Every farmer has a story to tell. This book covers the diverse range of Scottish farmers and crofters from those farming the rugged hills of the Highlands to the sandy loams of the Lowlands. From owner occupiers, tenant farmers, share farmers, crofters, farm managers, starter farmers, to new entrants, farming from 10 acres to 31 000 acres – the people are as diverse as the landscapes and environment in which they work.
Scotland covers 7.8 million hectares, of that 5.7 million or 73% is farmland, or 79% if common grazing is included.
This book has photographs of 300 farmers and interviews with 200 from across the country from Orkney to Berwick and Durness to Stranraer within its 288 pages. It is available from the outlets listed opposite or direct from the author.
To orderdirect: drop an e-mail to Eildih MacPherson at editor@farmingscotland.com or private message on facebook –farmingscotland.com for details.
300 Farmers of Scotland is available at the following outlets:
AY R S H I R E
TURNBERRY - Dowhill Farm Shop
DALMELLINGTON – Jet Service Station
AYR & Lochwinnoch –Fullwoodhead Dairy Supplies
AYR –MacCaskies Farm Supplies
GALSTON –Gibbs of Galston
A R G Y L L S H I R E
LOCH FYNE –Loch Fyne Oysters
LOCHGILPHEAD –Argyll Book Centre
LOCHGILPHEAD –Harbro
OBAN –Carrs Billington
F I F E
LEVEN – Blacketyside Farm Shop
ST ANDREWS – J & G Innes Ltd.
ANSTRUTHER – East Neuk Books
PERTHSHIRE
ABERFELDY – Watermill Book Shop
KINROSS – MacCaskies Farm Supplies
MILNATHORT –Carrs Billington
PERTH –Carrs Billington
PERTH –Harbro
PERTH –Gloagburn Farm Shop
BORDERS
MELROSE –Masons of Melrose
STOW –Post Office
PEEBLES –Harbro
SELKIRK –Carrs Billington
LANGHOLM – Blue Moon
HAWICK – Harbro
JEDBURGH – Born in the Borders
JEDBURGH – Carrs Billington, Mounthooley
COLDSTREAM - The Hirsel
SELKIRK – The Forest Book Shop
DUNS –Harbro
EARLSTON – Harbro
ABERDEENSHIRE
FORDOUN –Castleton Farm Shop & Cafe
INVERURIE –Harbro
HUNTLY –Harbro
HUNTLY –Orb's Bookshop (soon)
MINTLAW –Harbro
TURRIFF –Harbro
ANGUS
FORFAR –Harbro
HIGHLANDS / MORAY
ULLAPOOL –Ullapool Bookshop
NAIRN –Strachans of Nairn
INVERNESS –Harbro
GRANTOWN –The Book Mark
AVIEMORE –MacDonald Highland Resort Shopping
CORPACH –Harbro
KINGUSSIE –Caberfeidh Bookshop
ISLANDS
ORKNEY –Birsay Farmers
ORKNEY –The Orcadian Bookshop
SHETLAND –Shetland Times
ISLE OF BUTE –Point Print
ISLE OF SKYE –McIntyre’s Newsagents
ISLE OF SKYE –Harbro
ISLE OF LEWIS –Lewis Crofters
ISLE OF HARRIS –Harris Tweed, Tarbert
ISLE OF NORTH UIST – Taigh Cheasabhagh
ISLE OF BENBECULA –MacGillivray's
ISLE OF MULL –Rhoda Munro
ISLE OF ISLAY –C&E Roy, The Celtic House
DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY
BEESWING – Loch Aurthur Farm Shop
CASTLE DOUGLAS –Design
RINGFORD –Tarff Valley
DUMFRIES –Kilnford Barns Farm Shop, Tarff Valley
MOFFAT –The Moffat Book Shop, Manson Interiors
MONIAIVE –Watsons Grocers
ST JOHNS OF DALRY –Post Office & Shop
NEW GALLOWAY – Cat Strand
WIGTOWN – The Book Shop
KIRKINNER – Agri Inputs
ANNAN –Carrs Billington
LOTHIAN
BONESS – Inkspot & Silverleaf
LINLITHGOW – Far From the Madding Crowd
HADDINGTON –Kelseys Bookshop
SOUTH QUEENSFERRY – Craigie's Farm Shop & Cafe
DALKEITH –Harbro
LANARKSHIRE
BIGGAR –Atkinson Pryce Bookshop, The Biggar Gallery
LANARK –Lawrie & Symington Country Store
LANARK –MacCaskies Farm Supplies
CENTRAL SCOTLAND
BALLOCH – Carrs Billington
GARTOCHARN –Post Office
STIRLING – MacCaskies Farm Supplies
STIRLING –Harbro
STIRLING –Carrs Billington
STIRLING –Blairmains Farm Shop
STIRLING –Caledonian Mart
BRIDGE OF ALLAN – Treehouse
BLAIRDRUMMOND – The Blair Drummond Smiddy
IRELAND
CO ANTRIM, Cushendall – Glens Farm Supplies
ARMOY, BALLYMONEY –Glens Farm Supplies
BALLYMENA –Glens Farm Supplies
MARTINSTOWN –Glens Farm Supplies
ENGLAND
HEXHAM – Carrs Billington
CARLISLE – MacCaskies Farm Supplies
Co ntents
Farming Country
COVER STORY
1 2 4 7 1 5
Allan Wight of Midlock is one of the many farmers highlighted in the new book written by Eilidh MacPherson and published by farmingscotland.com.An excerpt from the book can be read on pages 12 & 13 and outlets where the book is sold are listed on page 3. You can order a copy direct by sending a private message on facebook –farmingscotland.com or e-mailing her at editor@farmingscotland.com
It has been an amazing few months. Publishing my new book –300 Farmers of Scotland –was a huge gamble, but one I’m delighted I took. Thanks to everyone who bought a copy and to all who took the time to send lovely texts, messages and kind words –much appreciated. It is on sale at the 90 outlets listed on page 3 or direct from farmingscotland.com. Pages 12 &13 have a double page spread excerpt from the book, to give an idea of its contents.
Hugh Stringleman covers Australia and America in his interesting world markets column this issue. The name ‘Trump’ has been uttered almost as many times as ‘Brexit’ these past few months –on news and in conversations across the country!
An outing to the National Sheep Association AGM and Dinner at Airth Castle earlier this month was a welcome break. I was delighted at the outcome of the vote for the new Chair position, as John Fyall, who has a column on page 10, came out on top. John won the farmingscotland.com Young Farmer of the Year competition back in 2006 and over the past decade has written a column for this publication from time to time. Through hard work, on and off farm and sheer determination he is farming in his own right and will be an inspiration to many youngsters struggling to get a foot on the farming ladder. With his industry-wide experience, John will be the ideal candidate to work through this difficult period and help lobby for the best outcome for sheep farmers in Scotland.
The World Sheep Shearing Championships were held in Invercargill recently. We toyed with going out, as I had for shorn for several seasons just north of Invercargill, at Winton and Richard had done a season in the South. We knew the craic would be amazing –but it is a long way to go for a couple of weeks so we opted for the live streaming on the internet instead. One wee problem –we were scanning the day of the finals and the live coverage clashed with us bringing in field upon field of ewes. My old lawyer flatmate, from my New Zealand Farmer magazine writing days, now the MP for Invercargill, had front row seats and kept me updated with photographs! Read all about the event on page 40.
I would like to apologise to the MacKinnon family in Perthshire. I included an article on Duncan MacKinnon, Australia, in my book. I worked for Duncan back in 1989, when I first travelled to Australia. He became a good family friend and every second year when he came back to Scotland, he would visit my parents, even if I wasn’t at home. In September 2015, my in-laws were heading out to Western Australia and I asked if they would visit Duncan and take a gift from me. They duly, went to the care home and were told that he was in hospital. They phoned the hospital and were told he had passed away the week before. I have since learned that Duncan (92) is still alive, so I’m sorry for any upset caused to family.
Without Additional Efforts, the Target of Ending Hunger by 2030 Will Not
be Met
Mankind's future ability to feed itself is in jeopardy due to intensifying pressures on natural resources, mounting inequality, and the fallout from a changing climate, warns a new FAO report out recently.
Though very real and significant progress in reducing global hunger has been achieved over the past 30 years, "expanding food production and economic growth have often come at a heavy cost to the natural environment," says The Future of Food and Agriculture: Trends and Challenges.
"Almost one half of the forests that once covered the Earth are now gone. Groundwater sources are being depleted rapidly. Biodiversity has been deeply eroded," it notes.
As a result, "planetary boundaries may well be surpassed, if current trends continue," cautions FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva in his introduction to the report.
By 2050 humanity's ranks will likely have grown to nearly 10 billion people. In a scenario with moderate economic growth, this population increase will push up global demand for agricultural products by 50 percent over present levels projects The Future of Food and Agriculture, intensifying pressures on already-strained natural resources.
At the same time, greater numbers of people will be eating fewer cereals and larger amounts of meat, fruits, vegetables and processed food — a result of an ongoing global dietary transition that will further add to those pressures, driving more deforestation, land degradation, and greenhouse gas emissions.
Alongside these trends, the planet's changing climate will throw up additional hurdles. "Climate change will affect every aspect of food production," the report says. These include greater variability of precipitation and increases in the frequency of droughts and floods.
To reach zero hunger, we need to step up our efforts.
The core question raised by FAO publication is whether, looking ahead, the world's agriculture and food systems are capable of sustainably meeting the needs of a burgeoning global population.
The short answer? Yes, the planet's food systems are capable of producing enough food to do so, and in a sustainable way, but unlocking that potential — and ensuring that all of humanity benefits — will require "major transformations.
