose concentrated feedstuffs, that predates 1

August 1996 when the reinforced ban on feeding of processed animal protein to farmed animals was introduced.

The aim of the survey is to gather supportive information to help Great Britain’s attempt to obtain negligible BSE risk status, as recognised by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH). This will help facilitate trade and access new markets for export of British beef and feed products. Great Britain currently has controlled BSE risk status. To apply for negligible BSE risk status, a country must demonstrate effective BSE surveillance and adequate mitigation measures, to prevent the occurrence of further cases of BSE.

This survey acts in the best interest of the farming industry. For this reason, in Scotland it is supported by the AHDB, British Cattle Veterinary Association National Farmers’ Union Scotland, Ruminant Health and Welfare Group, Scottish Dairy Cattle Association, Scottish Beef Association.

We kindly ask you to also complete the survey even if you do not have a silo that was in use before 1 August 1996 as we need to achieve a good response rate that represents the whole cattle farm population, and it also allows us to gain a bigger picture of the progress we have made over the years. silo.survey@apha.gov.uk.

Appeal to Participate in a Survey

8

Virgin Money Launches UK’s first Dedicated Fund for Farmers to Reach Net Zero

V

irgin Money has launched a new £200m fund to support farmers in their transition to net zero, by offering lower cost loans that can be used to invest in changes which reduce on-farm emissions. The Agri E Fund is the first fund offered in the UK dedicated to supporting farmers with the investment and carbon audits required to help them achieve their net zero target.

Loans are available with 0% fees when a farmer completes a carbon audit and is borrowing over £50k to invest in emission reducing initiatives, like renewable energy, energy efficiency initiatives or activities that reduce greenhouse gases.

The agriculture sector has a key part to play in the UK’s transition to a net zero economy. While farming contributes approximately ten per cent of the UK’s carbon emissions, the significant land resource within agriculture provides the opportunity to capture and store carbon over and above the sector’s level of emissions, helping to enable the wider economy to transition to net zero. The sector has set itself the ambitious goal of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions across the sector in England and Wales by 2040.

Agriculture is one of Virgin Money’s biggest business sector,s which it has supported over many years. In a recent survey of its agricultural customers, 72%

of respondents said they wanted to see specialist banking products tailored towards sustainability and 82% said that reducing climate emissions was important to improving their sustainability. T he survey also revealed that the marketplace is helping to drive the pace of change, with almost a quarter (22%) of farming businesses saying they had been asked by their own customers to provide evidence of their actions to reduce carbon emissions.

The Agri E Fund also encourages the uptake of carbon audits, which are becoming increasingly important in the agriculture supply chain, by making the completion of one a condition of the loan. A carbon audit produces a comprehensive report on a farm’s carbon outputs, highlighting inefficiencies on the farm and ways to do things differently, both to lower costs and reduce carbon emissions. According to the bank’s survey, only 35% of farming businesses have completed a carbon audit and Virgin Money has been encouraging customers to undertake a carbon audit so they can start to move towards net zero at an early stage.

Brian Richardson, Head of Agriculture at Virgin Money said: “Farmers need to be proactive in adjusting their businesses to a low carbon future. While many farmers are working towards their net zero targets, we know from our research that there

are many who know what they’ve got to do, they just aren’t sure how to go about it. By providing lower cost finance, our new Agri E Fund is providing targeted support to help agri-businesses make the transition and enable investment in reducing and capturing carbon emissions.

“We have a long history of supporting the agriculture sector through periods of change and are committed to working closely with our farming customers to help them on their journey to net zero.”

Virgin Money has partnered with Carbon Metrics, a consultancy, which aims to help rural businesses understand emissions management and auditing more easily, to produce an Agriculture Net Zero Report. This guide is a tool to help farmers understand the background to climate change specifically relating to agriculture, what it means for the industry and how they can start to adapt their businesses to meet the challenge and plan their own business journey towards net zero.

Further information on the Agri E Fund and the Net Zero Report is available at https://uk.virginmoney.com/brightermoney/helping-farmers-create-agreener-future/

9

New Handling, Weighing and Targeted Worming System

C

otter Agritech announced the UK launch of its award-winning Cotter Crate system and SmartWorm app, an innovative hardware and software solution to help sheep farmers cut labour costs and tackle worm resistance by reducing wormer use by up to 40% and identifying worm resistant/resilient replacements.

The Cotter Crate is a sheep handling crate that makes doing stock management tasks to both lambs and adult sheep quick, easy and safe, including dosing, vaccinating, tagging, dagging, weighing, mouthing, body condition scoring and 3-way drafting.

Developed by sheep farming brothers Jack and Nick Cotter, who grew up on a sheep farm in the South West of Ireland running 200 Scottish Blackface ewes.

They are proven entrepreneurs, having founded 2 successful businesses on the home farm – Cotter Bros Firewood and Cotter Organic Lamb, which sells their lamb direct to homeowners and local restaurants. Both brothers are still college students. Nick recently received a 2022 Nuffield Scholarship – "Getting off blanket worming: An evaluation of current best practice and newer tools to reduce anthelmintic use & anthelmintic resistance on ruminant livestock farms."

The Cotter Crate was created having recognised the industry's need for a

10

handling system that focuses on making lamb handling easier and also caters to adult sheep. The result is a simple to use system, where the animal is comfortably held under its own weight at operator height, without any pressure being applied, resulting in a calm handling experience for both handler and livestock and reducing animal handling time by up to 50%.

Launching alongside the Cotter Crate is SmartWorm, an advanced weighing and targeted selective treatment (TST) phone app that enables weight recording, treatment management, and uniquely enables farmers to conduct targeted selective worming based on an algorithm. This app can be used with the Cotter Crate, or with other sheep handling and weighing equipment already on-farm, to conduct targeted selective treatment.

The built-in worming algorithm enables a sheep farmer to reduce their use of wormers by up to 40%, without a loss of animal performance by identifying in real time, which animals would, or would not benefit from a wormer treatment. The algorithm calculates a lambs potential growth based on a number of factors (weight gain, rainfall and temperature and pasture availability and quality) and gives them an individual target. If they are not reaching this target, it

recommends treating the animal.

Welsh farmer Rhidian Glyn, winner of New Entrant at the 2018 British Farming Awards, used the system in 2021 and reduced his wormer use by 38% with no loss of animal performance.

He explains, "Key for me in using this solution was that it fitted into the existing schedule of handling my lambs every 4 weeks. It worked very well – I saved some drench, it was much faster dosing the lambs because I don't have to dose them all and there was no loss of performance. It's a no brainer."

Well-known Irish farmer Brian Nicholson saw similar results in 2021 trials, achieving a reduction of 42% in wormer use. "Not only did I use less wormer, but I'm now able to select replacements that require less worm treatments. Therefore, I expect the wormer reduction to get better because I can now breed sheep who are resistant and resilient to worms. I feel I'm making a huge contribution by farming in a gentler way and towards enhancing the biodiversity and soil health on my farm due to the significant reduction in the use of wormers."

Co-founder and CTO of Cotter Agritech Jack Cotter says for the average UK sheep flock (220 breeding ewes), a return on investment for the software solution is delivered within 12 months.

This, he says, is achieved through

delivering wormer and labour savings, breeding improvements and preventing production losses by slowing resistance development on farm.

Controlling worms is one of the biggest challenges facing sheep farmers in the UK. Modern worm control is becoming unsustainable due to resistance issues with anthelmintics on the majority of sheep farms in the UK and negative environmental impacts.

Resistance is costing the UK sheep farming industry £84M per year.

Jack explained, "Our hardware and software solution is the most practical, simplest and complete way of reducing wormer use on-farm. Farmers can now do TST in a manner, which doesn't slow them down.”

Nick Cotter added, "The trend is towards higher welfare and more nature friendly farming, reduction of chemical use and protection of our biodiversity. It will help to preserve and strengthen the sustainability and profitability of British farmers and boost UK agriculture's social licence. This is a win-win-win, for British farmers, for the British public and for the environment."

For more information please visit www.cotteragritech.com. Farmers who already have suitable weighing equipment to use the algorithm can download the SmartWorm app and avail of a 3 month free trial.

H

& H has announced the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation as the official charity for this year’s Borderway Agri Expo livestock showcase, which is set to take place on Friday 28th October. Fundraising will take place throughout the day, with monies raised from initiatives which will include programme sales, competitions, and collection boxes.

The My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, was established in 2017 following Doddie Weir OBE’s announcement that he was suffering with Motor Neuron Disease (MND). One of rugby’s most recognisable personalities, Doddie has been driven to support fellow sufferers since his own diagnosis and has dedicated his life to helping seek further research. The aim of the foundation is simple: a world free of MND. Anyone wishing to make a direct donation to My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, can do so via: https:// myname5doddie.enthuse.com/ AgriExpo2022 H & H MD, Scott Donaldson, said: “Doddie is a formidable character who has had a huge impact on the lives of those suffering with MND. His work is inspiring, and his agricultural roots mean this is a charity close to the hearts of many of our customers. We are very proud to be supporting the work of the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation at this

My Name’5 Doddie Foundation Announced as Official Charity year’s Agri Expo.”

MND is an incurable disease that affects the nervous system and tends to progress rapidly. Currently in the UK, 1 in 300 people are at risk of developing MND in their lifetime and unfortunately a third of people succumb to the disease within a year and more than half within two years of diagnosis. The My Name’5 Doddie Foundation is committed to helping improve the lives of those affected through funding grants and giving considerable sums to MND Association and MND Scotland to administer to individuals and families living with MND. Commenting on the partnership, Rachel Sharp Fundraising Manager added: “I hope that this partnership will help raise awareness of MND as well as the work that the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation does. Our aim is for future generations to live in a world free of MND and the support of events such as Agri Expo is vital to helping us fund imperative research and improving the lives of those living with this disease.”

For more information on Borderway Agri Expo 2022 visit www.border wayagriexpo.co.uk and for regular updates, follow on Facebook: @BorderwayAgriExpo Instagram: @borderwayagriexpo

11

The DNA of Water

W

ater is one of the world's most precious resources. It connects us all and is essential to everything we do. Water is also vital for agriculture, livestock and fisheries and key to food production, nutritional security and health.

Yet, global water quality is deteriorating at an alarming rate, and land and water resources around the world are at a breaking point, according to FAO's latest report on the State of the World's Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture.

Globally, about 80% of wastewater is discharged into the environment without adequate treatment and a third of all rivers, deltas and tributaries in Latin America, Africa and Asia are severely polluted with pathogens, putting millions of people at risk.

Water quality also impacts food quality, and it is an important aspect to manage throughout the entire supply chain, from production to consumption.

Foodborne illnesses are often a result of consuming food contaminated from poor-quality water.

Even though access to clean water and safe, nutritious food is a basic human right, every year around the world, over 420 000 people die and some 600M people – almost one in ten – fall ill after eating contaminated food.

Contaminated food hampers socio economic development, overloads healthcare systems and compromises economic growth and trade.

Prevention is better than a cure, and water quality and food safety risks are

12

best addressed simultaneously at farm level. Managing water quality in the context of food safety will reduce the exposure to harmful pathogens in water and the resultant food supply.

Through its One Water One Health programme, FAO is expanding the use of technologies, such as Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS), to study the genomes of pathogens and track their path from water to food in order to prevent food contamination at its source. By incorporating water quality into food safety considerations and applying genomic surveillance to this process, the programme is enabling countries to address water and food quality as an integrated issue.

Currently, FAO is running a pilot in six countries where using WGS for surveillance of pathogens from water to food has never been done. For example, FAO is working with Indonesia's National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) to implement a genomic study on water quality in chicken-fish farming systems in Blitar, East Java. A common practice in this area, integrated chicken-fish farming involves raising chickens alongside fish. Connecting these systems allows the manure from chickens to fertilize pond water and generate food for fish. Manure is a very efficient fertilizer, generating phytoplankton and zooplankton growth that fish then eat.

For farmers, there is a clear advantage for these systems as there is no supplementary expenditure on fish feed. However, the risk of contaminants

and disease to fish stock and the environment is relatively high and poor sanitation and biosecurity can be an issue if the system is not properly managed. By using WGS, the BRIN study is tracking potential pathogens that move from water to fish, as well as investigating any potential antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of pathogens in the water.

Innovative WGS technology provides rapid identification and characterization of microorganisms with a level of precision not previously possible. With the vast application of this technology and lowering costs, WGS could, in the years to come, fundamentally change land and water management approaches for preventing food contamination at its source, contributing to greater consumer protection, trade facilitation and food and nutrition security.

Prevention is the best strategy. For this, we must ensure that knowledge of pre-harvest factors in food safety, particularly regarding water quality, is built into food production globally. This is crucial as global water scarcity pushes us towards the use of poor-quality water sources. Better understanding of the connections between water quality and food safety is needed to safeguard human health, implement sustainable agriculture and improve environmental outcomes. Ultimately, WGS and novel approaches to water quality and food safety monitoring and surveillance will contribute to this global understanding and help prevent foodborne illnesses before they start.

W

Land Report by SRUC

ith natural capital and afforestation driving market interest and land values, a new report by Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) has identified associated risks that need to be managed.

Farmland values across the UK rose by 6.2 per cent in 2021, with Scotland experiencing the strongest growth in values of just over 31 per cent overall and 60.8 per cent for poor livestock land.

More than 40 per cent of farmland was bought by investors and amenity buyers over the past five years. Natural capital buyers are also increasingly important in the estates market, with £112 million invested in Scottish estates in 2020 – an increase of 55 per cent on the ten-year annual investment.

In addition, increased demand from institutional investors and financial institutions led to average sale prices for commercial forestry land exceeding valuations by around 50 per cent in ‘21.

The report, co-authored by Professor Mark Reed – Co-Director of SRUC's Thriving Natural Capital Challenge

Centre, outlines the risks these trends could create for markets, land managers and rural communities.

Following an evidence review and a roundtable event with more than 60 experts from policy, investment, third sector, research, land management and rural communities, the report also proposes 16 options for policy and practice.

Among the risks identified by the project – funded as part of a SEFARI Special Advisory Group in collaboration with the Scottish Land Commission – is that without buyer checks, it is possible for highly polluting industries to reach net zero via offsetting rather than reducing their emissions at source, undermining the integrity of both markets and global political agreements.

And while land value increases provide benefits for existing owners, it could exclude new entrants to farming, re-concentrate landownership and limit access to land by rural communities.

The options for reducing the risks and enhancing the positive impacts of natural capital investment include

developing guidance on the rights and responsibilities for investors entering the UK market, supporting alternative landowner models such as community ownership and addressing barriers to tenants engaging in ecosystem markets.

Professor Reed said: "Interest in natural capital and ecosystem markets is driving rapid and significant change in the land use sector across the UK, but these changes are layered on top of – and often symptomatic of – long term and systemic issues in land markets, such as concentration of landownership, and other market drivers, such as timber prices.

"It is important that effective and well-aligned market-based and public-support mechanisms are designed to tackle existing structural barriers, avoid policy conflicts and ensure land use transitions are viable across a wide range of land managers and holding types and sizes."

The report is published on the at: https://bit.ly/LandForCarbon or you can read the briefing note here: https://bit.ly/LandForCarbonBriefing.

13

Sheep and goat project on tour to France

A

n SRUC-led multinational project to improve the uptake of digital technologies in sheep and goat farming has held its first in-person transnational workshop in France.

Around 70 researchers, farmers, lecturers and advisors from seven countries attended the event in Saint Affrique in July, which was held as part of the Sm@RT (Small Ruminant Technologies) project run in partnership with the Moredun Research Institute and funded by the EU Horizon 2020 research programme.

Two previous workshops had been held online due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The delegates from UK, France,

A

weighing and water consumption in one trough, DNA sampling for lamb parentage and a hay drying machine.

