Great ‘ coo’ as family lift farm of year prize
Watsons welcome everyone along for a visit
A herd of cows and their handlers have won the farming equivalent of an Oscar at AgriScot, one of the top farm business shows in Europe.
The honour of Scottish Dairy Farm of the Year goes to the Watson family and their 300 milkers at Laigh Tarbeg in Ochiltree.
Patriarch Hugh Watson, 58, said: “This award has never been won in the west of Scotland so we feel very proud. I think because we embrace the public and also go on school visits was what swung it for us.”
And he pledged: “Basically anybody who asks to see the coos will see them. The public are our customers after all.”
Technology has moved into Laigh Tarbeg big time.
Instead of a fit chap or buckrake spreading the feed down the byre, they have an electronic silage pusher that looks like a Dalek.
The family are always open for guided tours of the steading and visit schools to provide some agricultural education.
They have a herd of 300 Freisian/ Holsteins who actually milk themselves, wandering up to teats when they feel the need to empty.
The farm is 400 acres owned and another 60 rented, providing plenty of rich pasture near to the old Killoch colliery. The Watsons were one of the first pioneers of the robo- milking about nine years ago and the cows were wary of the concept, but now take to it like ducks to water.
Hugh and his son Alistair, 33, run the herd with one full time and one part timer. Hugh’s wife Moira and Alistair’s wife Karen are also involved in the business partnership. The other two dairy finalists were from Castle Douglas and Aberdeenshire.
The Watsons have the white stuff instead of the red stuff in their veins.
Hugh’s brother Jim has milkers at the home farm, High Tarbeg, and brother Ian is over at Keyshill at Stair.
Wife Moira is fully occupied running the farmhouse bed and breakfast operation. Her hospitality is so good they’re on the overflow list for Dumfries House, Auchinleck House and Lochside.
Hugh and Moira moved into Laigh Tarbeg from the home farm 35 years ago.
The next generation come in the shape of Alistair and Karens’ kids Katie, two, and baby Alison.
Alistair has been key to running the technology as “he understands all that” says his old dad.
The family travelled through to AgriScot at Ingliston on November 21.
Convenor of the award, and AgriScot Director, Gilmour Lawrie, an award- winning dairy farmer himself, said the Watsons’ operation was a “beacon of best practice.”
Gilmour said: “Laigh Tarbeg farm and its resident herd of dairy cows are a credit to the Watson family and their staff. I visited the farm with two independent assessors and we were all seriously impressed. Firstly, and most importantly on any dairy farm, are the cows. We saw healthy, contented cows on all three finalist farms and this was certainly evident at Laigh Tarbeg. The implementation of new technology and innovation was what made Laigh Tarbeg really stand out from the others.
“An acute shortage of skilled, willing labour is being felt across all sectors of agriculture and this is only likely to get worse. Laigh Tarbeg is a case study in how innovative technology, such as robotic milking, feeders and shed scrapers, can be used to take the drudgery out of routine chores and free up valuable labour for more lucrative responsibilities whilst helping to achieve a better work life balance.
“We were also impressed by the breeding and replacement policy at Laigh Tarbeg. Rather than breed replacements on- farm, the Watson’s buy in their heifers freshly calved. With no need to breed dairy animals, this then means cows can be inseminated with beef semen to produce higher value beef animals for sale.” The Scottish Dairy Farm of the Year award is sponsored by Cow Alert, the fertility, health and welfare monitoring system for dairy cows developed by Edinburgh based animal technologists, Ice Robotics.
Basically anybody who asks to see the coos will see them. The public are our customers after all Hugh Watson