Without a push to invest in and retool food systems, far too many people will still be hungry in 2030 — the year by which the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda has targeted the eradication of chronic food insecurity and malnutrition, the report warns.
"Without additional efforts to promote pro-poor
development, reduce inequalities and protect vulnerable people, more than 600 million people would still be undernourished in 2030," it says. In fact, the current rate of progress would not even be enough to eradicate hunger by 2050.
Where will our food come from?
Given the limited scope for expanding agriculture's use of more land and water resources, the production increases needed to meet rising food demand will have to come mainly from improvements in productivity and resource-use efficiency.
However there are worrying signs that yield growth is levelling off for major crops. Since the 1990s, average increases in the yields of maize, rice and wheat at the global level generally run just over 1 percent per annum, the report notes.
To tackle these and the other challenges outlined in the report, "business-as-usual" is not an option, The Future of Food and Agriculture argues.
"Major transformations in agricultural systems, rural economies and natural resource management will be needed if we are to meet the multiple challenges before us and realize the full potential of food and agriculture to ensure a secure and healthy future for all people and the entire planet," it says.
"High-input, resource-intensive farming systems, which have caused massive deforestation,water scarcities, soil depletion and high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, cannot deliver sustainable food and agricultural production," adds the report.
More with less
The core challenge is to produce more with less, while preserving and enhancing the livelihoods of small-scale and family farmers and ensuring access to food by the most vulnerable. For this, a twin-track approach is needed which combines investment in social protection, to immediately tackle undernourishment and pro-poor investments in productive activities — especially agriculture and in rural economies — to sustainably increase income-earning opportunities of the poor
The world will need to shift to more sustainable food systems, which make more efficient use of land, water and other inputs and sharply reduce their use of fossil fuels, leading to a drastic cut of agricultural green-house gas emissions, greater conservation of biodiversity and a reduction of waste. This will necessitate more investment in agriculture and agrifood systems, as well as greater spending on research and development, the report says, to promote innovation, support sustainable production increases and find better ways to cope with issues like water scarcity and climate change.
Along with boosting production and resilience, equally critical will be creating food supply chains that better connect farmers in low- and middle income countries to urban markets — along with measures, which ensure access for consumers to nutritious and safe food at affordable prices, such as such as pricing policies and social protection programs, it says.
Trends and challenges
Today's report identifies 15 trends and 10 challenges affecting the world's food systems: 15 trends
A rapidly increasing world population marked by growth "hot spots," urbanization, and aging
Diverse trends in economic growth, family incomes, agricultural investment and economic inequality.
Greatly increased competition for natural resources
Climate change
Plateauing agricultural productivity
Transboundary diseases
Increased conflicts, crises and natural disasters
Persistent poverty, inequality and food insecurity
Dietary transitions affecting nutrition and health
Structural changes in economic systems and employment implications
Increased migration
Changing food systems and resulting impacts on farmers livelihoods
Persisting food losses and waste
New international governance mechanisms for responding to food and nutrition security issues
Changes in international financing for development.
10 challenges
Sustainably improving agricultural productivity to meet increasing demand
Ensuring a sustainable natural resource base
Addressing climate change and intensification of natural hazards
Eradicating extreme poverty and reducing inequality
Ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition
Making food systems more efficient, inclusive and resilient
Improving income earning opportunities in rural areas and addressing the root causes of migration
Building resilience to protracted crises, disasters and conflicts
Preventing transboundary and emerging agriculture and food system threats
Addressing the need for coherent and effective national and international governance
BWMB Seeks Regional Committee Members
ABluefaced Leicester fleece, which was the winner of the British Wool Marketing Board’s 2016 Golden Fleece competition will go under the hammer to raise money for Cancer Research UK and the children’s hospice Ty Gobaith, Conwy.
The fleece from Anglesey-based sheep farmers Myrfyn and Jayne Roberts was shorn from one of the couple’s pedigree Bluefaced Leicester ewes and weighs 670g, with a staple length of 19cm and is approximately 26 micron.
Competition finals judge Mark Powell, BWMB chief operating officer, described it as having great uniformity of quality, strength of staple, colour and presentation. “It was an outstanding entry and clearly from a producer who takes pride in their wool crop. It is a good tidy fleece, all of which is useable,” he explained.
Jayne Roberts said having won the competition she wanted to use the fleece to benefit both local and national charities.
“Both Cancer Research UK and Ty Gobaith do exceptional work and need all the support they can get. Ty Gobaith is a local charity, which provides exceptional care and support for young people and their families often in the most difficult of circumstances.
“We were shocked to win the Golden Fleece competition and want to use our success to benefit others. We take pride in the wool we produce, but didn’t think we’d have a chance of winning such a prestigious national competition. Hopefully people will get behind the auction and ensure it raises some much needed money for charity.”
The sealed bid auction will take place from 9am on Monday 23 January to 4pm on Friday 10 February, with the winner announced on Valentines Day, 14 February.
BWMB chairman Ian Buchannan said the success of the 2016 Golden Fleece competition had demonstrated the exceptional quality of British wool and the versatile nature of the fleeces produced by British sheep farmers.
“Now we’re asking all those who appreciate British wool to show their love for this winning fleece and raise a worthwhile amount for two excellent charities.”
Bids need to be submitted by email to DianeKeating@britishwool.org.uk, with potential buyers asked to submit just one bid, their highest offer
“Say Aye to a Pie”
AWest Lothian butcher, who prides himself on the quality of his meat and award winning pies, is gearing up for this year’s British Pie Awards in Melton Mowbray on 8 March 2017.
Paul Boyle and his wife Christine, who own Boghall Butchers and are members of The Scotch Butchers Club run by QMS, employ 11 staff between their shops in Bathgate and Broxburn.
Following his business mantra of “Say aye tae a pie”, Mr Boyle, who was World Scotch Pie Champion in 2005 and 2009, has developed 12 new pies including a Scotch Lamb Hotpot Pie, a Traditional Scotch Lamb Pie and a Scotch Beef and Ale Pie.With all the new pies being made using top secret recipes, Mr Boyle is hoping that all eyes will be on his pies at the annual event.
Competition is sure to be tough, however, as 800 of the UK’s best pie producers will be judged by experts, celebrity chefs and acclaimed food writers in 20 categories, including the Scotch Beef PGI sponsored Beef and Ale Pie class and the Scotch Lamb PGI sponsored Lamb Pie class, to claim the title of Supreme Champion at the annual awards.
Mr Boyle doesn’t seem phased, though, and can see the value of entering these awards for his business. “Winning world-renowned awards for our pies has really put our shop on the map and entering these competitions encourages us to try new recipes to constantly improve our offering,
which our customers love.
“The British Pie Awards recognise the craft of bakers, butchers and other producers from across the UK and it would be absolutely terrific to come home with an award.”
Graeme Sharp, Marketing Executive at QMS said: “We’re proud to be sponsoring two categories at this year’s awards which celebrate the heritage of British pies. With a firm focus on taste and quality, Scotch Beef PGI and Scotch Lamb PGI fit perfectly with the awards’ ethos.
“We know the high standard of skill which goes into a butcher’s craft and want to showcase this to the world. We hope many of our Scotch Butchers Club members will be competing at this year’s prestigious awards; we might be biased but we think their pies are a cut above the rest.”
The awards are open to all producers of pies sold commercially in the UK: pie makers, butchers, bakers and those who exhibit at shows. The closing date for entries is 17 February 2017.
Members of the Scotch Butchers Club who enter the awards will qualify for up to £50 from Quality Meat Scotland which can be used towards transportation costs. Terms and conditions apply.
More information about the awards is available here: www.britishpieawards.co.uk.
For more information on the Scotch Beef or Scotch Lamb brands, including recipes, videos and tips, visit www.scotchkitchen.com or follow Scotch Kitchen on Facebook or Twitter.
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Atractor will visit every primary school in the Scottish Borders on Thursday 9 March to raise awareness of educational charity, The Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET).
The Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET) has arranged the ‘tractor tour' to increase the profile of its Scottish Borders arm, RHET Scottish Borders, and to make schools aware of the range of free services the non-profit, educational charity provides in the area such as free farm visits for pupils, classroom talks by local farmers, teaching resources and teacher training.
Eight tractors will visit 62 primary schools, and during each school visit the pupils will be invited to come out to see the tractor and get their photograph taken.
The driver on the tractor will be ready to answer any questions the children may have before heading off to the next school on the tour.
As part of the tractor tour, RHET will be creating a recipe book. Recipes for the book will be gathered from each school, with a focus on the use of produce from the Scottish Borders.The book will be divided into multiple sections and will feature recipes by celebrity chefs. Ally McGrath, chef and owner of Osso Restaurant in Peebles, will feature as the main chef in the book. The award winning chef will be providing one of his recipes and the book's foreword.
The recipe book will be on sale in May, with the proceeds of each sale going towards continuing the work of RHET in the Borders. The books will be available on the RHET website and also sold at agricultural shows and at some of the primary schools.
Allan Murray, the chairman of RHET Scottish Borders, said, "The tractor tour will make primary school children much more aware of food production and farming in the Scottish Borders. With the help of the recipe book, they will become familiar with what is produced on local farms."
After the tractor tour, RHET will be offering to arrange for one of their volunteers to visit a classroom to deliver an educational talk. These talks will consist of a detail discussion on food, farming or any other aspect of rural life.
The tractors and freebies for all schools during the tractor tour will be supplied by Rose of Lamancha, Thomas Sherriffs & Co Ltd, Ancroft Tractors, Lloyds Tractors, George Marshall, Kelso & Lothian Harvesters, Rickerby, Henderson Grass Machinery and Drew Oliver. Thanks also to Harrison & Hetherington Ltd.
Mast Income
All farmers and landowners hosting telecoms masts should check the terms of their lease before new rules come into force or potentially risk losing vital rental income.