Claire Morgan-Davies, Sm@RT coordinator from SRUC, said: "It was great to be able to see each other for the first time. The group dynamic was fantastic and the organisation by the French partners flawless. It was nice to see delegates exchanging ideas and seeing for themselves the wide range of innovative technologies available to the sheep and goat sectors."

The next workshop is scheduled for Spring 2023 in Norway and will focus on feedback related to a selection of innovative technologies for the small ruminant sector. www.smartplatform.network

tertiary education spectrum, a Master of Research (MRes) in Zoonoses and Epidemiology will be delivered largely by distance learning from Inverness.

The Rural Animal Health course, which will be taught at SRUC's Craibstone campus in Aberdeen, will allow students to work both within a team and independently, performing permitted procedures and providing advice on multiple species of farm and rural animals.

The Animal Welfare Science course, at SRUC's Edinburgh campus, is the only degree programme of its kind in the UK and draws on the expertise of one of the largest Animal Welfare research teams in the world.

The Equine Science and Management course, the first degree to be offered at SRUC's Oatridge campus in West

Lothian and the first of its kind in Scotland, will equip graduates with the skills and knowledge to make an effective contribution to the equine industry.

The one-year Zoonoses and Epidemiology course, which can also be studied part time, focuses on developing research skills in the epidemiology of animal diseases and the transmission of zoonoses.

Jamie Newbold, Academic Director at SRUC, said: 'These new courses add to SRUC's strength and depth of provision in animal welfare and veterinary science as we move towards becoming an enterprise university at the heart of our sustainable natural economy."

New Courses at SRUC

n HND in Rural Animal Health is one of several new courses being introduced by Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) as it moves towards growing the country's first tertiary model of veterinary teaching and learning.

The Rural Animal Health course is the first of its kind in the UK and capitalises on the growing demand for Veterinary Technicians to support veterinary teams working in rural animal practice.

As part of SRUC's journey towards achieving degree awarding powers, the first UK BSc (Hons) course focusing specifically on Animal Welfare Science and the first BSc (Hons) Equine Science and Management course in Scotland will also be offered from September.

Finally, at the postgraduate end of the

14

Ireland, Norway, Estonia, Italy and Israel, visited two sheep farms - La Cazotte in Roquefort, which is linked to an agricultural school and mixed dairy and meat sheep experimental farm La Fage in Aveyron – where they had the opportunity to see and learn about the use of 14 small ruminant innovative technologies.

These included virtual and connected fences, automatic feeders in the milking parlour, individual feed bins and shed sensors for temperature, humidity and CO2, among others.

On the second day, following a presentation about the French sheep sector, delegates shared examples of the innovative technologies being used in their countries, including automatic

www.sruc.ac.uk/courses-training/

Johnny Templeton New Zealand

Photo Credits: MUSTER Anna Munro Photography

Johnny Templeton Springvale Station Akaroa Christchurch New Zealand

T

NZ Catch Up

he winter has been extremely wet and some of the biggest snow falls seen for years. There has been a huge amount of damage done in some areas by flooding and they are saying it will take years to repair infrastructure Stock Prices have been at record highs at Sale Yards for cattle and sheep – lambs making up to $280/hd for 20kg CW and Cattle Steers made $2860/hd for 660kg/LW On the political front we are being continually harassed by authorities about grazing management particularly

in winter. Our Government is wanting to put all water whether in a lake or tap in some new scheme where someone owns it and everyone pays for it. As you can imagine, there are a fair amount of unhappy people around! Not sure where it will all end and I don't think anyone else does either.

Fuel, food, materials – the lot have gone up in price dramatically just about taking away any momentum the good prices we are receiving at present. It is partly driven by Ukraine conflict, which I disagree with 110% My wife Sharon and I have had a change of farming styles from the expansive High Country to the Lowlands of Canterbury It was a decision that was difficult to make, as my life has basically been around the Hills except for a couple of

stints on more intensive places but still had some form of hill. But nothing lasts forever and my wee legs are not as strong as they once were!

So far it I love the change. We work for Angus Breeders, Andrew & Anna Laing – ‘Sudeley Angus and Sheep Genetics.’ They have a 1400ha Hill place on the Banks Peninsula near Akaroa, a lovely spot with a micro climate, but can get very dry. It is all hills no flat so I still get my hill fix when needed to help over there, haha.

We have a recorded Romdale stud and Texel and Suftex all DNA tested as with cattle herd.

We also grow Peas for export for human consumption and Beans as well The Block I manage is only 139ha 90% irrigated with Rotor Rainers, an old system but reliable. The soils are extremely good with very high Fertility P of 40-50 .

It is very intensive, starting with 250-300 Stud yearlings wintered on Fodder Beet and Kale May- Sep. In August 450 Early lambing terminal sired

ewes arrive to lamb and be finished here. By Xmas, all lambs and ewes will be killed, with the lambs weighing 16.5-18kg/CW. Three hundred rams lambs start winter here as well, then go out on grazing as growth slows.

R2 (the TB status) Stud Heifers arrive early August to Calve and record, if the season allows, they stay till weaning in late March.

Yearling Bulls 70, stay here till 2yr old sale in June, with the off types (30 odd) being sold in October as 15mth old as well as another 30 heifers not retained in stud. Replacements go back to Hill farm for summer once off crop early September.

Balage is made in period of October to December – 300 Bales.

In January lambs from the Hill property come down here to be fattened as many as we can, 16.5 -18.5 CW. till focus shifts to Cattle again feed bank is built for 2yr Bulls ready for sale So if ya want a trip away with wife to buy a quality Angus Bull and a good look around come to NZ, we will see ya right!

Photo Credits: MUSTER Anna Munro Photography

Alex Brewster Rotmell Farm Dunkeld Perthshire

FARM FACTS Farmer:

Alex Brewster & wife Jane

Location:

Dunkeld

Farm:

Area:

Sheep:

Cattle:

A

s the hungry months were left behind us again, we moved from March into April and for the next 6 weeks it generally felt like ground hogg day - Eat, sleep, rotate, repeat!

Spring sprung early and we got stock moving quickly into grazing rotations without the need for any additional conserved forage as the grass was growing quickly in front of them. The cows haven’t stopped shifting, every day’s been a fresh break and the calves have been born as we’ve grazed across hill sides.

Drift lambing has never quite worked as well as drift calving does. So, 5 days pre lambing the twin ewe are set stocked at 10ha for the next 3 weeks and then quite quickly mobbed back up into rotation again when the young families are well bonded. The singles were moved every 4 to 5 days to fresh grass leaving the lambed ones behind, other than that very hot weekend late April this worked well.

Feeding livestock in a growing environment is pretty easy, meanwhile

18

Poultry:

back in humanity the debate continues to rage over food security and the environment. The reality is that we haven’t got one if we haven’t got the other. The crux of this argument is simple; it all relies on soil and currently the world is losing 24 billion tons of topsoil each year through erosion. So why argue over a secondary principle when we are not addressing the primary problem? How does humanity and our impact on land use, initially reduce and then stop soil erosion before implementing a framework to build and increase topsoil globally.

At a local level with the accelerated increase in land value, every increasing cost in food and fibre production along with timber extraction, begs the question, why would we want to create an impact that could possibly lead to soil erosion. That mirky brown colour of soil washing down a burn or a river is somebody’s balance sheet being eroded, our primary resource dissipating!

That time-honoured saying – “Invest in land, they’re not making any more of

Deer: Jane: Staff:

Other:

Rotmell - 2450 acres Lude Estates - 6170 acres Meikle Findowie -990acres Rotmell rented from Atholl Estates Lude Estates contract farm Meikle Findowie hourly rate Rotmell 750 Blackface ewes converting using Aberfield tups then Cheviots Lude Estates 850 Cheviot ewes 350 Cheviot cross ewes Rotmell 190 commercial AA cows Operates joint fattening venture with Robert Fleming, Glenluce Lude Estates 100 Highland x White Shorthorn cattle Rotmell 4000 organic free range The Egg Shed, Rotmell market own eggs Meikle Findowie 100 hd Architect

8 full time

Run Powered Pasture - an electric fencing company www.poweredpasture.co.uk Sell beef through MacDonald Butchers, Pitlochry

it,” isn’t strictly true, nor have we carte blanche over it. There is a world beneath our feet held together by bacterial glues and fungal hyphae, pulling micro aggregates into macro aggregates and forming the soil structures and particles that we would recognise with our eyes. The problem is, at its very heart is a micro-biome no longer teaming with microbes, a world

NEW S12 SOLAR ENERGIZER

NE W

349015

The S12 is powerful, compact and reliable.

Suitable for strip grazing and other portable fencing.

£ 449.00

TUMBLE WHEEL 5 UNITS

Mount the S12 on a Ring Top Post and

056388

the earthing is sorted out at the same time.

By using a tumble wheel, one person can move 7 YEARS WARRANTY

00

£ 169.

a fence within a few minutes. Tumble wheels are extremely suitable for strip grazing.

REEL + 500 M PLASTIC WIRE

GALLAGHER BA30 BATTERY ENERGIZER (9/12 V)

WAS £ 15 0 9 0 NOW .

JUST

£ 99 00 .

A WITH NOW Y TTER 49 A B E .

FRE £ 27 H T R WO

The BA30 is suitable for short fences of up to 4 km with light vegetation.

Geared reel with large handle with knuckle guard.

Includes 500 m plastic wire and multi-use gate handle.

356303

061184

Gallagher BA30 Battery energizer

£ 129.00

DUO PACK VIDOFLEX 9 TURBOLINE PLUS

Reel + 500 m wire

was £ 149.00

now £ 99.00

DUO PACK TURBOLINE CORD (WHITE, 2 X 200 METRES)

FRO £ 20 M00 DOW 7.

N O £ 16 T 6. 00

-20%

TurboLine Cord is intended for permanent livestock fences that are longer than 500 metres. TurboLine Cord is woven and therefore does not stretch. That increases the lifespan by 30%.

The best conductivity over long distances. It conducts 40x better than a standard plastic wire. The TurboLine Plus version is more than 50% stronger, and is more visible than the usual plastic wire.

069316

Duo pack Vidoflex 9 200m

£ 59.00

069323

Duo pack Vidoflex 9 400m

£ 109.00

079421

Duo pack Vidoflex 9 1000m

£ 245.00

THE POWER TO FARM

069293 Duo pack Turboline Cord (white 2 x 200 m)

now £ 166.00

ORDER ONLINE AT GALLAGHER.EU B Home delivery

B Dealer pickup (free shipping) B Delivery within 1-3 working days

All pric

www.gallagher.eu

beneath our feet globally that is falling apart and with its demise goes all life in earth.

These underground actors are what created and built soil in the first place, the alkaline glues produced by the earliest bacteria eroded minerals from the base geology, while the acidic glues and growth of later fungi started to bind these small particles together. Over time lichens and mosses were succeeded by the earliest of annual grasses emerging from this crude medium, photosynthesis took place and energy was injected through root aggregated (glucose) into this newly formed soil. With the emergence of a food source other microscopic forms of life evolved, protozoa and nematodes, regulators that controlled the populations of bacteria and fungi. Higher trophic levels above them controlled their populations and over billions of years the soil food web was created. A massive fully integrated biological recycling system that

mobilises minerals and nutrients, that are for the most part stored in a plant available form in what is recognised today as mineral associated organic matter, the living component of soil.

In a bizarre sort of way this is food and the environment integrated as one beneath our feet, a habitat where water particles and oxygen molecules drift down between macro-aggregate in the soil allowing it to breathe and hydrate itself, with microbes busy ingesting each other providing plant available nutrition straight into the root system. When operating at its full capacity and given the peace to do so, everything is fed and watered with no chemicals or artificial inputs. The best of it, is that atmospheric carbon is stabilised and stockpiled in the soil microbiome amidst structured aerobic soil particles teeming with beneficial soil organisms, energising the entire system and building new soil.

MACHINERY RING BENEFITS! Speak to your local Machinery Ring about opportunities when purchasing Case IH tractors, combines and balers.

Healthy soil, food, the environment, natural capita it’s all important and all completely interlinked. There is NO ONE without the other, physically, and metaphorically.

The issue is globally degraded soils and the solution is increasing the biological health of these soils. The mindset of monoculture at every level has got to go and there can be no division on the need to increase plant diversity, to build a more diverse micro-biome in the soil and glue all these issues together.

Losing 24B tons of topsoil globally a year is not sustainable. Therefore, food security and environmental stability within our own borders is paramount.

As every farmer knows, feed security within your own farm gate is important or you’re at the mercy of the markets.

As the politicians may yet discover and farmers can tell them, a hungry mob is hard to quell!

{{ ĒÑ·Ē ­Ē· {Ē »·»­{ “Wherever possible, I want my cattle to be ‘handsfree’ and the strong maternal traits of the Aberdeen-Angus has really helped with this.”

Upcoming Sales

United Auctions Female Sale 10th September Carlisle Autumn Sale 30th September

United Auctions October Bull Sales 16th -17th October HW Angus Matrons Sale, Carlisle 21st October

www.aberdeen-angus.co.uk

EĞǁ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ͕ ŽƵƌ dŽƌƌĂDſƌ ĐůŽƚŚŝŶŐ ƌĂŶŐĞ ĨƵƐĞƐ ƌŝƟƐŚ ŚĞƌŝƚĂŐĞ ǁŝƚŚ ŝŶŶŽǀĂƟǀĞ ŵĂƚĞƌŝĂůƐ͕ ĞŶƐƵƌŝŶŐ ůŽŶŐĞǀŝƚLJ ŝŶ ĞǀĞƌLJ ŐĂƌŵĞŶƚ͘ ĞƐŝŐŶĞĚ ĨŽƌ ƐƵƉƌĞŵĞ ĐŽŵĨŽƌƚ ĂŶĚ ǀĞƌƐĂƟůŝƚLJ͕ ĞĂĐŚ ŐĂƌŵĞŶƚ ƉƌŽǀŝĚĞƐ ŵƵůƟĨƵŶĐƟŽŶĂů ƐŽůƵƟŽŶƐ ĨŽƌ LJŽƵƌ ůŝĨĞƐƚLJůĞ͘

T: 01738 622477

)HDWXUHV 0DGH )URP DQ (FR 5LSVWRS 0DWHULDO ²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²

:DWHUSURRI 'URS /LQHU ²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²

:DWHUSURRI )OHHFH /LQHG &KHVW 3RFNHWV ²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²

'UDZFRUG :DLVW 1HRSUHQH &XIIV ²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²-

/D\HUHG 5HLQIRUFHG 6KRXOGHUV ²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²

'RXEOH 6WRUP )ODS 6FRRS 7DLO ²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²

/DUJH 'HWDFKDEOH $GMXVWDEOH +RRG ²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²

([WHQGHG 6WRUP 3URWHFWLRQ &ROODU ²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²

:DWHUSURRI PP +\GURVWDWLF KHDG :LQGSURRI %UHDWKDEOH PP

WWW.TORRAMOR.COM | TEL:01350727559 | EMAIL: INFO@TORRAMOR.COM |ROTMELL FARM, BALLINLUIG, PITLOCHRY, PERTHSHIRE, PH9 0NU | FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

T

he Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society's Hugh Watson Memorial Award for outstanding service to the Aberdeen-Angus breed has been awarded to Barbara Webster, the recently retired and long serving manager of the society's pedigree livestock services subsidiary, Pedigree Livestock Services (PLS).

The presentation to Barbara was made by the society's president, Angus Stovold, at a lunch in the Royal George Hotel, Perth, following a recent meeting of the Society's council.

Ms Webster has worked for the society for a total of 28 years in two spells – from 1971 to 1980 and from 2002 to the present day – and will continue to work for one day a week following her retirement. She is only the sixth recipient of the prestigious Watson award, which is made in memory of Hugh Watson, one of the great founders of the breed early in the 19th century.

