The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Team effort at new farm grows success
For the Smith family from Auchernack, near Grantown-onSpey, it’s good calving percentages, quality stock and a forwardlooking team effort which are key to success on the new monitor farm.
More than 70 visitors attended the first meeting held by the family, where fellow producers were able to view the family’s beef enterprise which numbers 140 suckler cows and 120 store cattle.
The 800-acre unit has been in the Smith family since 1936 and is now farmed by Malcolm, his wife Sammie, and their son Calum, who focus on store calf production using predominantly Limousin sires.
For ease of management, cattle are outwintered indoors and the calving is split, with a third of the herd calving in autumn/ winter and the remainder in the spring.
Sammie is also a partner in the business and runs a successful self-catering enterprise.
For the visitors, the first meeting focused on first impressions, with Malcolm explaining the farm’s autumn and spring calving pattern, Sammie the bull choice and health status, and Calum discussing calf performance and housing.
Attendees highlighted more than 70 points of positive practice at Auchernack, including the right-sized cows, good calving percentages, compact nine-week calving periods and efficient use of slurry from the slatted sheds.
Suggestions for improvement included greater focus on bull and cow fertility to get more calves in the first three weeks of calving, with a recommendation to pick bulling heifers from early calving cows.
Attendees mentioned that the choice of heifers could be based on pelvic scoring, the Smiths could consider different grassland systems to extend the grazing season and that they might benefit from taking a more strategic look at the business.
The family will aim to make more use of data as the whole herd is now EID tagged.
The monitor farm programme is supporting a deeper look into Auchernack through the Farm Advisory Service’s Integrated Land Management Plan and Specialist Plans which will help create a farm vision and suggestions for future development.
Malcolm said: “People offered valuable insights into our business. We were pleased to hear that we were doing some things well and were inspired by suggestions to take the farm to the next level, even in challenging times.”
Peter Beattie, regional adviser for three north of Scotland monitor farms, said: “Attendees were impressed by the quality stock and the attention to data and detail. Suggestions for improvement were pragmatic, informative and thought-provoking.”