This is the advice from Davidson & Robertson, who fear that many farmers and landowners are possibly not aware of the prospect of this new legislation nor the impact it may have on rental income from telecoms masts.
The UK Government's Electronic Communications Code, which is part of the Digital Economy Bill should receive Royal Assent this springtime and could give telecoms companies, amongst others, more power to build masts on private land, rights to upgrade equipment without landlord consent, and dramatically reduce the rental income to a market value of the site in the "no-scheme" system.
The wide-ranging Digital Economy Bill aims to increase mobile coverage across the UK with an emphasis on 3G, 4G, 5G and emergency coverage. It is currently at committee stage in the House of Lords and could come into force within months.
Davidson & Robertson has developed a strong reputation for helping clients get the best from telecoms opportunities and keeping them up to date with market rents and legislative changes.
Lynn Dandie of Davidson & Robertson said: "With the introduction of the new Electronic Communications Code looming, Davidson & Robertson are advising all rural businesses leasing land to telecoms operators to check their existing lease without delay and seek professional advice on the matter if necessary. Many farmers and landowners are unaware that vital income from mobile masts could dramatically reduce and telecoms operators may seek to end existing leases and re-negotiate new terms using their Code powers if the lease has an unconditional rolling break clause.
"Telecoms operators stand to gain greater access rights for maintaining and upgrading equipment, as well as the power to share their mast with other providers without the need to notify the landowner or pay more.
"While the new rules are not designed to be applied retrospectively, telecoms companies could utilise the break clause that exists in many leases, especially if it states that this can happen 'at any point'."
"Spring is a very busy time of year for farms and estates, and reviewing telecoms contracts could easily slip to the bottom of the to-do list, however, with thousands of pounds' worth of rental income at stake for some rural businesses it is in every mobile mast site provider's interest to make sure they know where they stand."
New Team at UA
United Auctions recently announced a Management Buy Out of the Company. A management consortium, comprising George Purves, John Roberts, Christopher Sharp and Donald Young, backed by fellow Directors David Brown, Donald Morrison and Matt Stevenson, agreed terms to acquire the entire issued share capital of Scotland’s leading livestock auctioneers for an undisclosed sum.
The deal included all auction markets within the Group, including the property holding at Stirling Agricultural Centre.
The seven strong team assuming operational responsibility for the business was announced in August 2016 as part of the Group’s succession planning programme.
George Purves, Managing Director of United Auctions, said: “This is a big step in the evolution and continued planned progression of the Company and we are deeply proud to be sharing the responsibility of taking the business forward for the next generation.”
Former owners Robin Tough, Neil McLean and David Leggat, who stood down from the management team in December 2016, will each continue to have non-executive, advisory roles with the Company.
Outgoing Executive Chairman David Leggat said: “We feel that this is the right time for us to take a step back and allow the next generation to take the business forward. We have the utmost faith and belied that the next team will continue to build upon the foundations and success the business has had to date.”
Making Tax Digital
In just over 12 months it is expected that the first phase of HMRC's Making Tax Digital (MTD) project will come on stream. Unlike previous major national initiatives however, such as RTI reporting for PAYE and auto enrolment for pensions, it has been proposed that MTD will hit smaller businesses first, except those with turnovers below £10,000 per annum that will be exempt.
MTD will entail keeping records digitally with the prospect of submitting a quarterly summary to HMRC and a separate annual submission finalising annual tax figures within 9 months of year-end.
Subject to confirmation, it is understood that unincorporated businesses will be first into the new reporting regime with MTD for income tax for them set to kick in from 6 April 2018 although there has been discussion for deferral for the smallest businesses – those above the £10 000 exemption – for one year. VAT reporting for unincorporated businesses and companies will fall within MTD from April 2019, and corporation tax from April 2020.
Coll Murchison-MacDonald, Partner in the Inverness office of Saffery Champness, and a member of the firm's Landed Estates and Rural Business Group, says: “This new regime may present a challenge for many rural businesses, and particularly those that do not currently keep their own accounting records using dedicated software.
“There is also a lot of detail missing at the present time and despite the tight timeframe, we are still very much waiting for further announcements. Ongoing consultations have set out how MTD will work for straightforward unincorporated businesses including simple partnerships, but there are still a lot of holes in what we actually know and what we are facing.
“If we accept that MTD is coming next year then general advice to all businesses at this time should be to assess current record keeping and tax compliance processes and identify whether any new software, or the hardware to run it, is needed. When buying new software security over the financial data of the business should also be a consideration.
“It takes time to get acquainted with new systems and this whole exercise is all about improving efficiency. We anticipate that there will be penalties for those who cannot comply within the required timeframes and ignorance, as is ever the case, will be no excuse.”
New NSA Chairman
Alot has happened since my last article in this magazine. In the last year I have turned 40, been paid my first non competitive subsidy, sold my first pedigree bulls and made a profit on the farm, in some part down to a good trade for 450 gimmers.
The land agency work and valuation business has gone from strength to strength and we took the decision last year to put off the lambing ewes and grow the organic cattle herd from 20 to 40 pure Shorthorns, with a view to lambing sheep again once a flock size can warrant a full time presence on the farm and we can get more ground accepted into organic conversion. In the meantime on the seasonal ground I have 850 ewe lambs for gimmering which means the sheep work mostly occurs when the days are longer. For the next two years with assured off farm work and less commitments on the farm the opportunity presented itself to stand for the 2 year term as Chairman of the National Sheep Association, and when asked to consider found I could not refuse.
Ijoined the NSA when I was 17 and a renewed interest in the organisation in recent years has reaffirmed to me the worth of membership. Never have sheep farmers needed representation more. At the time of writing an announcement is due on LFASS continuation and will no doubt see deterioration in real terms of subsidy received in the uplands. We are now in a position in Scotland where ideas of earnest and more targeted use of taxpayers' money in supporting those producing can be dismissed in favour of what is easiest for a computer system or what can be easiest implemented in a short time scale because constitutional flux makes long term planning futile. This needs to change but governments are looking to the industry to provide solutions worth implementing.
It is imperative that in the political maelstrom of the next few years some assurances can be given to the farming industry and plans can be made to ensure the sheep industry is equipped and confident going forward. This will not be about backing the right horses but making sure that all runners are aware and commit to support, protection or investment in the sheep industry. I believe that political leaders and their civil servants are genuinely looking for ideas from us on how best to help the industry and we have an opportunity here. There are several areas needing immediate attention: –
•Whilst the pound is weak and world supply is tighter, we have a situation where demand is not just based on loyalty and quality but also UK lamb is competitively priced and the buyers may be keen to look at contracts and pricing sustainable to both parties.
•As an island we are extremely lucky to be naturally bio secure. Yet our disease control is lax compared to other livestock rearing nations. We should demand stricter controls and get our house in order with disease. Jaagsiekte or OPA is one example of a disease now having a serious effect that could have been dealt with sooner. NSA is actively involved in a research programme looking at identification of carriers and effectiveness of early culling.
•Upland sheep numbers in Scotland have come down in recent years, yet still face pressure from ecologists and compete as a land use with forestry and rewilding. Pressure from land reformists, species reintroduction groups, animal rights campaigners and others mean the industry has to be promoting itself better by educating a largely urban population in what we do. NSA's recent publication on the role of sheep in the uplands should help us explain to
John Fyall
decision makers how we make the most of constrained environments and our immediate past Chair Sybil McPherson and all the others in the wonderful ‘This Farming Life’ have done a brilliant job in explaining in a very watchable programme what the job is about. Farming is great at singing to the choir but we need to get out into the wider world and embrace new media to engage more with consumers and all of us can play a role.
•Perhaps most difficult of all is decide how we want to structure our industry in the future in terms of financial support (and associated administration). Do we risk going into a free trade market and endure the drastic changes this may bring, do we try and justify a subsidy support that has few tangible outcomes other than income support, do we seek production/ headage premiums or do we aim for a support system we can justify on the basis of social and environmental benefits? I don't have the answers here but will represent the best and most popular and beneficial ideas on behalf of members and we need those ideas quickly.
The National Sheep Association is a key stakeholder organisation, which is entirely committed to sheep farming. It is still very much a UK wide Association, which is working hard in its contribution to Westminster agriculture policy and post Brexit thinking. In Scotland we have a full time development officer, George Milne, who has been working hard to keep NSA represented and up to date in stakeholder issues and has recently been involved in the above issues as well as putting our case forward on dog worrying, livestock theft,EID, quality assurance and many more topics. Our office bearers and staff in Scotland offer a diverse range of experience and knowledge and we will call on members for their
Highland Sheep Venue
National Sheep Association Scotland’s biennial sheep event in the Highlands is to be held on a Ross-shire farm.
NSA Highland Sheep 2017 will be hosted by the Clark family at Kinnahaird Farm, Contin, Strathpeffer, on Wednesday, May 31.
“It is a great honour and privilege to be asked to host this important event for the sheep industry in the Highlands and we look forward to working closely with the local organising committee to make the event a great success,” said Amy Grant, who is a partner in the family farming business with mother, Dorothy, and sister, Sheena (who works in London), trading as John P Clark Ltd.
This is the third Highland Sheep event held by NSA Scotland following the inaugural event held at Dingwall Mart in 2013 and last year’s event hosted by the Scott family at Fearn Farm, Tain.