Mr Stovold paid warm tribute to Barbara for her dedication and integrity in delivering the society's market leading performance evaluation scheme following the acquisition of the UK rights for the Australian Breedplan system in 2002.

Breedplan in the UK, under Ms Webster's management and guidance, has proved robust and impartial and has led to significant genetic and performance improvements across multiple traits in the Aberdeen-Angus

22

Barbara's Outstanding Service Recognised

by AA Cattle Society breed and a major reason for the breed's improvement in commercial performance and gaining market share.

From its nadir in the 1980s when the breed's market share had slumped to 7%, the Aberdeen-Angus breed is now back at the top of the tree with registrations of Aberdeen-Angus-sired calves with the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) now the highest of any beef breed in the country.

"Barbara's influence in encouraging breeders to adopt performance recording has been a major factor in the improvement of the Aberdeen-Angus breed," said Mr Stovold. "She has been an outstanding ambassador for the breed."

Ms Webster joined the society's staff in 1971 as an office junior, moving on through shows and sales and later becoming cashier, before leaving in 1980 when her daughter was born. She worked for the family business for six years and in 1986 joined grain marketing company, Lothian Barley, in Fife.

She returned to the pedigree world in 1997 when she joined the pedigree department of auctioneers, UA, being responsible for the production of sale catalogues and helping to organise sales of pedigree sheep and cattle at Stirling and sales and dispersals on-farm throughout the UK and Ireland.

In 2004, she was head-hunted to manage Pedigree Livestock Services,

which was established by the society to provide breeders with an enhanced performance recording system using Breedplan. Ms Webster spent time in Australia learning about the system and visiting pedigree herds, feedlots and AI centres to see how the system worked in practice.

The society was the first in the UK to adopt Breedplan and was later followed by most other beef breed societies, which resulted in PLS providing a service to several other breeds, as well as Aberdeen-Angus.

Barbara has also played a key role in a major long-term genetic project being conducted by Sainsbury's in conjunction with the Queen Elizabeth Castle of Mey Trust's herd in Caithness to identify the best Aberdeen-Angus genetics to improve the carcase quality of AA cross calves from dairy cows.

Her first love has remained Aberdeen-Angus and she pays tribute to those breeders who stuck with the breed through the difficult times and have taken advantage of performance recording through Breedplan to improve their cattle and bring the breed back to its current pre-eminent position in the beef world.

Away from Aberdeen-Angus, Barbara is a prominent breeder and judge of Jacob sheep – which has been an interest for more than 50 years – and her flock has been highly successful in the show ring over the years.

Two Aberdonian Lassies Backed by AA Society

A

s part of their ongoing commitment to the continued progression of the beef sector, Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society has awarded dissertation sponsorship packages to two final year agricultural students.

The successful applicants, Vicki Elder and Megan Cameron from SRUC will receive financial support towards their final year research project, alongside one-to-one mentoring and help in accessing key industry contacts.

Emily Simpson, marketing officer at the AA Cattle Society, says they were delighted to receive so many high calibre applications in theinaugural year and selecting the final recipients was a tough process.

“The two selected students are carrying out strong research projects that will provide valuable insights for our members and may help steer the development of sustainable and profitable beef production systems that are fit for the future,” she explains.

Vicki Elder has been awarded £1000 towards completing her dissertation and will be looking into whether a high or

Galloway Gallery

low input beef production system is better suited to the future of sustainable farming in Scotland.

“With Scottish agriculture moving from the common agricultural policy to a new policy framework, there’s going to be significant change for farmers. It’s likely the new policy will be in-line with the Scottish government’s vision of being a global leader in sustainable and regenerative farming,” she explains.

“With this in mind, I’ve decided to base my dissertation on researching the most sustainable beef farming system based on this new policy. I’ll look at four case-studies and carry out farm audits on these herds, comparing intensive to extensive systems, focusing on the three pillars of sustainable beef production. This involves investigating and comparing economic and environmental performance as well as taking into account the social element of each system,” she says.

Miss Elder adds that she’s excited to work with the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society to carry out research on a topic that she’s passionate about and that crucially, will also provide beneficial

insight for the beef industry.

With another strong application, Megan Cameron has been awarded £500 to support research into the advantages that grazing cattle deliver to soil quality.

“The focus for my dissertation is comparing the micro-organisms in soil from land grazed by cattle with the soil micro-organisms of un-grazed land. To achieve this, soil samples will be taken from a selection of fields, to see which micro-organisms are present under the different treatments.”

“The vision is to understand the benefits cattle have on land and soil quality, as this may provide an opportunity to showcase another positive contribution that the beef industry has to offer.

“I’m excited to start working on this project alongside the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society, as it will be great to have the support from those already in the industry,” she adds.

Miss Simpson says; “We’re excited to see what the research shows and how this will inform the thinking of the sector going forward.”

{{ ĒÑ·Ē ­Ē· {Ē »·»­{ “Wherever possible, I want my cattle to be ‘handsfree’ and the strong maternal traits of the Aberdeen-Angus has really helped with this.”

Upcoming Sales

United Auctions Female Sale 10th September Carlisle Autumn Sale 30th September

United Auctions October Bull Sales 16th -17th October HW Angus Matrons Sale, Carlisle 21st October

www.aberdeen-angus.co.uk

T: 01738 622477

5#.' &#6'5 RAMS OCTOBER

EWE LAMBS SEPTEMBER Hexham Stirling Castle Douglas

Lanark Dumfries Stirling Huntly Hexham Oban St Boswells Dalmally Longtown

OCTOBER

Dingwall

"ZS Ballymena Dingwall Stirling (UA) Perth Ram Society 1 Hexham 1 Oban 1 Dalmally 1 Portree 2 Lanark Shearlings 2 Lanark - Lambs

NOVEMBER

Lanark Fort William

GIMMERS AND EWES SEPTEMBER 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2

Huntly Newton Stewart Oban Stirling (Cal) Castle Douglas Ayr St Boswells Dalmally

2 2 2 2 2 2 30

Dumfries Forfar Stirling (UA) Loughash Farm Sale Lanark Longtown Hexham

OCTOBER )FYIBN Dingwall 1 Lanark

WETHER LAMBS AUGUST

Weekly sales of store lambs held at all auctions.

SEPTEMBER Stirling (UA) Show Oban Show 1 Dalmally Show 4UJSMJOH $BM 4IPX 1 Dingwall Show 2 St Boswells Show Lanark Show 25 Forfar Show

OCTOBER 19 Longtown Show

BLACKFACE SHEEP BREEDERS’ ASSOCIATION Contact: Aileen McFadzean 07768820405 aileen@scottish-blackface.co.uk www.scottish-blackface.co.uk

T

he Scottish National Sheep Dog Trials were held recently at Dessertland Farm, Thornhill, Dumfries, courtesy of Roy Weir. His South Country Cheviots ran in the Brace event, while three quarter Texel ewes were liberated for the Singles.

The course was set on undulating grassland, with a dip near the start post. The sheep were fetched on the diagonal across the face, before heading through the first gate, into the dip and round the trialler.

Neil McVicar and Balemund Pete led the way at the end of day one, sitting at the top of the leader board on an impressive, hard to beat, 194 points.

Unlike other national sporting events, competitors do not need to be born in the country to be able to run at a National Sheep Dog Trial or to represent Scotland at the International, so Swedish lass Matilda Young, who lives and works in Angus, was hot on his heels with a score of 190.

South Country Cheviot sheep farmer, Billy Common of Crossdykes Farm, Eskdalemuir tallied 188 points with Grit and renowned trialler Iain Brownlie and Don followed on 186, tied with Ayrshire shepherd and sheep dog enthusiast Iain Lockhart and Kemi Sia. Day 2 saw Duncan Robertson teamed with Moss put in a classy performance to push McVicar out of pole position, by a point – 195. Irishman Chris Toner, sneaked into fifth place

Scottish National Team Back row, left to right; Billy Common, Eskdalemuir, Neil Gillon, Dailly, Ayrshire, Murray Common (Young Handler), Eskdalemuir, Ian Lockhart, Dalrymple, Ayrshire, Alan Wilkie, Angus, Ian Brownlie, Fife, Chris Toner, Lochgoilhead, David Murray, Shetland, Michael Gallacher, Perthshire Ian MacDonald, Staffin, Isle of Skye, George Gardner, Lanarkshire and Seumas Campbell, Balnacnoc, Isle of Skye.

Front Row:Neil McVicar, Argyllshire, Duncan Robertson, Langholm, Willie Welsh, Dalmellington, Ayrshire, Ellie Nilsson, Sweden and Perthshire, Matilda Young,Swedish and Angus, Scott Macaulay, Isle of Lewis, now Crieff and Michael Shearer, Caithness. and Western Islander Scott Macaulay, head shepherd at Connachan, Crieff for Mary MacCall Smith came 8th ahead of Michael Shearer and Neil Gillon.

It was late on, on the third day that a near perfect run rumbled the leader board. Willie Welsh, who shepherds Dalcairney Estate outside Dalmellington, Ayrshire took out the Scottish National with 8 year old Cap (see interview on following page).

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Res.

Mr. W. Welsh Mr. D. Robertson Mr. N. F. McVicar Mr. M. Gallagher Mrs. M. Young Mr. J. W. Common Mr. C. Toner Mr. I. M. Brownlie Mr. I. Lockhart Mr. S. Macaulay Mr. M. C. Shearer Mr. D. N. Gillon Miss. E. Nilsson Mr. A. Wilkie Mr. D. J. Murray Mr. I. MacDonald

Cap Moss Balemund Pete Val Jess Grit Tammi Don Kemi Sia Mirk Helian Rab Boss Midderry Kid Mot Sweep Ben

Chevi SSheep Soci Cheviot Society Sou Co South Country Cheviots C

Sa of Sal Sale o Ewes Ewes, Gi Gimmer & Ewe L Gimmers La Lamb Lambs th September 20 2022 202 Se Septe Sept Septemb at Longtown at L Lo Lon Long Longt 2288th Sale of R Ram at Loc Rams Lock Locke Lockerbie 1100th Octo Octob October Octobe Oc For more m information infor contact c Ro McTurk on Rob 0184 331 758 01848 75 or email emai secretary@cheviotsheep.org Websi ebsite – www.cheviotsheep.org

25

Willie Wins Scottish National Title

W

illie Welsh who shepherds the 3000acre Dalcairney Estate on the outskirts of Dalmellington Ayrshire took out the Scottish National title with 8-year-old Cap recently.

Willie started out his shepherding career at neighbouring Auchenroy in 1989 and then moved to Dalcairney, which was on the same estate, owned by Mark Gibson, five years later.

His first foray in the National team was in the Millennium with Peg, who he bought as an 8-week old pup from the late Alison McNeil. They took third place in the International in Cumbria.

Three years later teamed with Buff he came 11th in the International at Stranraer and was reserve with Buff in 2005 at Campbeltown.

Since the National Willie has checked out his run on video, finding it interesting to see where he scored points. “I lost most points on the drive,

26

losing a couple on the first leg and return to the shedding ring.”

Cap is bred from Aled Owen’s Llangwm Cap, (who has won the International) and Mark Jones’s June.

“Sandy McCullough from Dalmellington bought Cap initially and he has done me well,” commented Willie, who runs a sheep dog school along with his Uncle Jock Welsh on Monday nights.

“It started quite a few years back, when a shepherdess at Dumfries House asked Jock to come and give her lessons.

It snowballed from there.”

Around 20 beginners and advanced handlers from kids to OAP’s turn up at Mossdale Farm on the Dalmellington – Carsphairn road to receive instruction from the Welsh stalwarts. The novices soak up Jock’s advice, before advancing out of the pen and down the field to Fraser Shennan.

Once the canine is responding well to the handlers’ commands, they are upgraded to the advanced section across the road under the auspices of current Scottish National Winner – Willie Welsh.

Willie has judged the Scottish National in Aberdeen in 2013 and the International last year in Aberystwyth.

When Willie started out trialling there were plenty competitions in the area, but there are less now. He has to travel further at weekends and has been as far as Glen Lyon to Northumberland.

Working with 2000 Blackface sheep, keeps Willie, Cap and his other dogs in tune. He admitted that Cap doesn’t travel well and dislikes sitting for hours in the pick-up. So he will let him out for a run at home on the morning of the trial and drive down. If they qualify for the Supreme, Willie and Cap will stay with friends on farm a short drive from Castle Howard.

FVR cRM\ ORVW]Q ReRah \MPVW]R b^ZQ M]Q bRaeWPR PMaaWRQ ^dc͙

Seumas Secures Scottish National Brace

A

full time crofter from Balnacnoc, Uig made his mark at the Scottish National Sheep Dog Trails at Thornhill, Dumfries recently.

Seumas Campbell took out the Brace Title running his homebred, 9 year old bitch Bell in tandem with 4y.o. Queen he bought as a pup from Iain Wilkie.

Admitting that it is only the second time that he has run a dog in a Brace competition, Seumas is delighted to have earned a Scottish Cap. “Most trials just run single dogs and it is only at the National and International events that you can run two dogs in a Brace.”

Seumas gave Bell a head start to the left 10 seconds before Queen, but they lifted the sheep well together. “The first drive hurdle was a good tight turn, but they sped up again on the drive. Most points would have been lost at the second hurdle. Queen split the sheep in half and after some trouble they were penned,” shared the canny crofter who qualified at Bute with Queen in 2019 for the World Trials, which were unfortunately cancelled.

28

The Fairy Glen team drew on 208 points, with 2019 Brace Champion, George Gardner, but with superior out bye work, they edged ahead to take the trophy back to Skye. He is the second Sgiathanach (person from Skye) to have his name engraved on the silverware, as the late KC MacKinnon, Bernisdale secured it four times from 1989.

Seumas, who has been working dogs since he was 11 only started running at trials in 2016.

He took over the family croft, which lies at the top of the Fairy Glen, renowned as an enchanting landscape and tourist hotspot.

“Balnacnoc would be one of the smallest common grazings on Skye, some 300 hectares, but I am lucky in that I have three of the four crofts (about 40 acres each) and the run of the hill,” explained Seumas.

The holding is stocked with Blackface sheep and 15 cows, mated with an Angus bull. Seumas buys his Blackface tups at Dalmally, but admits that he and his father have used Swale tups for hybrid vigour for over fifty years.

Seumas along with wife Maggie, supplement their income by renting out a couple of houses as holiday lets – one in Uig and one in Portree. “We advertise on Airbnb. Through their website they offer an Airbnb Experience www.airbnb.co.uk/experiences/623459 running Sheep Dog demonstrations – Skye Collies,” he explained.

“I take 10 people at a time and give them a short talk on the history of the area the importance of the working dog over the centuries in different working environments followed by a demonstration of the working dog and an opportunity for one from the group to try to work my dogs!’ stated the blurb on the website.

This gives the Balnacnoc dogs plenty of practice working together before competing at the weekend trials on the mainland. For the past six years Seumas and his canine cohorts have travelled across the country competing at trials. “Dunoon, earlier this year, was the furtherst south I had ventured to run before the Scottish Nationals in Dumfries & Galloway. Badenloch to the North and East Aberdeenshire have also

swaledale sheep No 1 Hill Breed for Maternal qualities Prolificacy

Milking ability Calm Natured

Breeding pure & crossbred female replacements ssociati s a DALE o

bre e d S W er

LE

SH

n EEP

A

female sales 2022 Bentham

27 Sept – All Classes th

................................................

Hawes 20th Sept – Ewes 3rd Oct – Ewes th 8 Oct – Gimmer Shearlings & Gimmer Lambs 11th Oct – Ewes 25th Oct – Gimmer Lambs

................................................

J36, Kendal

23rd Sept – Ewes & Gimmer Shearlings

................................................

Kirkby Stephen 30th Sept – All Classes

................................................

