Prime and pedigree at Allanfauld

Prime and pedigree go hand in hand at Allanfauld

From the foot of the hill to the top, some 1500 feet above sea level, the MacGregor family’s various breeds of sheep and cattle all have their place on the mixed farming unit at Allanfauld, Kilsyth, and the Texel flock has certainly made its mark within that system, over the past 20 years.

Father and son, Archie and John, run the business alongside their wives, Libby and Bryony, plus shepherd, David Kinloch – helped with enthusiasm by John and Bryony’s three young children, Matthew, Andrew and

Catherine.

Farming 2000 acres in all, the breeding sheep flock includes 1200 Blackface ewes, 250 Scotch Mules, 25 Bluefaced Leicesters, 25 Texels and 16 Badgerfaced Texels, while pedigree herds of Charolais, Limousins and Luings, make up the cattle numbers, along with some crossbred cows.

Texels were used successfully on the crossbred ewes before the decision was made to establish a pedigree flock of their own, prompted by then 17 year-old John, back in 2001. He explains: “I grew up surrounded by Blackfaces on the hill and have always loved the character of the breed. “In a similar way, the Texel appealed to me more than any other breed, with its character and versatility. We bought into them initially with the aim of breeding tups for using ourselves and hopefully some to sell too.”

Impressed with the tops and ends on Donald MacPherson’s shearlings at Kelso, Archie and John began by buying four gimmers and a ewe lamb from his Hexel flock. Later flushed to Castlecairn Hadrian, that ewe lamb went onto breed particularly strong females, including the dam of Allanfauld Limited Edition – the 30,000gns seller at the flock’s Scottish National Sale, Lanark, debut in 2005.

“We had bought a lamb the previous year that hadn’t worked and the Campbells offered us a loan of Ettrick Jackpot. I had really liked him as a lamb, so it was great to get the chance to use him and he certainly bred well for us – to get 30,000gns with the first lamb we had ever sold at Lanark, was an amazing start,” says John.

Other rams that have clicked well with the Allanfauld females over the years include Baltier Nailer, bought for 8000gns in 2007; Garngour Ultimatum, purchased in 2013 for 6000gns and Knap You’re The Man, a joint purchase for 20,000gns in 2016.

It was a Baltier Nailer daughter that bred Allanfauld Rockafella, which made 18,000gns at Lanark in 2010. He was sired by Livery Predator, another sire used on loan, this time from Bruce Goldie. Meanwhile, a Garngour Ultimatum daughter, crossed with Knap You’re The Man, produced Allanfauld Am The Man, which sold for 24,000gns at Lanark in 2017.

“The Knap tup bred well for us; he kept the frame, but added a bit of class. First and foremost, we’re aiming to breed good commercial sheep, so any stock tups need to have plenty of length, with a good top, square backend, be correct on their legs, while also having character too. But a big, strong head is no use if the rest is not correct,” says John.

“Health is very important too and we’re very wary of breathing issues as we’ve bought tups with issues in the past. We try to make sure we’re buying from healthy breeding lines, for the longterm good of our flock, but also the longevity of the breed as a whole. Something all breeders should be conscious of,” he adds.

In addition to the ram lamb market, Archie and John also sell 12-14 shearlings each year, between Kelso and Stirling. Top to-date has been £8000, for a Knap You’re The Man son in 2020. That year, the pen of eight averaged £2175.

“We aim to breed lambs with the commercial attributes that they can still make a good shearling if they’re not sold as lambs. We want them to be a decent size, but they don’t need to be huge – at the end of the day, the aim is to sell finished lambs at 45kg, you don’t want them getting to 50kg before they’re ready to go,” explains John.

Five years ago, with female numbers at capacity and on the look-out for an outlet to sell gimmers, the family teamed up with a few other breeders and Lawrie and Symington, to establish the Lanark Crackers female sale, now held in December each year.

John MacGregor and wife, Bryony, are assisted by their keen young family, Matthew, Andrew and Catherine. It got off to a flying start in 2018, with the seven Allanfauld gimmers averaging £2691, selling to a top of 7000gns to Auldhouseburn. The demand for Allanfauld gimmers has continued in the years since, with the consignment peaking at 22,000gns and 12,000gns in 2019 and 10,000gns in 2020.

The 22,000gns and 12,000gns gimmers came from another female line that has been successful for the flock, originating from a ewe that John bought at Dingwall from Ian Farquhar’s Insch flock, after judging the in-lamb sale and placing her champion. A granddaughter of the renowned Knock 34 ewe and sired by Glenside Razzle Dazzle, she was the great-grand dam of those two five-figure gimmers.

“We’ve invested some of that income from the female sales, back into the flock, by buying in a select few females to establish

new lines. These include ones from Knock, Teiglum and Glenside. We want to be able to sell good quality stock gimmers, so in order to do that, we can’t be complacent when it comes to maintaining the quality in the breeding ewes,” says John.

Lambs for this year’s sales came from some of those new lines, with trade peaking at 11,000gns at Carlisle, for Allanfauld Flaming Star, a son of last year’s joint purchase, Seaforde Egyptian Warrior, out of a Teiglum ewe, a daughter of Knock Bantastic which was bought at the Select Seven sale in 2020.

“Because of the amount of flushing and an increase in people wanting to buy lambs off high priced tups, the gene pool is getting very narrow. We try to look for something different, but it’s getting near impossible to do that.

“We do flush a select team of ewes each year and they are then put to the tup, as we want to be sure that our main brood ewes are able to rear a lamb. I wouldn’t like to flush a ewe that wasn’t fit to rear a lamb herself,” adds John.

Lambing is a long and busy period at Allanfauld, starting in February with the Texels, going into March, followed by the Bluefaced Leicesters, Mules and Blackfaces, which finish in May. Homebred Texel rams are used on the Mules to produce prime lambs, which are sold from July, straight off grass through Dunbia and Farmstock.

“Using homebred tups to produce prime lambs, has cemented how important it is to be breeding tups with length and ease of fleshing, particularly over the shoulder. These are traits that can easily be forgotten about when people are chasing the dream of achieving that one big price at a sale,” says John, who was reassured of the high standard within the breed, while judging the inaugural Textravaganza National Show at Carlisle last year. “That was the strongest show of Texels I had ever seen; there was huge depth of quality in the classes. There’s no more an enjoyable job than judging good quality stock.

“I remain passionate about the breed and confident in its future. We always intended to be in the breed for the long-term and the aim was to breed a flock of sheep that we could be proud of – hopefully we’re getting there!”

Top female seller for the flock to date was XMM1815490 at 22,000gns, with her full sister (below) making 12,000gns.