“We are delighted that the Clark family has kindly agreed to host next year’s Highland Sheep. Kinnahaird Farm will be an ideal venue for the event,” said Sybil MacPherson, past chair of NSA
own perspectives where needed in order to get across our message going forward. The weekly emails are invaluable and if I had to sell the organisation any more I can recommend the magazine and the discounted entry to Scotsheep and this year the 2017 Highland Sheep to be held at Kinnahaird on May 31st. To support the industry the NSA needs the support of members and I know a great many folk who have told me they intend to join – some haven't got round to it, some reckon they just finish lambs, which I still regard as an important membership element, and some feel that they have enough subscriptions and memberships. A few farmers I have spoken to have issues they feel we aren't working on or tackle wrongly – all the team are a phone call away if this is the case. Though we may have different views, we all share the same emotions, smiling when we get a lamb to sook, crying when it doesn't, swearing for all the neighbours to hear at a deaf collie and relaxing when a poor gather eventually gets in the pen. As a sector there will always be differing views but in the coming years it is essential the sheep producers and finishers have a unified voice, and that voice joins in with the general industry where a resonant agricultural presence is needed, but making sure that sheep farming itself is not a "sacrificial lamb" in more general agreements.
I owe a tremendous amount to many individuals and families in the industry who have shown me kindness and patience in teaching me about sheep farming, whether shepherds, farmers, shearers or supporting businesses and I feel tremendously privileged to be not only a farmer in my own right but representing the NSA. As I said in my election statement, I am not here to support sheep but to work to make sure that there is a living for all those folk and their families going forwards. It shall be a most challenging 2 years but I intend and promise to make the very most of it.
Scotland and TV Celebrity.
“The previous two events were highly successful and attracted a large attendance of sheep farmers from all over the Highlands and further afield and I’m confident next year’s event will be equally successful.”
Kinnahaird Farm extends to 900 acres and carries a flock of 400 North Country Cheviot x Mule and Texel cross ewes, which are crossed with Charolais x Beltex and Charollais x Texel rams, with all progeny finished on the farm and sold at Dingwall Mart.
“The sheep flock is a very important part of our farming enterprise and we are currently engaged in a number of innovative projects to improve the performance of the flock through both better genetics and nutrition,” said Ms Grant.
The Kinnahaird herd of pedigree Limousin cattle, three-times winner of the Scottish Limousin Club’s small herds’ competition, has recently been sold to concentrate on the commercial beef enterprise comprising a suckler herd of 160 mostly
JOHN FYALL –BIO
John graduated with an HND (Distinction) in agriculture at SAC in 1996. He has spent his career working in the farming industry, experiencing all sectors but with particular emphasis on livestock. Originally from East Lothian, John has worked all over Scotland before settling in the North East. John is a Fellow of both the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers and the Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers in Scotland and an Associate of the Scottish Agricultural Arbiters and Valuers Association. He is also on the board of IAAS, committees of the National Sheep Association and the Aberdeenshire Local Access Forum and has charity involvements. In November 2009 John received a FDSc with Distinction in Auctioneering and Valuation from the University of Cumbria.
John farms at Sittyton, Newmachar. A past chairman of SAYFC North Area and their representative in Brussels on the European Council of Young Farmers for 3 years, John is a competent public speaker and regularly commentates on livestock & shearing at events around Scotland.
Industry Qualifications
Lead Auditor and Intermediate HACCP FACTS and BASIS (seed seller) qualifications. Humane Slaughter License
Practical Certificates in H&S, Manual Handling, Forklift Operation, Spraying, ATV operation and Livestock Handling
Environmental Awareness Site safety certificates
Simmental cross cows which are crossed with Simmental and British Blue bulls with heifers put to the Limousin. Forward stores are sold at Dingwall each year with heifer calves going to the High Health breeding heifer sale and 25 retained each year as replacements.
The farm offers easy access from the A835 Dingwall to Ullapool road. The range of modern buildings, with concrete outdoor yards, makes Kinnahaird an ideal venue for the event.
A local committee is being formed to plan the event which will be organised on behalf of NSA Scotland by specialist livestock event organiser, Euan Emslie, who organised the last two Highland Sheep events and is also organiser of the biennial NSA Scotsheep event.
Further information about the event, including trade stand applications and opportunities for sponsorship, can be obtained from Mr Emslie on 01430 441870 or 07718 908523 or at euan@nsascotland.org
NFU Scotland Rural Centre, Hallyards Road, Ingliston Edinburgh, EH28 8LT
Dear Sir or Madam,
We are asking dog walkers in your area to take precautions when out walking in the countryside in the coming months.
Incidents of livestock worrying – where sheep and cattle are distressed, chased, injured or killed by uncontrolled dogs – are increasing, and we, as Scotland’s largest lobbying organisation, are pleading with dog owners to ensure that their pets are kept under proper control.
In addition to this, we are asking dog owners to avoid fields where very young livestock is present, as per the Scottish Outdoor Access Code. This is particularly relevant at this time of year, when lambing and calving is now underway. Where the public takes access to fields where older livestock is grazing, we ask that they keep dogs on a lead or under close control. They should also be aware of the potential dangers that cattle can pose, particularly where a dog is present.
2016 saw the highest number of livestock worrying incidents over the last seven years, with 179 incidents, up by 40 on 2015 and we are working to reduce this number year on year.
NFU Scotland is asking the public to ensure that when exercising their dogs in the countryside they ensure they do so responsibly, in line with the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.
In addition to this, we would like to remind the public that, whilst the Union views the option as a very last resort, farmers do have legal rights to shoot a dog worrying livestock. There have been some cases where much loved family pets have been shot, because they have not been properly controlled by their owners.
NFU Scotland does not wish to see more instances of this, and reiterates its plea that dog owners comply with their responsible access rights under the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.
Kind Regards,
Andrew McCornick, President, NFU Scotland
Allan Wight Midlock Crawford
When it comes to sheep, Midlock is one name that is always hitting the headlines in sale rings or show rings be it Blackface, Blues, Mules or Texels. The Wight family at this Lanarkshire farming empire, which covers 7600 acres (3670 owned) over ten farms, are masters at breeding and bringing out stock for show and sale.
“My Grandfather was the shepherd here in the early 1900’s. He took a tenancy at The Hall, Muirkirk and bought Midlock (2800 acres) in 1924, when it came on the market. There was a tenant farming it at that juncture, so my grandfather and father moved in in 1927.
“I’m the third generation to farm and my Grandson Ben is the 5th,” informed Alan Wight Sen. (79) who still lambs and shepherds a hirsel himself –Glaspin (pictured on page 233) –the hill his Grandfather first herded over a century ago.
“I lambed the Grains when I was 12 years old –taking three weeks off school and did my 65th lambing this spring.”
Cheviots roamed the Midlock hills prior to the Wights’ arrival. “My father started selling Blackface tups in the 1940’s. They used to shed the coats, put vaseline on and a bag on top overnight to protect them prior to the sale,” explained Allan.
“There was so much wool in these days, my father took shears at lambing time to clip it away from the teats. He and the late Ben Wilson were the first two from Lanark to go to Newton Stewart to buy –looking for barer sheep. He paid £180 for a Gass tup, which did well. We kept sons off him.”
“Highlights in the early days included topping Lanark in 1959 with £1200 and £1400 –the two top prices,” commented Allan, who was brought into partnership in the business John Wight & Sons, along with his twin brother John, in the early 1960’s.
“It was the late ‘80’s before my brother and I had much say in the business. John managed the property side and business deals
and he dealt with the cattle –I’ve always been more interested and involved in the sheep.”
Over the years as the family has grown, the farm business has expanded. John’s eldest son Colin is at Carwood, Biggar (608 acres owned, 380 acres seasonal grazing). It carries 1000 cross ewes, covered by Texel and Suffolk tups, 40 pedigree Suffolks, 200 suckler cows and a 50 head pedigree Charolais herd. His second son, Jack stays at Townfoot, Symington (800 acres) and tends to 50 pedigree Charolais and 800 Blackface ewes joined to the Blueface Leicester.
On the home front Allan Jnr. is now in full charge at Midlock, his father has taken a back seat, but is still involved in discussions. Allan’s son Ben, who is on his second year at University in Edinburgh, studying Rural Business Management works at home when possible.
Midlock, rises form 900 to 1700 ft and carries 1250 ewes and 350 hoggs, Texels and 60 BFL ewes.
“We’ve had the tenancy of Grains (1720 acres), which is owned by Scottish Water, since 1942 and have rented neighbouring Crimp Cramp since 1996. Both these farms run 600 ewes and 150 hoggs, they have no in bye, just hill parks fenced off.”
Wind farms dominate the landscape around the Crawford and Elvanfoot area. “There are eight wind farms on Midlock –Southern Energy have a 25 year lease of the ground they are on. Between Grains and Crimp Cramp there are 29 –we get paid for disturbance and a percentage of the profits. The biggest asset is the road access –the way up to these hill farms was rough and now we can go from A to B in a short period.”
“The farms are run as one big unit, so we are lucky everyone gets on! It is a peculiar set up in the main office as the three wives –Fiona, Elma and Karen do the books on rota with two on every week.”
Allan commented on how much the Blackface breed has changed over his lifetime:
“They have more character than they ever had. Lambing percentages have increased enormously, as they are better looked after. Scanning is one of the greatest moves forward in hill farming.
“To begin with I was not in favour of AI, but now I think it is a great thing –you really have to when sharing tups. We now AI 500 Blackies, 250 one week and the same again a week later. We also do 100 Blues and 50 Texels.”
“Blackfaces have always been my passion, I was worried this year that we were not going to beat the Blues and the Texels,” commented Allan, who is obviously very competitive and lives for the October sales. His main highlights have been selling ‘Goram’ for £49 000 and then a lamb at £60K a few years ago, both topped trade at Lanark. “In the last 10 years Midlock has consistently been in the top five averages for both shearlings and lambs. In 1991, we sold Midlock Menace for £18 000 to Elmscleugh –he has had a tremendous influence on the Blackface breed.”
