Lochaber monitor farm meeting planned
POTENTIAL routes to optimise the use and management of grazing land to improve profitability will be discussed at the next Lochaber monitor farm meeting on Thursday March 15.
Monitor farmers Chris and Malcolm Cameron, from Strone Farm near Banavie, have recently secured a five-year tenancy of around 42 hectares of additional grazing with a small shed at Fassfern, Locheil, 11 miles away from the home farm.
At the meeting, which will be held at the newly-rented land at Fassfern, the group will consider the best use of the new additional acreage within the current farm management system in order to improve the output of the business. The group will discuss how the grassland should be managed and what improvements will provide the best return on any investment.
Due to a serious predation problem around Strone, the Camerons currently send their ewes to rented grazing land near Inverness to lamb outside. The lambs are then reared and sold as stores in August without returning to Strone.
Although lambing away from Strone has resulted in much higher lambing percentages, it means Chris needs to live away from the family farm for up to four weeks every year so that he can monitor his ewes during the lambing period.
Chris already has some ideas
for using this extra grazing: ‘I’m keen to see if it would be feasible for us to lamb our ewes with twins inside and maybe even finish some lambs ourselves, rather than selling them as store, as we have done in the past,’ he said. ‘How hill and mountain farmers like ourselves improve the light lamb product they currently offer was one of the issues highlighted at last month’s Vision of the Hills and Mountains meeting and it has certainly given us food for thought as to how we can do this differently at Strone.’
The meeting on March 15 will also explore the option for finishing lambs on the west coast, including input and outputs and how to best improve marginal land, through rush control, drainage, ditching and reseeding.
The Lochaber Monitor Farm is one of nine monitor farms around Scotland in a joint initiative by Quality Meat Scotland and AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds. The aim of the programme, funded by Scottish Government, is to help improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of Scottish farm businesses.
The meeting runs from 11am to 2.30pm. Use postcode PH33 7NP for directions. A cold lunch will be provided. To book a place call Niall Campbell or Morven MacArthur on 01631 563093 or email fbsoban@sac.co.uk.