Breeding success paying off for the ‘B Team’

The Balthayock Charolais herd has enjoyed huge success over the last few decades, producing several five-figure sales with bulls and lifting a number of top awards, including the beef inter-breed championship at the Royal Highland Show in 2019.

For owner Major David Walter, his son Nick and the farm’s husband-andwife stockman duo, Davie and Tracey Nicoll, it’s certainly been a decade to remember.

In 2019, the team celebrated 50 years of the herd, and that same year stood inter-breed champion with Balthayock Nessie, at the Highland.

At the time, she was a two-year-old heifer by Dingle Hofmeister, which has bred extremely well for the herd.

They also sold their top-priced bull to date in 2015 when Balthayock Justice sold for 50,000gns, and then in 2018, they sold Balthayock Minstrel for 46,000gns.

The Perthshire herd is always a regular pen for potential buyers to flock to, and bulls from the strong line-up have produced some tremendous averages over the years, including £15,633 for nine and £12,687 for eight.

Pre-sale shows at Stirling have also added to the achievements for the team.

Since Davie and Tracey started 13 years ago, they have secured two senior championships, two intermediates, five juniors, three overall wins and three reserve wins.

It’s been more than half a century of hard work and dedication to the breed that has brought so much success to this family-run business.

It is home to 110 pedigree Charolais cows, 150 commercial cows and 700 Lleyn cross Texel ewes.

The 1,800-acre unit also grows 120 acres of winter barley, 40 acres of spring barley, 25 acres of oats and 20 acres of winter forage for finishing lambs.

Around 230 acres of silage is taken each year, and 400 acres of straw is bought in the bout.

Commercial cows calve from March 20 onwards, while the pedigree females start calving at the end of April, with 35 calving in November and December.

Impressively, Balthayock has only ever bought in one female since its foundation purchases 54 years ago.

The herd has been built up from the original 14 heifers and top-quality stock bulls bought either privately or at Stirling Bull Sales.

Home-bred bulls are used on the commercial herd of mainly Simmental cross Shorthorns – which Davie and Tracey say is a good advert for the herd, showing producers what their bulls can achieve on a commercial level.

“The majority of the stirks are sold at Stirling in April and are sold to regular buyers, with many

sold down to Yorkshire,” said Tracey.

“Last year, they sold to average £1,160 across the board. We’ve also been selling cast cows and bulls at Thainstone, and just recently a cow sold for £2,370 and a bull for £2,780.”

All home-bred heifers have been calved to the Charolais for the past four years, which Tracey said has caused less trouble than the previous policy of using Simmentals or Beef Shorthorns.

A number of successful stock sires have been purchased over the years, with one of the most recent being the privately purchased Forsie Sunny, from the Mill family in Caithness.

He’s an 18-month-old son of Goldie’s Notable – and is in the top 1% of the breed.

The herd also paid 24,000gns in partnership with Grant and Mark Smeaton, from Forfar, for Harestone Ronaldinho, which topped last year’s February sale.

His first calves are due at the end of the month.

A son of the showwinning Balthayock Nessie, named Balthayock Regal, was also retained in the herd, and his first calves look promising.

For now, the team at Balthayock, more so known as the “B Team”, are busy preparing for this month’s Stirling Bull Sales, where they will have a huge entry of 12 bulls forward.

This month’s entries include a variety of top breeding lines, with the 12 forward sired by five different stock bulls.

Two are by Balthayock Impression, which is one of the top-rated bulls in the breed, and three are by Maerdy Osgood.

The first two sons to be offered for sale by the £15,000 privately purchased Elrick Paragon will also be forward.

In the past, the team has had forward as many as 19 bulls at one sale – which both Tracey and Davie say wouldn’t be possible without their hard-working team.

Hector Campbell is a huge asset, helping out with the bulls two days per week.

The farm also employs shepherd Barry Douglas and tractor man Alan Campbell.

“Charolais cattle have brought us so much joy over the years,” said Tracey.

“Selling bulls to returned buyers time and time again has to be one of the biggest achievements.”

TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAMWORK: Husband-and-wife stockman duo Davie and Tracey Nicoll with some of the Balthayock Charolais herd. Pictures by Kenny Smith.

Farm owner Major David Walter with some of the young Charolais bulls on his farm.