“Corkie, bought from Nunnerie for £16 000 in 1993 had the most impact on the Midlock flock. We use many homebred sires, to keep breeding lines going. Jackpot, a homebred son off Corkie left tremendous females –we have bloodlines off him yet.”
Mrs Wight brought out a fascinating journal –one, any breeder could spend hours over –listing every tup sold at Midlock from 1949 - 1990, when computer records took over.
Allan Snr has judged the length and breadth of the country from Skye to Wigton and Kelso to Harrogate, the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. He has had the honour of judging the Royal Highland twice –in 1970 and 1993 and is placing the Interbreed Pairs 2017. He is also judging the National Blackface Show at Stirling 2017.
The team at Midlock: the two Allans, Ben, nephew Brian Gilchrist and shepherd Iain Clark, are hard to beat, when it comes to show and sale presentation.
CONTACTS: George Allan scotchmule.association@yahoo.co.uk 0784053781 Twitter: @ScotchMuleAssoc Facebook: ScotchMuleAssociation
Photos this Issue:
Page 6 –iStock – Zefart (top left)
Page 6 –iStock –odmeyer (top right)
Page 7 –QMS –top
Page 7 –BWMB –bottom
Page 8 –RHET
Page 9 –UA
Page 9 –iStock –marcyano
Page 10 –Bank of Scotland
Page 11 –NSA
Page 13 –Volac
Page 14 –iStock –nameinfame
Page 35 –provided
Page 36 –iStock Jaykayl
Page 38 –iStock johnrandallaives
Page 39 –iStock JackieNix (top)
Page 39 –iStock voice photography (btm)
Page 41 –provided
Page 43 –Craig Stevenson Photography
Stirling
May Bull Sales Mon 1st May 2017
February Bull Sales 19th - 21st February 2017
210 Bulls & 39 Females
including drafts from Drumsleed, Skerrington, Grangewood & Annick
Leading Ladies –including a major reduction of the Caistor herd
Each year every flock will have some lambs that either need to be adopted onto another ewe or be artificially reared. According to Alan Smith, business manager for Scotland with Volac, deciding which route to take will depend on the availability of a suitable foster mother and the physical condition of the lamb.
“Cross fostering will only be successful if the lamb is fit and healthy, has had adequate colostrum and is fostered onto a healthy ewe with plenty of milk and good maternal instincts. But the reality is that lambs can now be reared very successfully artificially and without all the inherent practical problems of fostering onto an unwilling ewe. With good husbandry, organisation and the right milk replacer such as Lamlac, there’s no doubt you can produce good quality lambs, as well as save hours of effort and hassle,” he says.
Mr Smith adds that machine-feeders also report faster growth rates because there is no limit to how
much or when the lambs can drink. Producers also say they see fewer digestive upsets.
“Most significantly, though, users in Scotland also report a decent margin over lifetime feed of anywhere between £15 and £25 per lamb. This margin could be even healthier in 2017 if lamb price and demand remains buoyant,” he says.
However, Mr Smith also stresses that automatic feeding systems are not a substitute for good husbandry. “Sound hygiene is crucial and lamb pens must be draught-free, well drained and bedded to keep lambs as warm and dry as possible. Clean, fresh water also needs to be available along with creep feed (18% crude protein) and long forage offered ad lib to encourage early intake. Lambs should be weaned abruptly at no less than five weeks of age when they are two and half times birthweight and eating an average of 0.25kg of creep a day over three days,” he says.
Ne w App
In a bid to give users easy access to their compendium data at any time, NOAH (National Office of Animal Health) recently launched a new app. This is available for both Apple and Android phones.
The unique app, which will be updated frequently, gives users the ability to find vital information on the over 1000 animal medicine listings included on the compendium website; with the complete datasheets available for viewing.
Another exciting feature to the new app is the ability to scan datamatrix barcodes on veterinary medicinal product packaging to take you straight to important product information. You can also search by medication, manufacturer or GTIN.
"The NOAH Compendium is the recognised industry reference, and it is essential we fully utilise the information offered in the compendium with modern technology, whilst protecting the integrity and respect that it holds," explains Dawn Howard, NOAH's Chief Executive.
"The website, which we relaunched earlier this year, has had over 8.5 million views to date. We feel this app serves as a great addition to this modern method of accessing data – meaning users are no longer reliant on internet access to obtain the information they need.
"As an organisation, we will continue to embrace new technologies to ensure animal medicine is used correctly and responsibly in the UK," Dawn concludes. "The launch of this new app goes towards ensuring all those who prescribe or use animal medicines have access to the latest technical information available for companion and farm animals when they need it."
0800 919808
Castle Douglas Galloway Sale
Champions
Female Champion – J & A Finlay, Blackcraig, Corsock – Blackcraig Bertha W560 sold to Balavil Estate, Kingussie, Inverness-shire for 4400gns
Reserve Female Champion – Mr P Hunter Blair, Nether Cleugh, Dalry – Countess Wendy of Nether Cleugh to Balavil Estate for 3000gns
Overall Male Champion & Senior Champion – J & A Finlay, Blackcraig Xcaliver sold to Mr WF Welsh, Lochurr, Moniaive, Thornhill for 4000gns
Reserve Overall Male Champion & 2 Year old Male Champion – Troloss Farms Ltd, Troloss Farms, Elvanfoot, Biggar – Troloss Knockout sold to J,M & D Maxwell, Ben Lomond Blairvockie, Rowardennan, Drymen for 4500gns
Reserve 2 Year old Male Champion – Mr J Tullie, Bowanhill, Teviothead, Hawick – Bowanhill
William Wallace sold to RA & JP Cornelius, West Rose, St Breward, Bodmin for 2000gns
Reserve Senior Champion – J & A Finlay, Blackcraig Xman
Junior Champion – J & S Ross, Romesbeoch, Shawhead, Yorker of Romesbeoch sold to Troloss Farms Ltd, Troloss Farm, Elvanfoot, Bigger for 1800gns
Reserve Junior Champion – Messrs Wallace, Over Barskeoch, Dalry, Xorro of Over Barskeoch sold to DW Gourlay & Co, Craigmuie, Moniaive for 4000gns.
Top Prices
Top Female Price -4400gns for the Female Champion – Blackcraig Bertha W560 to Balavil Estate
Top Male Price – 5000gns for Lot 13 Louis of Balgray to HH Kraft, Germany & Lot 20 Xavi of Kilnstown to J Robertson, Becks, Langholm.
Averages
21 bulls - 2638gns (+163gns) for 5 more sold
14 Bulling heifers - 1417gns (+77gns) for 2 less sold
12 Incalf heifers - 2212gns (+578) for 1 less sold
1 steer 1000gns.
From Th istle to Fern
by Eilidh MacPherson
The Story of the Scottis h P ioneers and the New Ze ala nd Hi gh Co untr y Sheep St ations
Ten years ago, the book –From Thistle to Fern –came to fruition and landed on the shelves of book shops across the country, both here and in New Zealand. I’ve decided to print a chapter each month in the coming issues of the magazine.
Having shorn in New Zealand for several seasons, I always longed to visit and shear on a High Country Sheep Station. During my time writing for the New Zealand Farmer magazine, this dream came true. I took a stand in the renowned 12-stand Mount Linton shearing shed for six weeks and travelled the country visiting Sheep Stations and unearthing their ‘Scottish’ history. Chapters Ten & Eleven –Nokomai and Walter Peak Stations are highlighted over the next few pages.
From Thistle to Fer n
I first met the Nokomai head shepherd –Daniel Price – at the Coronet Peak Ski Field Dog Derby, near Queenstown, where as winner of the event I interviewed him for the New Zealand Farmer. Later at the Bark Up at Arthur’s’ Point Pub, when I explained to him that I was researching for a book on the Stations established by Scotsmen, he insisted that Nokomai must be included in my travels.
A Bark Up is another entertaining Kiwi pub competition, where the shepherds allow their dogs to flaunt their canine vocal chords. One by one the four-legged competitors take to the podium – usually some bales of straw –and on command, howl and yap to their hearts content. A panel of judges award points for the rowdiest performance.
Some months later, having read a bit more of the history of the station, which was taken up in 1859 by Donald Cameron, I contacted Daniel and went to join the tailing (lamb marking) gang for a few days work in the yards, mustering and the chance for some awesome photo opportunities.
During my visit, the work force for tailing consisted of three full time shepherds; Matt Black, Chris Anderson and Jason Woodham, head stockman Daniel Price, 2 casual shepherds; Cameron Scott (Taraunga), Danny Hayes (Otautau) and James Hore (26), the present owners’ son who is now working full time at home.
The boys were great craic to work with and didn’t seem to mind a Scottish intruder. They all seemed rather keen to get their picture in print and were positively delighted when I said I’d give them all a mention in the Acknowledgement section.
Tailing was ultra organised as such huge numbers of lambs had to be dealt with as quickly as possible. Two conveyor type chutes were used to restrict the lamb’s movement while teams of shepherds worked swiftly: castrating (using rubber rings), tailing (with a burner, which seals the laceration) and ear marking.
Later, Daniel drove Matt, Chris, Cameron, with a team about five dogs apiece and I, up a
narrow winding ledge to the summit of the block where the view with the snow-capped Remarkable and Richardson Mountains in the distance was breathtaking.
Rising from 250m at the homestead, to 1889m along the top of the Garvie Mountains, this impressive holding shares a 50km boundary fence with the well-known Glenaray Station, run by David Pickney. Glenaray is only one of fifteen properties, neighbouring Nokomai, many of the others also brandish Scottish place names: Lorne Peak, Loch Linnie, Glen Nevis, Ben Nevis, Carrick, Earnscleugh and Glenlapa Stations to name but a few. The shepherds knowledgeably pointed out landmarks and the direction of the other stations if they were not visible.