Middleton-in-Teesdale 16th Sept – Gimmer Lambs 26th Sept – Ewes & Gimmer Shearlings

................................................

St Johns Chapel 24th Sept – All Classes

................................................

For further information, contact the Auction Marts directly.

All catalogues will be available at www.swaledale-sheep.com

ram sale dates 2022

Ballybofey & Stranorlar Mart, Ireland

16th September All Classes of Rams & Females Contact: Carol Gillespie 00353 86 370 3140

.........................................................

Ruswarp, near Whitby All Classes of Rams - 7th October Contact: Michelle Fawbert 07756 767499

.........................................................

St John’s Chapel, Weardale All Classes of Rams - 11th October Contact: Fay Johnson 07500 800388

.........................................................

Middleton in Teesdale All Classes of Rams - 12th October Contact: Caroline Colling 07919 440430

.........................................................

Kirkby Stephen Aged Rams & Ram Lambs - 19th October Shearling Rams - 20th – 21st October Contact: Wilf Buckle 07855 103575

.........................................................

Hawes Shearling Rams - 26th – 27th October Aged Rams & Ram Lambs - 3rd November Contact: David Alderson 01748 886120

.........................................................

f Swaledale Sheep Breeders Association

For further information, contact Rachel Buckle (Head Secretary)

07958 540 749 O rachel@swaledale-sheep.com O swaledale-sheep.com been programmed into the Satnav.

Carloway man Scott Macaulay, who shepherds at Connachan, Crieff, qualified in tenth position in the Singles with Mirk. “It was an exceptionally well put together trial, with challenging Texel cross sheep,” he said. It is his second time in the Scottish Team.

Shetlander Dave Murray and Sweep

were fifteenth, while, Ian “Staffin’ MacDonald and Ben were sixteenth taking reserve position in the singles.

Ian, who is self-employed, running a groundworks business and a croft near Digg, on the Trotternish Peninsula, organises the Staffin Trial as part of the Hebridean Circuit.

All four Islanders will be

representing Scotland at the International at Castle Howard, Yorkshire from 9th to 11th September and will be members of the 22 strong Scottish Team travelling to the ISDS World Sheep Dog Trials at Gill Hall Estate, Dromore, Co Down, Northern Ireland in September 2023.

29

Sheep Game Takes Out Senior British Isles Shearer of the Year

The Shearing Detective

O

ver the past year The Sheep Game has gone viral, with over 141 000 followers on You Tube, up to 983 000 views on individual videos and a guest presenter slot on the farming programme Landward.

At the beginning of the shearing season I caught up with Cameron Wilson, aka Cammy, while he was in action, behind the handpiece shearing on a property close to Ayr Market.

I suggested just taking photos and doing a telephone interview when he wasn’t flat out, but he managed to talk while he pushed the Scotch Mules down the porthole with relative ease.

Cammy grew up surrounded by sheep, as his father shepherded at Caprington, Kilmarnock. “My Dad’s advice when I was growing up was to get a good job with a pension.”

On leaving school Cammy was offered a place at Heriot Watt University, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, to study

30

Actuarial Maths. For the uninitiated – an actuary is a business professional who deals with the measurement and management of risk and uncertainty.

“I thought about it and worked out that I would be in about £70K of debt after six years of study. The SNP had just got in around that time and were taking on 1000 more police officers, so I applied.”

Glasgow City Centre was the first posting for this country bumpkin copper in 2009! “It was a real eye opener. I was taken down Argyll Street, where the prostitutes hang out and was fully expecting Julia Roberts style, but they were mostly junkies with no teeth!”

Following an 8-year stint in the City Centre, Cammy then joined the CID and worked at Govan for four years.

When questioned on his most stand out case he said: “I’d just come on a Saturday night shift and we had been given a photo-fit of a guy who had

by Eilidh MacPherson attacked and raped multiple times. He was assaulting Glasgow University students as they walked home from a nightclub.

“Our mission that night was to try and find him. I spotted him in a doorway almost immediately, but as I was known for being a bit of a joker, the lassie I was working with didn’t believe me. When we eventually turned the car was no sign of him – he had just disappeared. We then noticed a light come on upstairs in the tenement where he had been standing. We caught him that night. It was a great result and we were really buzzing.”

“We had a similar outcome with a cold case. They are reviewed every five years. A man had been ‘missing’ for 40 years. With a bit of door knocking, by pure chance, someone had seen him that afternoon! He had changed his name and had a fake passport” To earn some extra money to

FARM FACTS Farmer:

Cameron Wilson

Location:

Kilmarnock, Ayrshire

Farming: Area:

Sheep: Other:

various rented fields 1000 acres rented 1000 ewes

The Sheep Game Scanning

RACEWELL SHEEP HANDLERS Handle your stock with ease and make weighing, drafting, tagging, dagging and dosing easier!

The Racewell HD4 Sheep Handler from Te Pari takes the hard work out of sheep handling.

It can catch, weigh and draft your sheep automatically or by remote control. Ą 4 way auto drafting

See the Racewell HD4 in action on The Sheep Game YouTube Channel!

Ą Easy to use, one person operation

Ą Optional side tilt for crutching and foot work Ą Optional trailer system

Call Giles for more information!

Te Pari Products (UK) Ltd - Errol, PH2 7SP UK

Call us for more information 0800 249 4568 or go to www.tepari.com

supplement his copper’s salary, Cammy (aged 23) started to shear with the Andrew brothers – James and John, who farm near Maybole. His top tally to date is 470 on all sorts, but it was tallied in James Andrew hours – dark to dark – not the Kiwi style 8 hr day!

“James Andrew is my hero – he never has a cross word and gets by on four hours sleep a night!”

Cammy got hooked and started competing at the shearing shows and now has his own shearing run in Ayrshire. “During lockdown the Kiwis couldn’t get over so I took on a 22 000 sheep run in Northumberland for a

couple of years.”

His aim at the beginning of this season was to take out the Senior British Isles Shearer of the Year title and move up to the Open. He duly did the former finishing the show season on 42 points – just one point ahead of Stuart Robson and Lewis Harkness on 41! And he ended up in the Scottish National Final at the Royal Highland Show.

Back in 2015 he bought his first sheep, some Texel hoggs and has gradually built his flock to 1000 head.

They graze on seasonal lets mainly around Kilmarnock. He feels fortunate to have a good base at Caprington,

where his father, who passed away when Cammy was 25, worked.

Cammy started taking videos and posting them on Snap Chat and then You Tube as ‘The Sheep Game.’

“I just wanted to share my passion and enthusiasm for sheep and have a bit of craic – I never expected it to take off like it has,” commented Cammy.

With so many followers he decided to produce and sell a range of merchandise including hoodies, t-shirts, caps, jackets and shearing clothing. It proved so successful, last April he was able to make the move and leave the Police Force, going fulltime sheeping –

RESEARCH PROVEN

ENER Y ENERG HIGH ENERGY HI EXTRA HIGH EXTRA FOR EWES, GROWING LAMBS AND RAMS ALL YEAR ROUND. Helps ewes attain the ideal body condition for mating intake and digestibility, improving energy intake in late pregnancy forage Stimulates Reduce the risk of Twin Lamb disease Optimises lamb birth weight to ensure healthy, vigorous lambs 16ME MJ/kg DM - Extra High in energy Costs only 3-5p per ewe per day

+44 016973 32592 info@crystalyx-global.com

Þ Find your nearest stockist at crystalyx- global.com

Crystalyx UK

farming/shearing and scanning.

This summer The Sheep Game took a stand selling their merchandise at the Royal Highland and Yorkshire Shows and he admits freely that he makes more online than he does shearing and scanning. And he can nearly make his full police wage in a summer shearing sheep!

Cammy has been blown away by the spin offs and support he has received from the agricultural industry, some by sponsorship, others in products.

“It is unbelievable the doors that have opened – New Zealand companies Betacraft, Swandri and Te Pari. CF Moto, Heiniger, Tarff Valley, Crystalyx, and David & Robertson to name a few.”

Cammy met his partner Lizzy

Thomson through shearing circles and they now have a one-year-old son.

“When my Dad died I questioned what I wanted in life and what drives me. How do I want to bring my kids up?”

“I would like to own my own farm or have a good tenancy and I would love my children to have a good lifestyle like I did with both parents there.”

Spending time in the Police Force gave Cammy a new perspective. He reads motivational and self help books, rating Atomic Habits by James Clear highly.

“Don’t set yourself goals but build systems, work hard and make money,” says this highly motivated enterprising entrepreneur.

British Wool – training the next generation of shearers and wool handlers

For over 20 years British Wool has provided four stages of shearing certificates enabling UK shearers to safely and effectively shear British wool.

Providing an exclusive training offer to the young farmer movement to help encourage more young farmers into the field.

Bronze to Gold courses in shearing and wool handling are now accredited by Highfield – a global leader in work-based and apprenticeship qualifications.

Working in partnership with key stakeholders – supporting the UK shearing sector.

To find out more call us on 01274 688666 or email shearing@britishwool.org.uk

britishwool.org.uk Together we’re growing something special.

WORKWEAR YOU CAN RELY ON!

Now available in the UK, Betacraft are proud to launch their top-selling ISO940 rainwear in a NEW Eco range (made from recycled fabrics that are Global Recycled Standard (GRS) certified).

In each Parka approximately 25 plastic bottles are used in the fabric production process and roughly 2 kilos of recycled Nylon yarn are needed for the Nylon Ripstop outer fabric (the Ripstop fabric provides advanced durability).

Also, Betacraft garments carry a lifetime manufacturing guarantee so you can have peace of mind and confidence in the quality and longevity of their clothing (guarantee obviously excludes general wear and tear).

The new range includes better features because Betacraft make improvements by listening to their customers. For example, the dome clasps have been replaced with super-strong (and discreet) magnetic closures plus the fitting has been enhanced by introducing new leg gussets along with closer-fitting parkas and trousers.

The new ISO940 has an improved waterhead rating of 25 000 – making it one of the most waterproof/rainwear options in the workwear sector.

*40

1SFNJVN RVBMJUZ SBJOXFBS

$0%& #$' 4*;&4 4 9-

b FY 7"5

$0%& #$' 4*;&4 4 9-

b FY 7"5

$0%& #$' 4*;&4 4 9-

b FY 7"5

$POUBDU VT UP GJOE ZPVS OFBSFTU TUPDLJTU

8)&/ 5)& (0*/( (&54 506() *40 (&54 (0*/(

%BJSZ 4QBSFT -UE

JOGP!EBJSZTQBSFT DP VL

.",*/( 5)& 065%0034 &"4:

by Eilidh MacPherson

Diversification the Name of the Game

A

s many farmers do – they look over the fence to see what their neighbours are up to – Andy Woodburn, of Netherwood Farm is no exception to the rule!

Davie Cooper at Tardoes, Muirkirk has been successfully running Herdwick ewes on a low input system for a number of years.

“We had just bought 2500 acres – Middlefield and Linburn Farms, from Angus Estate – which neighbours Netherwood,” explained Andy, “And we purchased 200 Herdwick ewes to stock it.”

That initial year the tups were run on the hill with the ewes, ranch style, being checked once a week. It resulted in 189 lambs coming off that heft, 94.5%, which is phenomenal on any hill, with virtually no shepherding.

When they turned five years old, Andy covered the aged ewes with a Beltex tup, keeping the 66 scanned for twins in by on grassy parks and

36

shunting the singles back to the hill. It is a system that works well. “They are hanging up as ‘U’ grades, which is unreal out of Herdwick ewes.”

Five hundred Herdwicks now run on Netherwood, matching the original Blackface flock numbers.

The Woodburns tend to sell their female Blackfaces privately, with 90% going to regular buyers in Northern Ireland.

“The Scrapie debacle was a piece of nonsense and we had some sheep here for a year and a half before they got away. In my opinion it was a complete waste of time. The other disease – OPA – is more of a problem. We cull any stragglers. As yet we have not tested for OPA but are thinking about it.”

For the past decade the team at Netherwood have been selling their own beef and lamb from an on farm butchery.

Livestock is killed at Wishaw then hung chilled on farm for 3-4 days for the lamb and 3 weeks for beasts. A butcher

from Biggar then breaks it down and uses the flank for mince, burgers and square sausage.

“We used to kill Belgian Blue and Limousin cattle but now, due to popular demand for more flavour, we sell Galloway and Highland beef.”

FARM FACTS Farmer:

Andy Woodburn

Location:

Muirkirk, Ayrshire

Farming:

5#.' &#6'5

Netherwood Farm

Area:

RAMS

4500 acres owned All LFA

Cattle:

OCTOBER

60 cows, including pure Limousin & Belgian Blue Highlands to Shorthorn bull

Sheep:

EWE LAMBS SEPTEMBER

500 Blackface ewes 500 Herdwick ewes

Staff:

Hexham Stirling Castle Douglas

one full time employee one part-time

Grass:

grazings at Coylton, Mauchline & Hamilton

Crops:

Rape for game cover

Other:

On farm butchers shop selling beef & lamb Holiday cottages Rents sheds out to Brannach Olann and a joinery business Biomass boilers

Lanark Dumfries Stirling Huntly Hexham Oban St Boswells Dalmally Longtown

OCTOBER

Dingwall

"ZS Ballymena Dingwall Stirling (UA) Perth Ram Society 1 Hexham 1 Oban 1 Dalmally 1 Portree 2 Lanark Shearlings 2 Lanark - Lambs

NOVEMBER

Lanark Fort William

GIMMERS AND EWES SEPTEMBER 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2

Huntly Newton Stewart Oban Stirling (Cal) Castle Douglas Ayr St Boswells Dalmally

2 2 2 2 2 2 30

Dumfries Forfar Stirling (UA) Loughash Farm Sale Lanark Longtown Hexham

OCTOBER )FYIBN Dingwall 1 Lanark

WETHER LAMBS AUGUST

Weekly sales of store lambs held at all auctions.

SEPTEMBER Stirling (UA) Show Oban Show 1 Dalmally Show 4UJSMJOH $BM 4IPX 1 Dingwall Show 2 St Boswells Show Lanark Show 25 Forfar Show

OCTOBER 19 Longtown Show

BLACKFACE SHEEP BREEDERS’ ASSOCIATION Contact: Aileen McFadzean 07768820405 aileen@scottish-blackface.co.uk www.scottish-blackface.co.uk

PLEASED TO SUPPLY TAGS TO NETHERWOOD FARM

Combi® Medium Primary and secondary

All prices exclude VAT & delivery charges

Perfect if you need a smaller primary tag

SET Tags Breeding pairs from

£1.12

Slaughter tag from

Excellent Retention

FREE REPLACEMENT

89p

CATTLE & SHEEP TAGS FOR LIFE - EVEN WHEN SOLD

68p

NORTH 07788 209 438 jane.thomson@shearwell.co.uk

T&Cs apply - Full details online

SOUTH 07714 744 686 james.hickson@shearwell.co.uk

CONTACT THE TEAM 01643 841611

www.shearwell.co.uk

Andrew (Jnr) buys in Highland stots as forward stores straight off farm from all over the country.

Regular customers travel from a 25-mile radius to buy at the shop and deliveries are also made.

No advertising is required as there are plenty customers for the 8 head of cattle and 50+ lambs that go through the outlet annually. Some mutton is also sold, with 2-year-old wether meat being mixed with lamb for the burgers.

All sheep stock on this Ayrshire hill farm is fattened on good dairy farm grazings at Hamilton, Coylton and Mauchline, with very few finished at home.

Just before the Royal Highland Show, where Andy was judging the Blackface Sheep, they had 173 organic cross Herdwick wethers away to Vivers at Annan, grading R3L & R3H, averaging 20.2kgs at £6.70/kg. These lambs were born from the 7th April.

