Joyce Campbell’s Farmer’s view

Recently I made my first ever trip to the Kelso Ram Sales. I met a well-known Orkney agent, farmer and indeed an entrepreneur in one of the tents who announced that he was also a Kelso “virgin”!

Friends had advised me not to miss the bell ringing that signifies the start of the day’s trading. I wasn’t prepared for the outburst of noise as soon-to-beretiring show secretary and treasurer Ron Wilson walked out and rang the bell for the last time.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as all 19 auctioneers simultaneously began their marathon day’s selling to the packed ringsides.

The whole day was a sensory overload of sheep, alongside the social aspect of meeting up with many friends and acquaintances, making it a great day out.

To assist you in choosing a new tup for your flock there was an array of information available around the pens, ranging from performance-recorded figures, maternal and paternal bloodlines to methods of production such as grass-fed or lambed outdoors.

For me there is no right or wrong choice when shopping for tups. Rather, it’s about whatever attributes you require in a sheep to suit your particular circumstances.

I once had a very enlightening visit from a supposedly forward-thinking farm adviser. We were out looking at the hill which carries our stock of North Country Cheviot ewes. He stated that he thought our ewes would be better if we crossed them out rather than breeding them pure.

I’ll not name the in-vogue breed (at that time) he suggested I should use, but he did just happen to have a small flock of them himself, so sourcing tups was not going to be a problem.

My initial reply was did he think these crossing tups, from southern climates, would like the ticks on the Armadale hill? This was my polite answer to his proposition, but it actually is a massive issue here to buy in tick-acclimatised tups.

Suffice to say I never took up his advice. However, 10 years later I did remind him of what he had said about crossing out our ewes. He was unfortunate to be one of the first people I met on my way out of the ring in Lairg, after a successful sale day of cast ewes.

My reply to his words of congratulations were: “Where would I have been if I had listened to you?”

For me there is no right or wrong choice when shopping for tups

To be fair, he did admit that his advice had been poorly thought out.

The one determining factor in the success of any sheep enterprise is profitability, no matter what production system you use.

We all look at the new trends and advancements in technology and use the aspects that can fit into our flocks.

Farm advisers need to fully understand the implications of what they are telling their customers. Fashions and new thinking come and go but a hefted hill stock can be destroyed in an instant by poor decisions.

The proverb “before you criticise a man, walk a mile in his shoes” rings true.

Gathering gimmers – The success of any sheep enterprise is determined by profitability.