The original name ‘Glenfalloch’, used by Donald Cameron, the Scottish Highlander who first laid claim to Run 354, the now Nokomai Station, in early 1859, describes this property to a ‘T’. Coming from his (and my) mother tongue – Scottish Gaelic – the word
Nokomai St at ion
by Eilidh MacPherson
‘falloch’ translates to ‘hidden’ in the English language.
This picturesque, secluded valley is situated seemingly in a world of it’s own only 12km down a gravel road off State Highway 6, just south of the village of Athol in Northern Southland.
Donald Angus Cameron, a carpenters’ son, born to Ewen and Catherine (née McPhee), on 8 August 1835 at Fort William, by the foot of Ben Nevis, Scotland, the eldest of six, attended high school at Fort William before heading to Glasgow aged 14 as a shipping clerk. His ancestors were the Camerons of Glen Nevis and the Camerons of Letterfinlay. He set out for South Australia to work for his great-uncle, Alexander Cameron, at Limestone Ridge Station, Penola in 1854, when he was 19.
By 1858 Donald was managing Mt Sturgeon Plains Station and decided to take up land in New Zealand early the following year. With a relation, Angus MacDonald, the two pioneers set out, accompanied by a Maori known as ‘Sandfly,’ to explore the unsurveyed eastern side of Lake Wakatipu. Apparently they were the first to scale the sheer promontory they came across which they named, ‘the Devil’s Staircase.’ That treacherous part of Highway 6 still bears the name to this day. Other mountains and rivers they named after places in their homeland include; the Locky, Roy and Nevis Rivers, Ben Nevis, Lorne Peak and the Lumber Box. These hardy Scots returned to Dunedin where DA Cameron staked a claim on Run 331 (Staircase) before they returned to Australia for stock.
By June 1859 the first 1500 sheep arrived at Bluff aboard the Peregrine Oliver but tragedy struck as the sheep had been dipped prior to their voyage in a mixture of tobacco, arsenic, sulphur and soda and 2333 out of the total 3592 were asphyxiated and pushed to a watery grave. Of the remainder another 452 were lost on the gruelling overland journey from Bluff, leaving only 807. Due to these losses, the Staircase Run was relinquished, so Donald applied for neighbouring Run 354 –Nokomai – which he acquired in March 1860. That same year, he built the first dwelling, woolshed and yards following a dire winter camped in the snow.
Gold was first discovered in the Nokomai Valley in 1862 and the population boomed to 1000 within a couple of years. The station provided meat and potatoes for the gold diggers.
Donald, a devout Catholic and proud Scotsman, married Margaret MacDonald at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne, before taking his new bride home to Glenfalloch. The couple had seven children: five daughters and two sons. Ewen Cameron, Donald’s father made the trip out to join the family once his wife Catherine had passed away in the late 1860’s.
By 1870 there were 8000 sheep on Nokomai and over the following two decades numbers had increased to 13 000. Not only was Cameron increasing his stocking rates but he was also increasing his land holdings: Closeburn Station on Lake Wakatipu, Fassifern near Tapanui, and further properties at Mabel Bush and Mataura.
Donald Cameron, a native Gaelic speaker, piper and first Chief of the Highland Society of Southland, occupied the property for 6 decades (which in 1936 was a record for Otago and Southland and probably still is) until his death on Nokomai on Hogmanay 1918. It remained, as a trust, in the Cameron family until Frank Hore purchased it in 1950. Frank still resides on the station, but handed the reins over to his son Brian in 1985, following on from a father/son partnership, which was established in 1960.
After three days tailing and mustering with the permanent staff, casual musterers, in awesome weather and surroundings followed by a works night out in Mossburn joined by
bosses’ daughter – Chrissie Hore – I finally managed to pin the busy owner – Brian Hore – down to an interview early one morning.
Presently the Nokomai Run covers some 38 000ha including the 1200ha Parawa Downs, which was purchased 27 years back and Flagstaff Station (2290ha) which came into the fold more recently – only a decade ago.
“To a large extent they are run as one, our strength being that they all link up geographically. Mark Thomas and Grey Stewart manage Parawa Downs and Flagstaff respectively,” said Brian.
The Hores are presently in the process of converting their 15 000 strong wether contingent from Half breds to Merinos, in a bid to increase the value of the wool clip. Over the past couple of years around 3000 Half bred wether lambs have been wintered and exchanged for Merino hoggets in the spring. This conversion is about the half way mark now.
Half bred cross Romney ewes, numbering 27 000, are the base flock grazing the Garvie and Hector Mountain ranges of this high country station. The lion’s share (just under 16 000 ewes), run with Halfbred rams, which are bred ‘in-house,’ so to speak, at Parawa.
Parawa Station located on the main drag, at the turn-off to Nokomai, acts as the breeding and recording nucleus for both sheep and cattle enterprises on the property. Not only are stud Halfbreds produced there, but it is also home to Romney, Texel, Merino and Hereford studs. Brian’s wife and business partner, Ann, is responsible for the input and
update of all recording data for both sheep and cattle studs.
Romney rams cover another 4000 ewes and the older ewes, 6000 in total, are mated with a terminal sire. Texel is the preferred breed and has been used by the Hores’ since its’ inception to New Zealand in 1991 when Nokomai was involved in a group-breeding scheme along with the Aitkens of Glenayr and Mt Linton Station. Over the nine-year period, stud ewe numbers have been built up to 200 from the initial 11.
“We have just sent some Texel rams to the Falkland Islands,” adds Ann, “good feet were their most important criterion due to the long distances they had to cover on the islands. They also choose a southern based stud so the rams will be more acclimatised to the conditions on the Falkland Islands.”
Some big changes have taken place over
the past few years by using terminal sires over a higher proportion of the flock, paying more attention to objective measurement and the selection of rams hence producing the kind of meat lamb that is demanded by the export market. “The biggest barrier is that the Texel is treated as any other carcase. The Texel Society should be looking at a niche marketing initiative, but supply must be guaranteed.”
During tailing it was easy to spot the Texel cross lambs - they had excellent conformation with uniform width from hip to shoulder and good body depth. This factor ensures that the chop eye muscle is consistent the length of the carcass. Well-developed hindquarters, with a full gigot, spelling out a ‘U’ rather than a ‘V’ between the legs also differentiated the breeds. This is very much what the UK and European markets require.
Since the introduction of fresh, chilled lamb overseas, the meat industries both here and abroad are demanding uniform lamb carcases of a higher calibre. A new grading system is in the offing to identify superior meat carcases and pay accordingly.
This type of grading has been practised in Europe for some time. An EC wide grading lingo is in force and pays farmers premiums for what the market requires and penalises for carcases that do not conform and that are much harder for the meat companies to sell. The conformation grades spell out E U R O P, where an ‘R’ is of average build, an ‘E’ exceptional and a ‘P’ is a leggy, narrow shouldered tail-ender. These classifications are then married with a fat grade, where ‘5’ is obese and ‘1’ is very much a store animal. Most supermarkets are demanding lambs of ‘E’, ‘U’ AND ‘R’ conformation with lean fat levels ‘2’ and ‘3L’. The lower grades (O’s and P’s) tend to fill the Mediterranean orders.
Farmers are heavily penalised per kilo for lambs falling into the ‘O’ and ‘P’ grades and also ‘3H’, ‘4L’, ‘4H’ and ‘5’ fat scores,
regardless of conformation and also for lambs which weigh in heavier than desired.
Carcases should be more compact than rangy and leggy, like a lot of traditional wool or dual-purpose breeds. The chump should be well muscled, the middle long and the fore quarter lean.
The Alliance Group (where all Nokomai Texel progeny are hung up, averaging 16kgs) are moving with the times and intend to install 3D imagery to make grading objective rather than subjective. They aim to reward for quality, with well muscled, good yielding carcases receiving considerably more than long leg, poor conformation, low yielding counterparts.
The ‘Continentals’ as they are referred to in the United Kingdom, or ‘Exotics’ over here, used as Terminal Sires over the native breeds or as pure breds, seem to satisfy market requirements. The Texel has undoubtedly come out trumps, with the Beltex, Charolais, Rouge de le Quest, Blue du Maine and a range of others having all made an appearance and having varying degrees of
success in the UK as more recently the Dorper imported from South Africa has over here.
Annually 200 000kgs of wool is trucked off the station, “I’m very supportive of the McKinsey Report and it is pleasing to see parties coming together as it looked like Strong wools were going to become ragmented,” said Brian who has been involved with the mid-micron group. “ We have been let down by Wools of New Zealand in the last few years and by spreading options and niche marketing we may look forward to a brighter future.”
“Lice and fly control is a problem, but we have found an electric eye dip, which cuts out when no sheep are in it, to be successful on the lambs. There is a fine line between dipping fine wool and controlling lice so no residues are detectable in the fleece at shearing. WoolPro are working on this problem as we speak.”
The latest project that has been undertaken by the Hores’ is to introduce a new type of Merino to the existing Polled Merino Stud on their 354ha Corbridge Downs property at
Wanaka. These Merinos have a Soft Rolling Skin, little wrinkle and grow soft fine wool.
One hundred ewes close to SRS type were artificially inseminated. “The idea is to try SRS over our existing Halfbred ewes,” he said. Thirty ewes have had embryos transplanted.
The 950 strong Hereford suckler herd is now almost a closed operation as all replacement bulls used are bred at the Hereford Stud on Flagstaff Station. Around a dozen extra commercial sires are sold off the property. Potential sires are selected on performance and confirmation as well as recorded birth weights and live weight gain through to 600kgs.
The cattle were originally of Braxton lineage and until recently there was an on going AI programme using American semen. The cattle usually scan on 95% and any dry cows are culled.