Andy, who won Blackface section at the Royal Highland Show on three occasions, admitted that since they bought the estate 15 years ago, they no

longer have the time to show.

“In farming the more income coming in from other sources the better,” says this enterprising farmer, whose son, also Andy was involved in Renewable Energy before he came home to farm.

Living up to the ‘Woodburn’ name, the Netherwood team will not be affected by the huge hike in fuel bills, as they have five wood-burning Biomass boilers across the holding! “We buy in raw wood and have a chap chip it.”

There are also six small turbines on the property, which are linked into the National Grid.

For the past two decades the Woodburns have acted as a depot and housed the wool from Irish Wool Merchants, Texacloth now rebranded Brannach Olann. “Originally they were with Willie Anderson at Upperwell Wood, but his shed got too small!”

Several holiday cottages add to the diversified income at Netherwood.

Pedigree beef production is yet another major string to the bow of this farming family, with Limousin and Belgian Blue breeds to the fore.

Herdwick Sheep Breeders’ Association Annual Sales 2022 Mitchells Livestock Auction, Lakeland Livestock Centre, Cockermouth, CA13 0QQ Contact 01900 822016 Draft Ewes Friday 30th September 2022 Annual "Keswick show & sale” of Herdwick Tups Saturday 1st October 2022

Harrison & Hetherington, Broughton-In-Furness Mart, Station Road, Broughton-in-Furness, LA20 6HG Contact Bryan Knowles 07835 764535 Tups Tuesday 27th September Ewes Tuesday 4th October

Herdwicks also available at North West Auctions Junction 36 Crooklands, Penrith

Auction Mart and CCM Auctions Skipton in varioussales in late Sept and October.

38

Senior champion at the May Bull Sales at Carlisle with Netherwood Pablo which went on to sell for 14 000gns is the most recent success.

“I sell a lot of bulls at home around the £4000 - £5000 mark, but if I have a special one and find it hard to value I’ll take it to auction. That is the first time in five years that I’ve been in the bull ring. We secured reserve that day and sold to 9500gns.”

J&M Anderson High Kilbride Farm Stewarton KA3 3EP 07795511315

farmsupplies@live.co.uk https://thecoostail.com

3XUFKDVHV 6DOHV )DUP )LQGHU 6HUYLFH AgrLFXOWXUDO 7HQDQFLHV Succession Planning Development (VWDWHV Renewable Energy Telecoms.

DALES SOLICITORS LLP 01563 820216 www.dalesllp.co.uk land@scotlandfarms.co.uk 18 Wallace Street, Galston, Ayrshire, KA4 8HP info@dalesllp.co.uk Grown in AYRSHIRE - Serving SCOTLAND Follow us on Twitter @Dalessolicitors

Down to Earth Advice

Andy and his wife of 52 years, Mary, who does the computerised record keeping and bookwork, using Farm Solutions software and mans the shop have no intentions of retirement or slowing down in any way any time soon.

And as to looking over the fence – there really is no need, as the Woodburn’s are very successfully ploughing their own furrow!

NORTH COUNTRY CHEVIOT SHEEP SOCIETY

The Quality Hill Breed

OCT

SEP

AUG

MAIN EWE & RAM SALES 26

Monmouthshire Livestock Centre, Monmouthshire

3&4 9

*PLEASE NOTE NEW SALE DAY*

2 Beatties Pedigree Livestock Centre, Co Tyrone 9 Kelso Ram Sales, Kelso Harrison & Hetherington Ltd, Lockerbie 14 16 Aberdeen & Northern Marts, Caithness 19 Aberdeen & Northern Marts, Caithness 19 NSA Builth Wells Ram Sale, Builth 20 & 21 Harrison & Hetherington Ltd, Lockerbie 24 Dingwall & Highland Marts, Dingwall 24 Lloyd, Williams & Hughes, Bryncir 28 C & D marts, Longtown United Auctions, Lairg Clitheroe Auction Marts, Clitheroe

20 & 21 Dingwall & Highland Marts, Dingwall

SEP

25

Dingwall & Highland Marts, Dingwall

1 & 15 Harrison & Hetherington Ltd, St Boswells 6 United Auctions, Lairg 8, 9 & 15 Dingwall & highland Marts, Dingwall AUG SEP

TH COUNT OR

10 13

C & D Marts, Longtown

United Auctions, Huntly C & D Marts, Longtown

N

23

EP SOCIE T HE

CHEVIOT S RY

CHEVIOT MULE SALES

Y

AUG

MAIN LAMB SALES

Corinna Cowin | 07834 817 710 | secretary@nc-cheviot.co.uk

www.nc-cheviot.co.uk

|

#NothingCanCompare

HARDY | VERSATILE | PROFITABLE | AFFORDABLE

- 'ƌŽǁŝŶŐ ǁŝƚŚ ŝƚƐ ŵĞŵďĞƌƐ ƐŝŶĐĞ ϭϵϵϲ -

^ & Θ ^ hZ D Z< d/E' K& WZ/D ͕ ^dKZ Θ Z /E' ^dK < )DUP 6WRFN 6FRWODQG /WG LV D IDUPHU RZQHG OLYHVWRFN PDUNHWLQJ &R-RSHUDWLYH GHGLFDWHG WR PD[LPLVLQJ UHWXUQV WR OLYHVWRFN SURGXFHUV

WƌŝŵĞ >Ăŵď Θ ĂƩůĞ WƌŽĐƵƌĞŵĞŶƚ

40

&Ăƌŵ ƚŽ &Ăƌŵ ^ƚŽƌĞ ĂƩůĞ Θ ^ŚĞĞƉ

,ĂƐƐůĞ &ƌĞĞ Θ WƌŽŵƉƚ WŝĐŬƵƉ

WƌŽŵƉƚ ^ WĂLJŵĞŶƚ

dƌĂŶƐƉĂƌĞŶƚ WƌŝĐŝŶŐ Θ ZĞƉŽƌƟŶŐ

džƉĞƌŝĞŶĐĞĚ Θ dƌƵƐƚĞĚ &ŝĞůĚ ^ƚĂī

WŚŽŶĞ ϬϭϳϱϬ ϳϮϯϯϲϲ ǁǁǁ͘ĨĂƌŵƐƚŽĐŬ͘ŽƌŐ͘ƵŬ

A New Model We believe there is a simpler and fairer way to work together with wool farmers, and that’s why we are challenging the traditional UK wool sourcing systems.

GALASHIELS: 15th June through to the 28th of July PERTH: 18th June through to the 25th September 07836 547987 MUIRKIRK: 1st July through till end of September 01290 661258 HUNTLY: 4th August through to the 12th of August 07836 547987 LAIRG: 18th August through to the 26th August 07836 547987 Please phone to book your wool in to each depot.

If you would like to supply Brannach Olann with your wool please contact Alan Walsh: (+44) 7836 547987 (Scotland, Ireland & Wales) Tom Watson (+44) 7950 314319 (England)

41

Shearing records

A

big challenge has been thrown out to New Zealand's fastest shearers after the shattering of a British record twice in a week by two guns each with about a decade of experience in New Zealand.

The ultimate came on August 19 when 28-year-old Welsh shearer Lloyd Rees shore 902 lambs in nine hours at Blaenbwch Farm, near Builth Wells, in Wales It was the first time an average of more than 100 an hour has been exceeded in any official World, British or other record attempt, on target from an also record-breaking two-hour run of 203, 5am to breakfast at 7am, followed by succeeding 1hr 45mins runs of 174, 171, 177 and 177 to the finish at 5pm.

He averaged 35.92 seconds a lamb caught, shorn and despatched as Rees beat the previous record of 881 set by English shearer Nick Greaves, now 27, during a two-stand record with brother-in-law and Welsh shearer Llyr Jones in Staffordshire on August 12.

Greaves had runs of 196, 173, 172, 171 and 169 and Jones 184, 164, 164, 161 and 163.

British records rules take into account the lesser wool the UK breeds, with a minimum wool-weight average of 0.8kg per lamb, no requirement for a top-knot, and less belly wool.

World Record lambshearing rules require the top-knot and head-wool, and a minimum average 0.9kg of wool per lamb.

But despite difficulty of getting sufficient numbers of tally sheep at one time in the UK, making nine-hour days a rarity, the World Record has twice

42

been set in the UK, as have two ewe-shearing records by New Zealand brothers Matt and Rowland Smith.

"The lambs came from a few different flocks to get enough sheep and it would be only the second proper structured nine-hour day I've done in the UK," said Rees; "Some days I've had to shear for longer just to finish off a farm," he said.

"We don't do set working days here.

It's more about trying to shear one or two peoples flocks each day."

In 2019 he had shorn 907 in a nine-hour blow-out at Otanapae, near Taupo, set-up by Bay of Plenty contractor Jeff Dorsett, for whom he's worked six of his 10 seasons in New Zealand. He started in South Taranaki with contractor Brendan Iremonger and also working three seasons for Jamie McConnachie at Winton.

World Shearing Records Society judge and UK-based New Zealander Johnny Fraser said the record lambs Aberfield X and Scottish Blackface Aberfield X, weighed about 34-35kg.

The World nine-hour lambshearing of 872 was shorn by Oxfordshire shearer Stu Connor in England last year, beat the 867 shorn by Irish shearer Ivan Scott on July 26 at Cornwall farm Trefranck, farmed by Matt Smith, who had set his ewes record five days earlier.

The highest official tally in New Zealand remains the 866 shorn by Hawke's Bay gun Dion King in a King Country woolshed in January 2007, which held the World Record for more than nine years.

One-week record-holder Greaves has in New Zealand shorn mainly for Napier contractor Brendon Mahony and

by Doug Laing

as part of a preparation, which the Covid-19 crisis stretched to about three years. He shore 763 of Tarawera Station's toughest pumiced lambs, between Napier and Taupo, in a nine-hour non-record blow-out in January 2020. It was notable for the conditions in which he used 42 combs and more than 200 cutters, but needed only two combs and 36 cutters for his record, the combs regrinded for each of the runs during the day.

Records society chairman Paul Harris said that while conditions for the World and British records are different, the British guns had "thrown out a challenge" to the best New Zealand can muster.

The society currently has three World Record bids on its books; in New Zealand Reuben Alabaster, of Taihape, and Jack Fagan, of Te Kuiti, will on December 20 and December 22 respectively make separate attempts on the men's eight hour strongwool lambs record of 744, set by Ivan Scott in New Zealand almost 10 years ago.

On February 4 next year King Country-based shearer Sacha Bond will attempt the women's eight-hour strongwool lambs record in Southland, targeting the mark of 510 shorn by mainly New Zealand-based Canadian shearer Pauline Bolay in a Port Waikato woolshed in 2019.

There have been several bigger lamb-shearing blow-outs over 900 in non-record conditions in New Zealand over the years, including 1103 by Southern Hawke's Bay shearer Rodney Sutton in a Bay of Plenty woolshed in February 2006.

Inaugural UK & World Womens 8-hour Shearing Record

T

he inaugural Womens 8-hour UK & World Ewe Record was set last week by Kent based shearer Marie Prebble. She shore 370 full wool ewes in an 8-hour day.

NZ, King Country shearer Kerri-Jo Te Huia holds the women's world record for shearing the most strong wool ewes over nine hours – 452.

With so many more women now treading the shearing boards, it will be interesting to see how many others will have a crack at it here in the UK. My money would be on Rhoda Munro who farms on the Island of Gometra off the Isle of Mull. She tallied her 400 this year, in shed conditions in 7 hours.

British Wool – training the next generation of shearers and wool handlers

For over 20 years British Wool has provided four stages of shearing certificates enabling UK shearers to safely and effectively shear British wool.

Providing an exclusive training offer to the young farmer movement to help encourage more young farmers into the field.

Bronze to Gold courses in shearing and wool handling are now accredited by Highfield – a global leader in work-based and apprenticeship qualifications.

Working in partnership with key stakeholders – supporting the UK shearing sector.

To find out more call us on 01274 688666 or email shearing@britishwool.org.uk

britishwool.org.uk Together we’re growing something special.

Scottish Team

T

he Scottish Sheep Shearing and Wool Handling Team to represent the Nation at the World Championships at the Royal Highland Show 2023 is almost a carbon copy of the squad that travelled to Le Dorat, France in 2019.

Fife farmer, Calum Shaw, cemented his place in the team for a second time following an outstanding shear in the Scottish National at the RHS in June.

While, Gavin Mutch, with whom Calum lifted the Team event at the 2019 World Championships on French soil, blew out the Open at the RHS Show he decided not to compete in the circuit this year and headed back to New Zealand.

Hamish Mitchell, who secured an early win at Lesmahagow was untouchable, with 41 points on the circuit, regaining his place in the National line-up for a ninth time.

Next men in – Archie Paterson and Jordan Smeaton – tied on 21 points.

Wool handlers Rosie Keenan and Audrey Aitken (nee Lamb) who worked extremely well as a team last time, taking out 2nd place behind the Kiwis in the World Teams event are flying the Scottish flag as a duo once more. Rosie also took 2nd in the World Individual Woolhandling Final and Audrey 2nd in Open competition. It is Audrey’s third time in the team Mark Armstrong and Willie Craig will be flexing their blades and biceps once more, clipping together for a 5th time, at World level. Willie is head shepherd at Gosland, Biggar and certainly does not let his hip replacement hold him back. Mark Armstong manages Garrows at Amulree, Perthshire.

Keeping the team in check, as Team Manager is the task of ex-shearing contractor and instructor, Davie Stewart, who farms Mains of Dalrulzion, Blairgowrie, Perthshire.

by Eilidh MacPherson

LEGEND IN THE MAKING. For over 100 years, we have been leading way in high performance shearing equipment. îéſ °é °âÇƠé ÇÎé ÎîÞ ­ Þ°é ¨ é­ é ğÇ â îâž It’s what you do with it tomorrow.

What will you do next?

Liser. Make your mark.

www.lister-global.com

Lister Skorpion Providing cool running and comfort for hours of shearing.

Investigating Options for Blackface Wool

I

n 2012 Galloway and Southern Ayrshire became the first region of Scotland to be designated a ‘UNESCO Biosphere,’ an award, which recognises unique landscapes, cultural heritage and a biodiversity that is of international importance.

In 2022 the worldwide network of UNESCO Biospheres numbers more than 700 and all of them share sustainable development goals, which include bringing positive and enduring economic impacts to enterprise and industry at a local level. UNESCO Biospheres have a ‘big picture’ remit founded on the ‘Think Global, Act Local’ approach and The Wool Gathering’s work with the Blackface breed reflects a focus on finding solutions to critical challenges in farming internationally.

As local impacts of the worldwide climate crisis become more acute, innovative ideas are becoming increasingly important in making the systems that produce our food, fibre and fuel much more robust.

In autumn 2021 Galloway & Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere launched The Wool Gathering, an initiative to promote the versatility of wool produced in southwest Scotland and its diverse potential as a sustainable resource. The project began in the imaginations of the Biosphere’s Business Development team and local farmers who knew that more could and should be done to counter the plunging value of fleece. From its beginnings as a collective of flock owners, smallholders and creatives, The Wool Gathering has grown to a membership of nearly 300 and attracted funding support from the Blackface Sheep Breeders’ Association.

The Galloway & Southern Ayrshire

46

by Marie McNulty UNESCO Biosphere covers more than 5200km² of rural Scotland and across its vast areas of hill grazing, Blackface sheep are the dominant breed.

Blackface history stretches back into the mists of time; first mentioned in monastery records of the 12th century, they are hardy animals that thrive on upland pasture, even in inclement weather. Today their wool is typically sold for use in the carpet and mattress trades in the UK and Europe and wastage in sale and processing is high.

Use of Blackface wool in clothing has been in decline since the trend towards cheap manmade materials overtook the historic appreciation for hardwearing woollen garments that are locally made.

Both the Biosphere and the Blackface Sheep Breeders’ Association aim to raise awareness that sheep farming is integral to the heritage and economy of Scotland’s southwest.

Keen to test the market with its own pilot project, the Biosphere purchased 1000 kg of fine grade Blackface wool with support and guidance from British Wool. The Biosphere has been sharing the progress of this batch on social media and their digital platforms, tracking the wool as it moved from British Wool’s depot in Galashiels down to Yorkshire for scouring, then back up north to be spun into yarn. The Wool Gathering aims to create woven and knitted prototypes of wearable items that may have potential for sale and after yarn testing the next stage of the project will explore knitwear with Knitlab North, with the weaving element coming through collaboration with the School of Textile and Design at the Scottish Borders campus of Heriot-Watt University.

For members and supporters of The Wool Gathering, the immediate goal is to demonstrate that the potential of Blackface wool is much greater than its current uses suggest and in time for far fewer fleeces to go to waste. Having operated remotely during the last months of Covid-19 restrictions the project has plans for in-person discussions, workshops, visits and talks to celebrate the Biosphere’s wool industry and all the micro and SMEs that exist on its periphery. Marie McNulty, the Biosphere’s Business Development lead, has headed the wool project since its inception and recently appeared in a special feature on the project for ITV’s Border Life.

“The Wool Gathering has attracted more interest and support than almost any other project the Biosphere has undertaken, which I think is testament to how passionately local people feel about the land and our rural heritage, so much of which is threatened in various ways. The Biosphere understands that farming does not and cannot stand still, but we also know that it is possible to take historic industries forward in sustainable ways: in this case, to make the production of Blackface wool profitable for farmers and a source of pride for local people, whether they are directly connected to farming or not.

UNESCO Biospheres are well placed to test and trial ideas and the funding support by the Blackface Sheep Breeders’ Association will help achieve our sustainable development ambitions.”

The Wool Gathering welcomes new members: www.gsabiosphere.org.uk

AYR- THURSDAY 22nd SEPTEMBER 2022 At 11am

Store Cattle and Second Sale of Blackfaced Ewes, Gimmers and All Classes of Store and Breeding Sheep __________________________________________________ ___________ NEWTON STEWART- FRIDAY 23rd SEPTEMBER 2022 At 11am

Big Store Cattle Sale __________________________________________________ ____________ AYR- THURSDAY 29th SEPTEMBER 2022 At 11am

Store Cattle Sale __________________________________________________ ____________ AYR- FRIDAY 30th SEPTEMBER 2022 At 11am

Breeding and Store Sheep Sale, also Second Ram Sale __________________________________________________ ____________ AYR- SATURDAY 1st OCTOBER 2022 At 11am

Annual Sale of Newton Stewart Blackface Shearlings and Ram Lambs Entries Close Friday 9th September 2022 At 12 Noon __________________________________________________ ______

Maximising the value of your wool

Free haulage from all British Wool drop-off sites.

We understand that our members face increasing cost pressure, which is why all deliveries to British Wool drop off sites now benefit from free onward haulage. As a farmer co-operative owned by sheep farmers, everything we do is about adding value to British wool to maximise the returns to our members. We do this by efficiently collecting, grading and selling British wool, minimising price volatility and maximising returns.

We recognise that wool prices have been under pressure but, in these uncertain times, you know it pays to stick together. And, with our expanding network of collection sites, it has never been more convenient.

To find your nearest site visit britishwool.org.uk/depot-network

Together we’re growing something special.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

T

T

he new President of the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW) is Ian Bentley, who brings a 30-year career in food retailing to the role, alongside his current meat sector involvement with Scotbeef Ltd., and as a Board member of both Quality Meat Scotland and the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA).

"The Scottish meat industry faces a lot of challenges, most of which are macro issues common to both farmers and processors alike," said Ian. "Our most pressing priority is to deliver on our net zero targets whilst maintaining on-farm stock numbers and the whole industry needs to stand together as we embark on this important journey. If I can help by leading SAMW within that context, then I will be delighted to do

he Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society has appointed Robert Gilchrist as the new Chief Executive Officer to lead them forward in achieving their vision of producing beef fit for the future.

After joining The Society as the breed development manager last year, a period of change meant that Robert then stepped up, when needed, as the acting CEO. “I’m really pleased to have now been formally appointed as CEO of the largest beef breed society in the UK and am excited to keep moving The Society forward by delivering on the 10-year business plan. We are dedicated to producing beef with the consumer in mind,” says Robert Gilchrist, CEO of the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society.

“I’ve been working in the beef sector so. I'm also optimistic for the future of the Scottish meat industry. It's easy to see all the challenges and problems, of course, but at the same time we have a terrific industry and opportunities, both domestically and in relation to export potential. I look forward, therefore, to addressing both the challenges and opportunities facing our industry in the months and years ahead."

Ian's food retailing career culminated in a senior management role in the M&S Food Division, which included spells of responsibility for the organisation's meat category. More recently he joined Scotland's largest meat processor, Scotbeef Ltd., Bridge of Allan, as a non-executive Director, and is currently a board member of both QMS and BMPA.

T

he directors of the Jersey Cattle Society of the UK have appointed Cumbria-based Pedigree Livestock Services run by Andy Ryder, to take on its company secretarial and administrative workload.

The Society, in recent times, has outsourced this role, which has hitherto been handled by ‘Jolly British Business Support’ based in Warwickshire, which is now scaling back this side of the business.

Jersey Cattle Society chairman Mark Logan, who will continue to oversee the breed herdbook, said Pedigree Livestock Services had been selected as it already works with other cattle, sheep and horse breed societies. It has the experience

48

for over 20 years and am passionate about driving returns from the marketplace to our members by building on our Certified AberdeenAngus beef scheme.

“This is a massive opportunity as this certification scheme is instrumental in protecting the integrity of the breed and upholding our reputation. It also provides us with a traceable product to take to our customers, giving us a competitive advantage,” he explains.

Mr Gilchrist adds that his technical background means that he is extremely excited about the potential genomics offers to the breed. “I’d like to raise more awareness of the value of using BREEDPLAN and EBV’s paired with the right genetics to help produce consistently top-quality beef.”

and staffing back-up required by the Jersey Society. “ The recent employment of Heather Pritchard as general manager at PLS had also been seen as beneficial for Jersey breeders given her previous involvement within the dairy livestock auctioneering industry. Registrations, will continue to be via NBDC but Mrs Pritchard will be members’ regular point of contact for other matters as from the Monday 6th June.”

Andy Ryder, whose business also looks after Penrith Show, said “Jersey Cattle Society members should see a seamless transfer of operations and our office staff look forward to working with them.”

A

R

onan O'Hara has been appointed as Crown Estate Scotland's new Chief Executive. He is currently Head of Asset Management at the University of Cambridge and was previously Strategic Advisor and Head of the Energy Management Unit at Northern Ireland's Strategic Investment Board.

Ronan has extensive experience in property management and development, is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS) and holds an MBA. He has worked in central and local government, as well as in the private and third sectors.

Ronan will take up his new role in September, following the retirement of current CEO Simon Hodge in August.

Crown Estate Scotland Chair, Amanda Bryan, said: "Ronan's arrival comes at an exciting time as developers progress 17 ScotWind offshore wind

HDB has appointed Adrian James to the role of Knowledge Exchange Manager for Cereals in Scotland. He will work with cereal growers to improve their technical and business practices and deliver the AHDB Farm Excellence programme across the country.

Adrian grew up on a mixed farm in Hertfordshire and studied agriculture at Walford College in Shropshire. He worked on a farm in mid-Wales before progressing to an estate manager for two estates in Sussex and Kent, which both featured a mix of livestock and cereals. In 2018, he relocated to Scotland, with his Fife-born wife and worked for three years as anassessor for SQC and QMS, where he determined whether cereal and livestock farms met

the schemes' standards.

Paul Flanagan, Director of AHDB Scotland, said: "We are delighted to welcome Adrian to the Scottish team.

He brings with him a great deal of experience and his appointment as Knowledge Exchange Manager for Cereals, gives us a renewed focus on the arable sector and will strengthen our engagement with levy payers and stakeholders."

Adrian said: "AHDB's wealth of resources can support farmers and help them prepare for the massive changes that lie ahead and make the most of the opportunities that are coming. I'm looking forward to working with cereal growers across Scotland and hope to meet some of them at Arable Scotland in July."

farms – each with an estimated average £1.5b spend in Scotland – and we continue to invest in natural resources, marine-based tourism and development sites from Midlothian to Montrose to Moray."

Ronan O'Hara said: "I'm thrilled to be joining Crown Estate Scotland later this year. The organisation's role in energy production, regenerating coastal communities and tackling the biodiversity and climate crises puts it centre stage of the green economic recovery. I look forward to joining the team and meeting tenants and partners across Scotland."

Established in 2017, Crown Estate Scotland manages commercial property, seabed, coastline, and rural estates. As at April 2021, the public corporation had returned £44m to the Scottish Government and the portfolio – called the Scottish Crown Estate – was valued at £455.6m.

C

arlisle based H&H Group has just announced the appointment of Scottish Borders Farmer Will Hamilton as Vice Chair of the Board.

A highly respected farmer and businessman, Will has been Non Executive Director of the company for the last four years. Will has extensive first-hand agri-business experience and with daughter Annabel runs Bee Edge, the family farm in Berwickshire, finishing over 300 head of prime beef cattle each year and operating a large arable enterprise. Will is also Director of the Royal Highland Agricultural Society.

Will said, “I am both honoured and

humbled to be invited to be Vice Chair. “ Commenting on this appointment, Michael Scott, Chair of the H&H Group said: “Will has become an invaluable and integral member of the Board. We are a business deeply rooted in the agricultural sector and with his farming background and commercial acumen, he helps ensure we continue to be at the forefront of developments within the industry. I know that he will be an immense support to me and the rest of the Board so we can continue to provide excellent service to our customers, career opportunities for our staff and great returns for our shareholders.”

49

MOVERS & SHAKERS

I

n a move designed to boost the company's rural support and agricultural financing strategy, Virgin Money has announced the appointment of Stephen Buchan as Regional Head of Agriculture for Scotland. The bank has a proud history of providing farmers with finance across the UK, and agriculture now accounts for 16% of Virgin Money's overall business lending. Headed up by Brian Richardson and supported by the Regional Heads of England and Scotland, is a dedicated agricultural team that covers the entirety of the UK. Starting out as a bank clerk when he

50

left school, during his career, Stephen has worked across a range of sectors including commercial banking and five years at Scottish Widows. Having held a variety of managerial roles with the bank's Agricultural and Credit Departments, he has been responsible for building strong agricultural portfolios.

Stephen, said: "My aim is to establish Virgin Money as the best bank for farmers in Scotland. With agricultural inflation, net zero, and changes to the financial support regime, we are facing some defining challenges in our sector.

Despite this maelstrom of change my confidence in Scottish farming remains steadfast.

"We produce some of the best and most sustainable food on the planet, maintain amongst the highest welfare standards anywhere in the world and we have proven decade after decade that the sector is both resilient and adaptable. My confidence comes, in no small part, from the next generation of farmers. They are proving to be hugely entrepreneurial in how they are grasping and dealing with modern day challenges in farming."

"This is an exciting time to be working with Scottish farmers and I have an exceptional team, who on average have 27 years of banking experience, with 17 years of that being in agriculture. Together we share an enthusiasm, commitment and passion to

work with customers to support them in every way possible. Our depth of knowledge and expertise is well recognised by farming businesses and is key to the strong partnerships and relationships that we have with our customers.

"I am sure the agricultural sector will continue to define Scotland on the global stage for decades to come."

On announcing Stephen's appointment and the wider role of the team, Brian Richardson, Head of Agriculture, commented: "I am delighted to have Stephen as the Regional Manager covering Scotland, his passion for and knowledge of the agricultural sector, as well as his many years of service I am sure will underpin his leadership. These are challenging times, and he is perfectly placed to support our customers.

"We have spent a considerable effort reviewing what the future will look like for farming and Stephen is perfectly placed to support our stakeholders. For our Agri-banking customers we know that knowledge of the industry is key, and in these challenging times this has never been more important. Going forward, Virgin Money aims to build on its experience and heritage through expert managers who fully understand the nuances of the farming sector and the importance of making long-term relationships to provide services in cost-effective and innovative ways."

new appointment to Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) will help the institution enhance and develop its business-led research portfolio and academia to business engagement.

Dr Susannah Bolton, who has been appointed to the new post of Vice Principal - Enterprise and Knowledge Exchange, will play a leading role in shaping and growing SRUC's enterprise activities and increasing the economic and social impact of SRUC's research and innovation programmes.

Susannah, who was previously Director of Research at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), has a long history of working in, and building relationships with, the agri-food sector and is ideally placed to lead and grow SRUC's translational research and innovation portfolio.

She said: "I have enjoyed working closely with colleagues at SRUC over the

years and am excited to join the organisation as it embarks on a bold and ambitious journey to become an enterprise university at the heart of our sustainable natural economy.

"This role provides me with an excellent opportunity to work with scientists and innovators to deliver high impact, practical outcomes that make a real difference to the environment, benefit farm businesses and lead to tangible improvements in industry performance."

Professor Wayne Powell, Principal and CEO of SRUC, said: "We are thrilled to have attracted a candidate with the skills and experience of Susannah to support our growth agenda as a member of SRUC's Executive Leadership Team (ELT). She is a critical final piece of the ELT jigsaw to support our contribution to the development of Scotland's natural economy as a driving force behind a green economic recovery.

A

BOOK REVIEWS

S

et in the beautiful Cumbrian countryside during the devastating Foot & Mouth outbreak, Burning Secrets by Ruth Sutton, broaches the disaster to the farming industry with sensitivity.

Twelve-year-old Helen Heslop is living away from the family farm when she disappears without trace. The police search exposes fault lines within the Heslop family and within the police investigations team too, where local DC Maureen Pritchard is caught between old school DI Bell and new broom DS Anna Penrose.

Helen is lost in the chaotic war zone of the Cumbrian countryside, as disease threatens her home farm. Will Helen survive? And can life for the Heslops ever

F

arm Girl is a memoir of urgent grace that crosses boundaries of genre and time. In her second year of college, Megan finds herself bonded to a lover spiraling into addiction and 2000 miles awayfrom her heart’s home—a stretch of 40 certified organic acres along the banks of the Connecticut River separating Vermont and New Hampshire. In the crucible of a rainy Portland winter, Megan is forced to decide whether to embrace her future as a farm girl or to continue growing into the woman everyone hopes she’ll become. Farm Girl is about two love affairs that force a decision: the love between two people and the love between Megan and the landscape.

With innovative prose and lush description, Farm Girl raises the earth up as a character and asks questions about the work we choose to sustain us

—how careful attention and devotion to the earth transcends human tragedy.

It is a coming of age story. Part drama, part ode, its lyrics express Megan’s deep love for the landscape— but she doesn’t paint it pretty, she describes it raw and rough with all the honesty and daydream of a girl imagining herself grown.

In this memoir, the reader experiences the sweat, blood, and tears that go into working at a farm in NewEngland, USA: the frosts, the failures and the brilliant moments of grace. Becoming a farm girl wasn't an easy choice; she fought against family and against expectations as much as she did against cold and heat.

Farm Girl A Memoir by Megan Baxter, Published by Green Writer’s Press is available on Amazon for £12.89

be the same, once burning secrets are uncovered and old scores settled?

This crime novel is a page-turner, one I thoroughly enjoyed. Having been living and writing in New Zealand at the time of the F&M outbreak in the UK, it brought home to me the horror and devastation it caused in rural communities across the country.

It is a well-researched and written book and with the dark nights drawing in, will be a great fireside companion for a couple of evenings.

Burning Secrets, printed by Hoad Press and written by Ruth Sutton is available online direct from the author at www.ruthsuttonauthor.co.uk priced at £8.99 with free postage.