For the past five years the policy at Nokomai has been to carry all the calves through to two year olds and sell them as forward stores on the property. Agents,
Wrightsons sell the Herefords on a per kg live weight basis.
“We are entirely reliant on good staff and some that will take responsibility. Over the past few years, there has been a shortage of staff for stock work in the high country, but those that are available are extremely willing and keen,” enthused Brian.
“I’m personally not in favour of tenure review in the High Country. Free-holding is beneficial as otherwise large tracts of land, which are required in the summer and are vital for the balance of a property, can be lost.”
The Hores freeholded one lease at Fiery Creek, south of the Mataura River, through the voluntary tenure review process. “It is not really a loss – I saw it more of a liability as Wilding trees (Pinus Contorta), which could be the scourge of tussock land, if not controlled, were spreading from Mid Dome.”
“Generally speaking, I’m not sure DOC have the ability to look after all these high country places, but I give them credit for the control of Pinus Contorta at Fiery Creek.”
Brian, who is presently the Chairman of the
Southland High Country Section of Federated Farmers, thinks that run-holders have lost a lot of ground with the inability of what they are allowed to do with land environmentally under the new Pastoral Land Bill.
Nokomai is also one of the satellite farms involved with the Hill Country Tussock Development Group. “The group has done some trial work following what has been carried out at Parawa and Mount Linton, investigating ways of introducing new grasses and clovers to give better performance on high country as well as lime trials. ” Information will be available via field days following the wind up program this autumn.
The biggest output on this high country station is fertiliser as 10 000ha are doctored on a rotational basis. Last season 1150t of Sulphurised Super were flown on and 150t applied by spreader as well as 400t of lime.
Other farm related groups Mr Hore is involved in include the Texel Society and Phoenix Aviation topdressing company, of which he is Chairman.
Walt er Peak St at ion
The mention of Walter Peak Station conjures up images of hoards of tourists aboard the T.T.S. Earnslaw, having afternoon tea and singing songs with a piano accompanist, heading across Lake Wakatipu for their New Zealand ‘station experience’ – a sheep shearing demonstration and a few Highland cows.
In reality, only 167 hectares of Walter Peak Station, including the original homestead, on the shores of Lake Wakatipu were sold off in 1968 for the tourism venture. The present homestead and station buildings were relocated some four kilometres inland.
My first trip to Walter Peak was on a bleak August day in miserable weather conditions. A Pommy friend – Priscilla – and I took the Steamer the TTS Earnslaw over the lake and were met by the station manager in a Toyota Hilux on the slipway on the other side. He gave us a quick tour of the terraced flats as the high ground was completely obliterated by a drizzly mist and took us back to the homestead to warm up with cups of tea while we chatted.
With 26 700 hectares carrying 20 000 stock units at his disposal, manager John
Templeton, has set rigorous targets for himself to achieve over the next few years. He aims to increase production levels by at least 10% and stocking rates by 5000 units.
Over the past six years no Super has been applied to the property and John ,enthusiastically sees “endless potential in the place.” He has been applying 400t of Super Phosphate: 250t aerially and 150t by bulk which will inevitably increase the feed available and enable a direct proportional increase in stock numbers.
The 10 000 Merinos had been producing a lambing percentage between 85 and 90% and wool weights of an average 3.8 kilos.
“I would like to see 100% lambing and wool production rising to 4.5kgs,” said John.
“At the moment the ewe wool measures up at 20.2μ which I would like to lower to 19.2micron as there is no premium above that figure. The hoggets average 18.2 and the wethers 19 micron.”
The vital spark in rectifying and fine tuning the quality of the woolclip at Walter Peak has been activated by the introduction of finer fleeced sires from Bob Brown, Glenthorne and Bill and Andrew Sutherland of Benmore
Station.
All the ewes were machine-shorn pre-lamb with cover combs from 28 August and the hoggets and wethers lose their winter coats in the middle of October courtesy of Andrew Clegg’s gang. “Blade shearing is too slow and expensive,” he said.
The scanning figures, monitored by Brent Burges, were on the up at 111% for the pure Merinos and 121% for the Cull Merinos, which were mated with a Perendale ram. Merino two-tooths, 600 in total, are 59% in lamb and 37% of 180 hoggets are carrying a lamb. “Our policy is to put every hogget weighting over 40kgs to a ram.”
The main health problems encountered, with running the Merinos on a relatively high rainfall property are as expected: foot rot and wool rot. Zinc Sulphate is applied via a walk through shower after shearing to prevent the latter.
“I intend to increase the 1100 strong Perendale flock to 2500 ewes. They have been preforming at 130% lambing and I’m aiming for 140%. This year they scanned at 160% so it is looking promising. The 400 Merino Texel crosses do not yield much wool and the
fertility is not great, but they are vigorous fern grazers,” commented John.
All ewes are lambed on the 1052ha of over-sown country and remain there until weaning at the end of January. The ewes then go onto the summer country until the middle of April when they are taken into mid altitude paddocks, covering some 3000ha for tupping.
“The 5000 Merino wethers are put out on the back boundary – Whiteburn and Blackspurs in early May until the beginning of October pre shearing. There is a snow fence above them at 3000 feet. After shearing the wethers tidy up the fern on the front hill blocks until Christmas.”
Hoggets and lambs are pampered on the front paddocks, with all lambs being grass finished. “Last season we fattened the lambs and hung them up at 15.2kgs dead weight with Alliance at their Omarau plant and hope to do likewise this year.”
Presently there are 600 Hereford cattle grazing the slopes of Walter Peak, “ I want to run 400 Hereford/ Angus cross cows and cover them with a Shorthorn bull, keeping 200 Herefords as a base for replacements. I feel the Shorthorn, which is not so stocky –rangier – is making a come back. Richard Kerr from Wendonside, near Waikaka has top class Shorthorn sires and we source our Angus sires from Stern at Kakahu.”
John and wife Sharon returned to the Wakatipu area in November 1998 where they
had met 13 years previously. Sharon had been working on the Walter Peak tourist enterprise and John had been shepherding on neighbouring Mt Nicholas. Following eight years of shepherding in both North and South Islands, including stints on: Benmore, Ben Omar and Lake Ohau, John managed Mararoa Station and Burwood before taking on this challenging high country position at Walter Peak. Farming must be in the genes as his father and grandfather before him were both managers: the former with Landcorp at Te Anau and the latter at Makarora, Wanaka.
Since his arrival at Walter Peak, John has been too preoccupied, on station, to follow his favourite pastime –the dog trials, but he hopes to this coming season. He has qualified for numerous National Trials in both heading and huntaway classes over the years and a 2nd in the Zig Zag Hunt with ‘Trode’, in 1998, is his highest accolade to date.
Sharon, a city chick who has adapted well to high country life, tends to the farm accounts, cooks for the two single shepherds and also for the four casuals at mustering time, as well as caring for the couple’s one-year old daughter. With a young child in tow Sharon finds she now has less spare time for her horses.
More and more overseas investors seem to be snapping up land in New Zealand and Walter Peak is no exception with International owners: Ian Koblick, of Florida,
one of the joint run holders of Walter Peak, is a Marine Biologist and comes to the station for three-month stints now and again. The Khans, Morris and Ben, on the other hand are more like sleeping partners. Of Israeli origin, they now abide in South Africa.
Stepping back in time, in the Wakatipu area, when white man arrived, some Maori activity was noted in the form of camp ovens and greenstone implements, but none of the early pioneers mentioned having actually come across any Maori people in their dairies or memoirs.
Nathaniel Chalmers, who was born in Rothesay, Scotland, arrived in Invercargill in July 1853 and was the first white man to see the lake while travelling with Maori guides –Reko and Kaikoura. He was also the first Pakeha to canoe down the Shotover River (initially named the Tummel by Robert Cameron) – which many tourists pay for the privilege nowadays.
But it was Donald Hay from Adelaide in Australia – probably an exiled Scot himself or with Scottish parentage – who was undoubtedly the first man to set foot on the present homestead area of Walter Peak. Accompanied by Donald Cameron of Glenfalloch Station (the now Nokomai), he climbed the Hector Mountains in July 1859 and Cameron showed him Lake Wakatipu for the first time. Hay was inspired with the vista below and returned a couple of months
later, riding to Kingston at the end of the Lake with Cameron. He decided that the best way to explore the area would be by raft (as the lake is some fifty two miles long and seven miles wide at the broadest part).
Setting out from Kingston on his solo voyage on a raft made of flax, as Donald Cameron was unable to join him, he spent the next two weeks exploring the vicinity in the cold of the August 1859 winter. He stopped off at Halfway Bay, Kawarau, Beach Bay, and the mouth of what has since named the Von River, Queenstown Bay and Bob’s Cove. He also explored extensively on foot and Lake Hayes near Arrowtown bears his name, as does an annual boat race, still run, from Queenstown to Kingston and back.
Hay then returned to Kingston and rested up for a few days on Glenquoich (hollow in the hill) Station at Athol – home of William Cameron, brother of Donald. At the time, Robert and Archie Cameron were managing the property. He then made off to Dunedin to apply for the Walter Peak country, which he had explored only to be forestalled by a speculator. He was so disgusted he left New Zealand and did not return.
On the roadside from Queenstown to Kingston sits a huge glacial rock with two black marble plaques mounted on it. On closer inspection one of these tablets displays Donald Hays’ name and the other is in memory of Donald A Cameron of Glenfalloch
and his friend Alex MacDonald of Reaby.
“….beyond the high ranges there’s land for the men that first track their way through….
Sheep country in plenty….
I looked at the ranges, the white snow ranges, all faint in the sunshine and backed by the blue;
No white man had crossed them….
All day we rode onward – slow work on the boulders, and rough on the horses and worse on the men:
We lay in the lee of a rock that had fallen far down from a cliff that ran up out of sight;
It was colder than winter….