An ideal stocking filler for any farmer or crofter – 101 Uses for Baler Twine – is a photographic book, which is bilingually captioned in English and Gaelic.

Author Frank Rennie, a professor of Rural Development at the University of the Highlands and Islands, is more akin to writing academic books and papers, but has teamed his passion for photography with some tongue-in cheek humour.

The majority of full colour photos are genuine uses, snapped around a working croft, but the odd one has obviously been staged. Any active farmer or crofter will recognise some familiar situations on their own holding.

But with big round bales steadily

increasing and the number of small bales in decline, baler twine is possibly not as prolific as it once was.

We tend to use cable ties these days, but it is a great jog down memory lane, flicking through the mini book. I know somewhere in my photographic archives I have a cracker of a shot of my Dad’s old Landrover number plate being held on by baler twine!

This pocket-sized book, gives the recipient a laugh and possibly some more ideas on the use of baler twine.

It is priced at £4.99, published by Acair Books of Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, www.acairbooks.com It is available direct from the publisher on their web portal or on Amazon books.

51

C

LAAS launched its completely new Trion range of combines consisting of 20 models. This new range includes conventional five and six straw walker machines, and also single and twin rotor hybrids, plus Terra Trac and Montana hillside versions.

Within the 20 models available, the base Trion range comprises of two 500 range five-straw walker models, three 600 range six-straw walker models, including the Trion 640, which provides a new entry point into the six-straw walker market, and three 700-range Hybrid models, of which two have a single rotor and one has twin rotors.

Common to all Trion models is the well-proven APS primary threshing system designed to thresh out up to 90% of grains, leaving just the harder to thresh grains for the secondary separation system. For greater throughput capacity, Trion 500 and 700 range machines are fitted with a 1.42m wide threshing system, increasing to 1.7m for Trion 600 models.

For the Trion, the APS system comprises of a 450mm diameter accelerator and a 600mm diameter closed threshing drum, which is some 33% larger than the threshing drum on the Tucano. As a result, the concave area is also greater, with the concave on Trion 600 models being 31% larger than on the

Tucano 450, and the concave on Trion 700 models 9% bigger than on the Tucano 580. The front concaves are interchangeable and the speed of all three drums is synchronised and adjusted using Cebis, which is also used for adjusting the concaves, which are also synchronised.

To keep maintenance downtime to a minimum, the completely redesigned and less complex drive system for the Trion means that there are now six less belts on Hybrid models and three less on straw walker machines compared to the previous Tucano range.

All five and six straw walker Trion 500 and 600 models come as standard with the well proven Claas Multifinger Separation System (MSS), which evenly fluffs the straw for greater separation efficiency, especially in difficult conditions. The straw walkers use an open walker design and are 4.4m long with four steps. The total separation area for Trion 500 models is 6.25m2 rising to 7.48m2 for the Trion 600, which is a considerable increase on the Tucano and the largest of any combines of this size on the market.

Trion 730/720 Hybrid models come with a single 4.2m long and 570mm diameter rotor with 6 grates, while the larger Trion 750 has twin 4.2m long and 445mm diameter rotors with five grates.

A new feature for combines this size is the hydraulic adjustment of four rotor flap ‘bomb doors’ and rotor speed is infinitely adjusted independently of the APS system using Cebis.

Power for the Trion range comes from British built 8.9 or 6.7 litre Cummins six-cylinder Stage V standard engines.

These have been chosen not only on account of the optimum range of power outputs for across the whole Trion range, but also due to their ideal weight, the level of engine technology they provided, the fact that they are an ideal size for the combine and their layout means that they are easy to access and maintain.

Claas Introduces New Trion Combines 52

As standard, all Trion models come with Dynamic Power, which by reducing engine power output when not under load, for instance when not running the chopper or unloading, can cut fuel costs by around 10%. The rated engine speed is just 1,900rpm dropping to 1,650 for road travel, so further helping to save fuel.

The newly designed cab is more spacious with both more leg and head room. The larger windscreen and narrower A-pillars give the operator excellent visibility over the cutterbar.

Features include new seats that can swivel 30 degrees each way and footrests to ensure a comfortable seating position.

The 12-inch Cebis touchscreen colour

monitor is easily adjusted independently of the armrest. All the main combine functions can also be activated using buttons on the armrest.

Tank sizes on the Trion combines range from 8,000 litres on the Trion 520 up to a class-leading 12 000 litres on the Trion 750. The unloading auger swings through 105 degrees for easy visibility and unloading rates range from 90 to 130 litres/second.

A new option is the availability of a pivoting spout, controlled using the Cmotion control lever. Being able to adjust the throw of grain from the spout will be particularly useful when working on side-hills or with deeper trailers.

Turning to the back of the combine, again there is a wide selection of straw-chopper options to meet every need, from a standard mechanically controlled chopper through to the advanced electronically controlled radial power spreader chopping system with deflectors for wind compensation.

In addition to the Standard Cut chopping unit, which on narrow-body Trion 700 and 400 models has 52 knives and 64 knives on the Trion 600, there is the option of the Special Cut chopper with 72 or 88 knives respectively.

The new Trion can be used with the full range of Cerio or the new Vario range of auger type cutterbars, plus the Convio and Convio Flex draper type cutterbars, in widths up to 12 metres.

As standard, the Trion comes with automatic cutterbar detection, so will always know what cutterbar is fitted and the setting previously used.

by Chris McCullough

53

by Chris McCullough

new MARRIAGE FOR LEMKEN

L

EMKEN’S compact disc harrow Heliodor is now combinable with a precision slurry spreader The Heliodor compact disc harrow is available with a preparation set for attaching a Vogelsang DosiMat DMX precision spreader. The resulting powerful combination of two proven implements is ideal for the precise low-loss spreading and incorporation of liquid organic fertilisers such as slurry.

The Heliodor offers a sound basis for this type of application, as it is compact and low draught and therefore only places little additional demands on the tractor’s lifting and traction powers.

The DosiMat DMX is renowned for its

very even transverse and longitudinal distribution, which is consistently maintained even at extremely low and extremely high application rates.

The way the two implements work together is very simple. Slurry is fed into the DosiMat from above, homogenised inside the device by a flow-optimised rotor equipped with cutting blades, and then pushed into the individual outlets.

Fibre and foreign matter are reliably shredded in the process. This enables the desired precise distribution and helps to avoid disruptive blockages.

The slurry then passes via hoses to the area behind the first row of discs on the

MACHINERY RING BENEFITS! Speak to your local Machinery Ring about opportunities when purchasing Case IH tractors, combines and balers.

54

Heliodor, where it is injected into the soil and immediately incorporated by the second row of discs and the trailing roller without any delay.

In terms of economy, the Heliodor/ DosiMat duo is exactly in line with current trends; with rising prices for mineral fertilisers many farmers want to utilise the nutrients stored in their slurry. This is achieved through precise application and immediate incorporation while minimising nitrogen losses, making the process not only extremely economical, but also compliant with water protection requirements.

Canny Scotsman Plans Zero Emissions Power Source for Tractors

A

UK start-up company has announced big plans to develop a new zero-emissions power source for conventional farm tractors and to build a small electric tractor.

Although the exact technology is currently a heavily guarded secret, Atomictractor says its new power source is a hybrid concept that delivers high torque and power plus guaranteed long working hours with minimum downtime for recharge.

Founded by Scotsman Campbell Scott, who has over 30 years’ experience in the tractor world gained as a senior executive with AGCO Massey Ferguson, Atomictractor has completed a feasibility study with Aston University in Birmingham, UK, looking at low carbon technologies.

The cutting-edge solution, developed to advanced concept level, provides a practical, highly-efficient answer to those farmers seeking to eliminate diesel costs and future-proof their energy source.

Mr Scott said: “The precise nature of the technology remains confidential.

However, it can be described as the application of the most appropriate solutions from the low-carbon world today and their integration into the specialised field of agriculture.”

by Chris McCullough The power unit is being designed and developed in the UK but will be suitable for global use across a wide range of power applications in agriculture. The initial focus is on tractors up to 100 kW, or 134hp diesel engine equivalent.

Partners are now being sought to move the project into the prototype and commercialisation phase. Developments will continue to be undertaken in collaboration with Aston University.

Campbell added: “We would ideally like to partner with an existing tractor manufacturer. There is a degree of engineering interface required between the new low-carbon drivetrain and the donor tractor and this can be best provided by the tractor maker.

“However, I am keen to discuss the project with all interested parties who share my vision to deliver practical approaches to the complex problems facing the future of mobile off-road energy sources.”

Atomictractor is based in Coventry, UK, and aims to build on the longstanding tradition of tractor developments in that city where historically more than three million tractors were designed, manufactured and exported globally.

Dr Abed Alaswad, senior lecturer at Aston University, said: “Having studied

the feasibility of the proposed concept under the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) programme ‘Promoting Functional Materials’, we are keen to support this promising initiative. Our lab facilities and research expertise are very well equipped to advance research in this area.”

Atomictractor also plans to develop a new electric-powered small tractor.

Campbell said: “With this, we are taking our cue from the design principles of the famous Ferguson TE20 ‘Little Grey Fergie’ tractor, first produced in Coventry in 1946.

“Like the TE20, this new futuristic model, called the E20, is aimed at smaller farmers all over the world who need a simple, workmate machine to carry out multiple jobs on the farm.”

Since leaving AGCO, Campbell has focused on the technology, public policy and commercial factors involved in the marketing of Electric Vehicles and extensively studied how they can be applied to the world of agriculture.

“Agricultural applications make their own unique demands on a power source. The integration of low-carbon solutions is a specialised subject, which requires new and innovative thinking outside the traditional sphere of tractor engineering,” said Campbell.

55

F

ollowing in the footsteps of the MF 5S and 8S tractor ranges Massey Ferguson has introduced the new 6S range based on a similar modern style.

Essentially replacing the MF 6700S Series, the five new MF 6S models are: MF 6S.135, MF 6S.145, MF 6S.155, MF 6S.165 and the MF 6S.180, with the last three numbers denoting the horsepower of each one.

All MF 6S tractors are powered by the latest technology Agco Power engines, which deliver maximum powers from 135hp to 180hp, with a power boost of between 15hp or 20hp, depending on model.

Massey says its ‘All-in-One’ SCR system ensures the engines meet the strict Stage V emissions regulations.

Making the 6S tractors move is the seamless shifting from the Dyna-VT Super Eco, or the Massey Ferguson Dyna-6 Super-Eco, semi-powershift with AutoDrive.

Both transmissions come with the unique MF Power Control lever on the left-hand side of the steering column, which provides clutchless shuttling, with an adjustable response.

Dyna-VT continuously variable transmissions are now equipped with a new Automatic Mode. Simply activated with a switch on the armrest, auto mode allows the operator to adjust forward speed with the Multipad lever or the

foot pedal, while the engine speed is automatically regulated according to the oad and speed.

The new Super Eco version of the Dyna-VT reduces fuel consumption by achieving 40km/hr at just 1450rpm.

The Dyna-6 Super Eco 24 x 24 semi-powershift transmission, achieves a top speed of 40km/hr at a low 1500rpm and saves fuel. AutoDrive, standard on all models, automatically shifts speeds relative to the engine load and speed. Operators can also manually set the engine rpm at which changes are made.

Farmers working in specialist crops will welcome is the Super Creeper option, which provides precise control with speeds down to 70m/hr at 1400m/s.

All MF 6S tractors provide the useful brake-to-neutral function, which also disengages drive when the brakes are applied.

The MF 6S cab has new air conditioning to keep the cab cooler, while other changes now make it also a quieter (70dBA) workplace. They also have new features, controls and connectivity, first introduced on the MF 8S. Operators benefit from a new, more comfortable, standard air-suspended seat. A heated seat option, with real leather trim and improved ventilation, is equipped with DDS, Dynamic Damping System, with lateral stability suspension

that responds automatically to the severity of the bumps.

For Exclusive and Efficient versions, there is also a new armrest, which is linked to the seat, containing everything operators need to operate the engine, transmission, hydraulics, linkage and PTO as well as switches for the radio and phone.

Further improving comfort is the optional mechanical or active mechanical cab suspension, as well as the suspended front axle option.

Loader operators will welcome the Visio Roof option, which greatly improves vision for handling work, providing a clear view of the load through the lift range.

All main tractor functions are run from a single new Multipad, Isobus-compatible controller. This easy-to-use lever includes a new linkage control rocker switch, cruise settings, driving mode pre-sets and MF Guide activation. It also houses a micro joystick to control two electric spool valves.

Another, unique, multifunction joystick option offers simple, convenient control of the optional loader or front linkage. This not only operates the spool valves, but also enables operators to change direction and control the tractor speed.

Changes to the modern Datatronic 5

by Chris McCullough

New Massey Ferguson 6S Series Joins the Ranks

terminal include a brighter, new 9” touch-screen’s anti-glare surface, and easier access to new short-cut keys.

New for Exclusive and Efficient versions is a new option that enables the radio and mobile phone and play media be operated through the Datatronic 5 screen.

Also new is the MF E-Loader option that helps to increase loading accuracy, productivity and safety and provides control and setting of the new Bucket Shake facility. This enables operators to

weigh individual fork or bucket loads and record the total weights of each item, load or job and these can be transferred as a simple spreadsheet.

Built on strong foundations and a 2.67m wheelbase, the MF 6S Series’ compact dimensions make the tractors highly manoeuvrable, with a turning radius of just 4.75m.

Weighing 400kg less than their six-cylinder equivalents, coupled with the powerful engines, the tractors offer the best-in-class power-to-weight ratio.

They are also immensely strong for their size, able to handle heavy payloads with a Gross Vehicle Weight of up to 12 500kg.

With up to 9600kg rear linkage capacity and powerful, 110 litre/min closed-centre load-sensing hydraulics, the tractors will handle and operate a wide range of large, modern implements with ease. For those requiring more flow there is a 150 litre/min option Dyna-6 models, while Dyna-VT tractors, come with a 190 litre/min option.

57

J

CB has added a new 538-70 telehandler to its popular Loadall range, giving farmers more options for their purchasing decision.

The 538-70 model is a genuine seven metre machine that slots into the Loadall Series III line-up with 3800kg maximum lift capacity and 7.01m of lift height, placing it between the current 532-70 and 542-70 models.

At 3000 to 3800kg, lift performance is particularly strong in the 4-6m loading-at-height zone critical for bulk loading of grain into trucks and silage into diet feeders; and there is 2500 to 2750kg of capacity available at full height, depending upon the version.

Like all mid-range machines in the Loadall range, the new 538-70 is available with a choice of four different transmissions, three power outputs and three standard feature and specification levels.

Together with a comprehensive options list, buyers have an unmatched opportunity to choose the machine package that best suits their applications and budget.

The Loadall 538-70 Agri variant comes with JCB’s Torque Lock 4 transmission, featuring torque converter lock-up in fourth gear for power efficient direct drive on the road, coupled to a 109hp (81kW) version of the Stage V emissions-compliant JCB DieselMAX 448 engine.

The Agri Super has 130hp (97kW) from this engine and a regular four-speed Powershift as the base transmission installation; but along with the 150hp AGRI Xtra, it is also available with a six-speed Autoshift with automatic and manual shifting modes in addition to torque converter lock-up in the top two gears.

The Agri Super and Agri Xtra can also be had with DualTech VT, the unique JCB transmission that combines the best characteristics of hydrostatic and powershift drives in one unit.

As the ultimate telehandler transmission, DualTech VT provides precision slow speed control for loading and other handling tasks and direct-drive auto powershift without a torque converter for high-performance, fuel-efficient field and road travel beyond 19kph.

Switching between the two elements is performed seamlessly without any operator involvement; but operator selected ‘power’ and fuel-saving ‘eco’ modes are available to suit different applications, and powershift selection can be restricted for field work.

58

The transmission’s Flexi mode permits a fixed engine speed to be set for optimum hydraulics performance with only the transmission then responding to the accelerator pedal, ideal for consistent loading performance and for operating hydraulically-driven attachments such as sweepers, feeding buckets and straw blowers.

In addition, DualTech VT provides permanent four-wheel drive within the hydrostatic transmission element’s speed range for maximum traction in field and yard; full-time four-wheel drive for high-speed road work such as snow ploughing when maximum traction is needed; and automatic switching to rear-wheel drive only for optimum towing performance while minimising tyre wear.

Across all variants, the high level of standard equipment includes auto wheel alignment when switching between the three steering modes and auto reversing cooling fan that blows

dust and debris from the air intake grille.

The 140-litre/min load-sensing hydraulics system includes gravity regeneration of oil for the retract and lower services to bring the boom down rapidly but under full control and automatic Smooth Ride boom suspension is standard on all but the Agri version where it is an option.

JCB’s comprehensive LiveLink telematics solution is also part of the standard package, providing comprehensive machine data, pro-active fault identification, timely service scheduling, and machine location and security features.

And as with all JCB Loadall Series III telescopic handlers, operators of the new 538-70 get to work in the advanced Command Plus cab with its ultra-quiet noise levels, great all-round and upwards visibility, push-away ‘memory’ steering column and generous storage provision.

by Chris McCullough

JCB adds new 538-70 T to Loadall range

Ǥ Ǥ Ǥ ÙÙÊóØç®Ö ãã½ ÙçÝ« xDĂŶƵĂů Žƌ ,LJĚƌĂƵůŝĐ ^ƋƵĞĞnjĞ xYƵŝĞƚ x^ĂĨĞ x^ƚƌŽŶŐ x sĞƚ ĂĐĐĞƐƐ ŽƉƟŽŶ

WĞƚĞƌ Θ ĞŶ ^ĂŶĚĞƌƐŽŶ͕ ƵŶƐ͘ WĞƚĞƌ - Ϭϳϵϲϳ ϯϴϳ ϱϳϳ ĞŶ - Ϭϳϴϭϭ ϴϱϳ Ϯϱϴ

Winning Cattle Crush

P

resented with a prestigious Gold award this years Technical Innovation Awards at the Royal High land Show is Penderfeed Livestock Equipment, for their Arrowquip Q-Catch 86 Series Squeeze Cattle Crush. The Arrowquip Q-catch 86 series squeeze cattle crush claims to be the quietest crush ever manufactured.

This is achieved by using nylon bushes on the hinges and rubber absorbers on the access panel slam bolts. Heavy-duty rubber flooring provides complete silence and sure footing for the cattle, while the vet cage squeezes in with the crush, enabling you to narrow the crush before the cattle enter and preventing younger animals from turning around.

The yoke gate handle can be operated from anywhere along the side of the crush, while the top and bottom access doors can be opened separately or together to make a full side exit. A hydraulic version is also available.

Telehandler 59

T

A Success Story From the Heart of Germany

he Rhön lies in the heart of Germany, typical for the region is its varied low mountain range, a lot of basalt, natural forests, interrupted by open plateaus with meadows and pastures. The Rhön sheep – one of the oldest rural sheep breeds in Germany – had once shaped this landscape. And yet, forty years ago, it almost died out.

Its resettlement in the Rhön is a success story.

Shepherd Josef Kolb is one of the saviors of the Rhön sheep. He lives in Ginolfs, a small village in the Franconian part of the Rhön. He is very modest: “No, no, it is not me, we owe a lot to Professor Gerhard Kneitz.”

This biologist and zoology professor – who sadly passed away last year – is the ‘father of the Rhön sheep project.’

Gerhard Kneitz was committed to nature and environmental protection and the preservation of animals – before it became popular. He particularly liked the Rhön region and it was his idea to resettle the Rhön sheep. “This is a cultural asset,” he said.

As ‘coincidence’ would have it, Professor Kneitz sat down at the table of Josef Kolb and his father Eberhard during a shepherd's conference in Würzburg in Bavarian Germany. Josef and his father had an open ear for one of Bavaria's first nature conservation grazing projects. Gerhard Kneitz found

60

out that there was discussion of the Gassenwiesen (not far from Ginolfs), known as a "unique grazing area" to be used to build holiday homes on. In 1985, BUND Naturschutz Bayern (the Federation for Nature Conservation in Bavaria) bought the 32 hectare area.

They thought the Rhön sheep were ideal for grazing after the land.

The Rhön sheep originated in the Rhön region, first mentioned in 1844. It is well adapted to the harsh climate and the barren grassland in the region. The animal does not gain much weight, it only weighs around 60 kilograms. "It is a sheep for conservation, because it is quite light, lives frugally and does not need a lot of feed.“ It is considered robust and resilient. The reasons BUND was preferring "four-legged landscape workers," as they called the sheep, were it's mobility, it's good standing on uneven terrain, especially on steep slopes and because they don't make much noise.

BUND brochures from the 1990s described the Rhön sheep as following: “... it is the Adonis among the German sheep breeds: long-legged, wooly, hornless, all in white with a distinctive, black, narrow Nofretete head ... one of the most prominent properties is its resistance to the climate of the Rhön, where it is exposed to an average annual temperature of 5 to 7 ºC, 700 to 1000 mm of annual precipitation and a high

frequency of wind and fog, it is all-weather resistant. Its strong legs and hard cleats give it an advantage when grazing in the impassable terrain of the basalt mountains .... A hundred years ago their population was around 100 000, by the end of the 1950s there were only 300 registered animals."

"The Rhön sheep became almost extinct," admits Josef Kolb. The BUND bought a small herd of 38 sheep and took on Josef to shepherd.

"The Rhön without Rhön sheep, from an ecological point a lot would have been destroyed," he looks back. There were many discussions in those years.

“We often sat together at my kitchen table. It was new that agriculture and environmental protection worked t ogether. In those years cooperating with environmentalists was frowned upon and revolutionary.“ It is evening, Josef Kolb drives up to the Gassenwiesen (750 m above sea level). It is a nature reserve now and his sheep graze it two to three times a year, he says. When BUND bought this land in the 1980s, it was discovered, that it was a unique ecological niche, with many different herbs and grasses. After mapping the vegetation, 400 different plant species were identified, many of them protected or threatened with extinction; it was also rich in animals and insects.

Today, instead of holiday homes

by Petra Jacob

standing here, a few hundred beautiful Rhön sheep “work” on the land as conservationists. “What we today call conservation work, was years ago just called grazing,“ Josef Kolb laughs. His sheep spend no longer than two days in one place, before the fences are moved.

His animals graze from the end of April to the end of November. In addition to the Gasssenwiesen, Josef Kolb also has contracts for other grazing land with the municipality. In the winter months his sheep are brought back to the stable.

There is a wonderful view of the landscape from the Gassenwiesen. Until reunification of East and West Germany the Rhön was divided by a border. The three German states Bavaria, Hesse and

Thuringia share the region. Because of the border, a lot of land was untouched and off-limits for a long time, this seclusion was in the end its asset.

In 1991, UNESCO recognized the Rhön as a biosphere reserve in order to protect, maintain and develop this extraordinary low mountain range. ºThe aim is to create a habitat in, which people can live and work in harmony with nature. The program includes nature conservation, sustainable tourism, the production and marketing of regional agricultural products and the continuation of traditional handicrafts.

That is not always easy. Shepherd, Josef Kolb has come to the Gassenwiesen to look at his sheep and

61

to repair the fence. "As protection against the wolf – better against a she-wolf," he explains.

“She has been spotted and has come through the Eastern borders via Poland.

"She has attacked some sheep in the area, thank God, none of my sheep have been killed – yet."

To keep it that way, he has bought three Ovcharkas – Caucasian guard dogs. They are still in the stable down in the valley, with some sheep nearby to get familiar with the herd. These dogs are impressive, each weighs almost 50kg; one day they will run with the herd and consider them their pack and will defend them also against the wolf.

Nevertheless, the Rhön sheep project has been a success story. Over the years, more shepherds came on board.

Officially there are now “300 Rhön rams and 6400 ewes, but that's not all, ”says Janet Emig from the Rhön Biosphere Reserve office. There also an unreported number of around 2000 animals.

Josef Kolb knows of “perhaps around 10 000 animals across Germany.” He has around 450 ewes plus offspring on his farm. In 2020 the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (BLE) classified

62

the Rhön sheep as “no longer endangered.” BLE states, that the population recovered "thanks to government subsidies, nature conservationism, extensive regional marketing and establishing the Rhön Biosphere Reserve."

A lot of attention is paid to how to add value to the region, following the motto: from the region, for the region.

Direct marketing and cooperation with restaurants and hotels are very important, also for Josef Kolb. His advice to visitors of the Rhön region and wanting to support the initiatives is to look out for the green and white label “Rhön” when buying food products and the same label with pictures of silver thistles when choosing a restaurant.

Three silver thistles, for example, means at least 65% of the ingredients are from the region.

Josef Kolb has also his own small shop, it is called “Rhönschafladen” and is next to his home in the village of Ginolfs. There he sells sheep products, like meat, sausages, wool, socks, sheepskins, sheep's milk soaps and much more. All his products are also sold online.

www.rhoenschaf-laden.com The Rhön sheep project and the UNESCO Rhön Biosphere Reserve have worked together for thirty years. Much has been achieved so far: a unique landscape has been preserved, the Rhön sheep, which were almost extinct before that, have found their place and thanks to good marketing and PR it has become indispensable for the region. The biosphere reserve calls it the ‘mascot’ of the Rhön, for BLE it is a ‘symbol’ for the region.

The Rhön sheep has now man raving fans. While travelling through the region visitors will find it hard to not meet this beautiful German sheep. There not only many in nature or as food on their plates, they will also meet them as souvenirs, like cuddly toys, work of art, candles – or even Christmas tree decoration. Even when going to the supermarket, postcard stands are full of picture postcards of Rhön sheep with funny slogans like: ‘Original lawn mower from the Rhön.’

Info: On holiday in the Rhön, information in English: https://www.rhoen.de/en/index.html

BOOK – 200 Farmers of Scotland – NOW £20 when ordering direct

Every farmer has a story to tell. This book covers the diverse range of Scottish farmers and crofters from those farming the rugged hills of the Highlands to the sandy loams of the Lowlands. From owner occupiers, tenant farmers, share farmers, crofters, farm managers, starter farmers, to new entrants, farming from 10 acres to 31 000 acres – the people are as diverse as the landscapes and environment in which they work.

Scotland covers 7.8 million hectares, of that 5.7 million or 73% is farmland, or 79% if common grazing is included.

This book has photographs of 200 farmers and interviews with 109 from across the country from Orkney to Berwick and Durness to Stranraer within its 288 pages. It is available from individual bookshops and farm outlets or direct from the author. To order direct: drop an e-mail to Eilidh MacPherson at editor@farmingscotland.com or private message on facebook – farmingscotland.com for details.

Craigies Farm Shop and Cafe Reveals Redesign

J

ohn and Kirsteen Sinclair, owners of Craigies Farm Shop, Café & Deli, have revealed a major redesign and refit of the popular Queensferry-based farm village.

The husband-and-wife team have invested £200 000 in modernising the café, deli and shop of the popular visitor destination to create a stylish, welcoming environment for its 300 000 annual visitors.

Family-run Craigies Farm appointed hospitality design specialist Tim Wicken of Arrange Spaces to convert the interiors into a rustic country retreat with a modern feel.

The new design connects the countryside through a mix of high quality timber and bespoke joinery, combined with a palette of vibrant colours and natural finishes.

Agricultural elements such as barn doors and sliding window shutters have contrast with bright, luxurious fabrics.

Light levels have been balanced with

64

the addition of lamps to add warmth and atmosphere, while cosy corners and nooks offer more intimate and private seating.

The café has been extended to incorporate a former meeting room, providing an additional flexible seating area that can be sectioned off by sliding reeded glass doors. Soft wall panelling buffers and balances noise levels whilst adding to the organic feel of the space.

Craigies specialise in home-grown and locally-sourced food of provenance, with the café having space to seat 240.

Visitors can enjoy seasonal farm-fresh breakfast, lunch and light meals with views over Craigies farmland and the surrounding South Queensferry countryside.

Tim Wickens of Arrange Spaces says: "We have worked with Craigies Farm to bring to life an ambitious flowing design scheme and a hospitality environment that works in harmony across three key spaces, connecting the

space to the surrounding rural environment.

"The resulting design is consistent, colourful and organic and reflects high-quality of produce and experience on offer in the farm shop, cafe and wider farm business."

John Sinclair, founder and owner of Craigies, says: "The redesign and refit at Craigies Farm are part of our 10-year development plan and we are delighted to have now launched this exciting redesign. The new layout and design reflect our values and heritage while giving customers an improved, modern café and shopping experience.

"We are invested in offering quality across all areas of our business and are particularly pleased to reveal this vibrant redesign in difficult times, so our customers have a warm and welcoming environment in which to meet and be together. It is also a bright, airy and stylish place to work and our team love it!"

A

Agricultural History at East Lothian Steading

n entrepreneur is harnessing the power of young digital creators and performers to breathe new life into an historic steading development in East Lothian. For the second year in a row, Scottish tech entrepreneur, George Mackintosh is providing an award programme, which will see new creative talent help transform Papple Steading into an impressive agricultural heritage centre, which celebrates the rich history of the agricultural revolution.

Papple Steading is thought to be one of Britain's finest historic model farms of the Agricultural Improvement Movement, designed and built in the mid 19th century. Once part of the Whittinghame Estate, whose Laird was AJ Balfour, the British Prime Minister between 1902 and 1905, the farm fell into disrepair with the buildings unused for decades.

Rising like a phoenix out of the ashes as it undergoes an extensive restoration, the Steading is currently being transformed into an inspiring countryside venue, which will not only communicate the historic importance of the agricultural revolution in Scotland, but will provide tourism, business and community opportunities.

Under George's leadership and vision, the ambitious plans to develop an agricultural heritage centre, heritage reference library, cafe, shop and auditorium, as well as an artist's studio, meeting rooms, private dining areas and accommodation cottages, are moving forward at speed. With a passion for all things tech, George is harnessing the talents of filmmakers, media experts and creatives at Queen Margaret University to showcase the Papple Steading offering in new and exciting ways. The aim is to use creativity, filmmaking, storytelling and drama performance through digital means to captivate and entertain new and diverse audiences, encouraging them to learn about Scotland's rich agricultural past.

The Papple Media Prize @ QMU, funded by Papple Steading, is seeing QMU students pitch their creative concepts as part of a competition. The students were given a creative brief and had the opportunity to choose from themes focused around global agricultural development and food production arising from the achievements and innovations of the people of the Lothians and Scotland.

There are two group winners this year, each who will receive £4500 to

progress their creative project.

Alexandra Gilbert & Jourie Fraser-Harris will create a multimedia project based on sheep farming. The project, which centres around the use of local school children, will be a fun, light-hearted film, which communicates the history and facts of sheep farming and its impact on agriculture in the local areas. This project builds on the style of filming that Alexandra and Jourie produced in 2021 when they created 'Our heritage of oats.' The film featured lighthearted interviews with pupils from Stenton Primary School discussing their knowledge of oats.

Stuart McPherson and Shannon Daly are also winners of this year's Prize Their project 'Come the spring' is a coming of age story, set against a backdrop of the agricultural revolution in East Lothian. This will focus on the fictional character, Mary, who is a gamekeeper and bondager in the mid 1800's. The work will highlight the female voice from around this time period.

Both groups of winners will bring their concepts to life this summer, with their final pieces of digital being ready

by October.

65

For more info contact Maree on 01806 335577 or info@polycrub.co.uk