Then we reached the safe level, the bush and tussocks, the broad rolling slopes where our flocks would be fed; There’s smiling sheep country beyond the white ranges…”
David McKee Wright from “The Station Ballads”
Scotsman - Hugh MacKenzie, successfully established Walter Peak as a sheep station. It had been farmed previously but had been abandoned as it was over run with rabbits.
Hugh Mackenzie (b 19/10/1847) was the seventh child of crofters John and Ann Mackenzie of Ardmore in Sutherland. Hugh joined the Navy on leaving school and became a chief gunner on the Iron Duke before he had to retire due to ill health. He came out to New Zealand with his new bride – Anastasia McKenzie Rossiter in 1874 on the Cathcart.
Hugh then joined his brother Alexander in partnership on Coronet Peak Station. The winter of 1878 was extremely harsh and these two hardy pioneers, who were used to adverse weather conditions, coming from the far North of Scotland, spent 22 days snow-raking to
save their 6000 strong flock. They sheared 5000 sheep that year, while many of their neighbours suffered severe losses. Due to these conditions and low wool prices, the brothers decided to sell Coronet Peak and took up a 450acre farm at Walter Peak instead. They mustered, rabbited and fished to supplement their income. Five years on, the pair went their own ways: Alexander took up land at the head of Lake Wakatipu and the Waste Lands Board granted Hugh 10 000 acres on Walter Peak.
A man of great determination and character, along with his family of six sons: John, Alex, Hugh, Peter, William and Walter and two daughters: Margaret and Anastasia, he set to and reduced the rabbit population, lifted stones, ploughed and sowed the lakeside terraces, erected sheep yards, housing, outhouses and fencing without borrowing any money.
MacKenzie set his children to work at an early age and John, the eldest, was taking a beat on the hills well before he hit his teens. This stood him in good steed as he later was in charge of all hill work on Walter Peak. Boundary keeping was a favourite job of the fit young lads as some of the terrain was so, that fencing was impractical and natural boundaries were used as they still are in many cases today.
As the family grew up Hugh decided it was time to expand and in 1902 John and Alex moved to the upper Nevis run, but they
held this for just two years as they found it was only suitable to graze wethers. They then took over Wyuna, at the head of Lake Wakatipu, from their Uncle Alex, as he was an aging bachelor.
By 1904 Hugh, extended his pastoral empire further by buying the neighbouring runs of Mt Nicholas and Fernhill and running them as Walter Peak Station, covering some 178 000 acres of crown land plus some more as freehold. John and Alex returned home and passed on the management of Wyuna to a cousin –Peter MacKenzie. Five of the MacKenzie sons and the two daughters joined their father to form a syndicate to farm the MacKenzie kingdom profitably. The sheep numbers rose, over the next fifty odd years, from 300 in 1882 to 40 000 by 1933.
In the winter of 1906, one of the MacKenzie boys – William (21) headed out against his father’s wishes to hunt the dark faces under the far side of Walter Peak itself. But on his return journey he met with a snow slide and tumbled to his death a couple of hundred feet below. A marble head stone marks the place where William met his end. Another son, Walter, was later killed in action at Gallipoli in 1915. Peter who rose to the position of Colonel, was badly gassed but made it home and took over the administration on the station.
The MacKenzies were the first to erect hill-country fences, much to the disdain of their neighbours, but they found that it
reduced hogget loses and proved that fences could stand in snow country if the wires were kept tight. They erected over 150 miles of fencing over a 17-year period on the station. These fit young men also became excellent boatmen as the only access to the station was via the Lake and the family were renowned for rowing the 18 miles across the Lake to Queenstown and back to attend church.
The Clan MacKenzie scoured their own wool and visitors to the station would see masses of white fleeces lying in the paddocks during part of the scouring process. Topping the London sales for New Zealand and Australia with their Merino clip on three separate occasions rewarded their efforts. They also were awarded first prize at the Wembley Exhibition.
Rifle shooting was Hugh MacKenzie’s passion and he held the opening rifle shoot annually at Walter Peak with between 80 to 130 people attending. Highland hospitality and generosity was par for the course in the MacKenzie homestead. Over the years they entertained distinguished guests from across the world and staged Scottish gatherings and conventions.
Hugh’s wife Anastasia died in 1897 and he remarried Flora Gardiner when he was 58. He died in 1933 aged 84.
‘The MacKenzies, perhaps more than any other family in New Zealand, lived practically as a clan, due no doubt to the combination of their ancestry and their
isolation on the less accessible shore of the lake and when Hugh MacKenzie died at Dunedin in May 1933, the district mourned the passing of a chieftain. From the beginning he had been the head of the family, a position to which his resolute pioneering spirit and his integrity and generosity had justly entitled him. When he died, he left behind him a record of achievement that was full in keeping with the finest of pioneering traditions, for the Walter Peak station had by that time become one of the most famous in New Zealand.’
Excerpt from ‘Golden Days of Lake Country’ by F.W.G. Millar
His son Hugh had married and moved further away from the station, leaving only John and Alex, who were getting on in years and Peter who could not do manual work. Following the Depression the family were hit with severe winters of 1939, ’43 and ’45 and due to heavy losses decided to sell off Mt Nicholas and focus on Walter Peak itself. Unfortunately for them the sale of Mt Nicholas and 15 000 sheep went through in 1949 to the Hunt’s of Wanaka, just before the 1950-51 wool boom. The following year (1950) Alex passed away and John likewise in 1956. Only Colonel Peter was left as Hugh had relinquished his shares when Mt Nicholas was sold. Peter was the only one who had a son but he did not seem interested in running the station so when his two sisters died he decided it was time to end the
MacKenzie era after 80 years and sold up in September 1960 to Cliff Heron of Balfour.
In 1967 George Wiles, an English Industrialist came on the scene – rumour had it that he was a self-made millionaire. He offered the Herrons over the odds for the property and the deal was struck in 1968. Mr Wiles was not from farming stock but had visited Molesworth Station once and was so taken with the huge numbers of cattle that he decided to stock Walter Peak similarly. He also had huge development plans for the station in both farming and tourist ventures. Lavishly he built roads, stockyards and re-fenced for cattle, stocking over 2000 head by 1970. On the tourist side, George initiated the morning and afternoon teas for visitors at the homestead, who had travelled over on the TTS Earnslaw to the station. He converted the Colonel’s House into a museum and the wool shed held shearing and sheep dog demonstrations.
He had great plans of building chalets and motels but unfortunately things turned to custard when money was running short and he floated his tourist venture on the open market as a company but attracted no takers. John Reid, a Dunedin stock and station agent took over in August 1972.
“You’ll come out for a day or two on the autumn muster when the weather is a bit better,” said John Templeton to me as he dropped us off at the jetty for the return journey to Queenstown.
Records were broken at Stirling Bull Sales this year as two Saler sires hit the headlines and the 12 000gns mark.
Well kent Saler breeders –the MacKenzies of Whitebog, Fortrose on the Black Isle sold five of the nine bulls catalogued, with Whitebog Kracker topping the trade. Saler breeders, P.M. and S.M. Donger, Towcester, Northants, purchased him.
“We sold the other four privately before the sale –including two to Orkney and one to the new Monitor Farm on Shetland. That was the last link –as we have now sold from Devon to Shetland!” exclaimed Anne, (also nee MacKenzie) who is the fourth generation MacKenzie to farm at Whitebog.
Growing up as an only child, she helped her father on the farm from an early age and full time when she left school. Her husband, Alister, a farmer’s son, worked locally before they married in 1963.
Nowadays Anne and Alister, who farm in partnership have taken more of a backseat, while their son, also Alister runs the farm.
The Whitebog Saler chapter began back in 1984/85, when Alister (jun) returned from an International Agricultural Exchange to New Zealand and Canada.
“Everyone thinks that Salers are wild –but they
are not. All breeds have a wild streak –it depends on how you work with them,” commented Anne.
Alister (Jun) joined us in the farmhouse at this juncture and took up the story. “After college at Clinerty, I headed to New Zealand on an IAEA exchange and worked on a farm near Pahiatua, on the North Island and then toured for a month. The farmer still comes to visit us.”
He loved New Zealand, but then found Canada, “big, cold and flat.”
“I worked on a farm near Airdrie, not far from Calgarry –it was pretty rough grazing and carried 300 cattle –Salers. They were easy calving and not like the Holstein cross Herefords we were running at home.”
On his return to Scotland, a Saler bull was purchased to cover the cows at Whitebog.
“The second bull we bought was by Bruno –from Brian Walling, Over Whitlaws, Selkirk –who was the the first to take Salers into this country. We purchased a bull calf and a heifer calf at that on farm sale and everything of note can go back to that pair –Cumbria Fury and Cumbria Dot.”
The MacKenzies are currently running 70 pedigree Saler cows with the other 90 head, which are pretty close to pure.
“They are easy calving –so there is less stress –
Whitebog Salers Break Record
so it is easier to get them back in calf.”
Twenty of the pedigree cows calve in March, then the bulk calve after the Highland Show.
Depending on the weather, the cows go out in March after weaning, onto swedes and straw. By late May they are turned onto grass, depending on the growth.
Any young stock not destined for breeding is sold in April at nine or ten months of age, mostly through Dingwall and Thainstone. “ Salers tend to make more per kg in Aberdeenshire –they don’t seem to be so popular in this area, although my neighbours now have them and a few others on the Black Isle.”
On the health front Whitebog has no immediate neighbours as geographically it is forested on three sides and the main road runs along the fourth –so there is no nose-to-nose contact with any other livestock.
“We are BVD accredited and Johnnes level 2, through the Orkney Hi-health scheme.”
In the summer months the MacKenzies do a wee bit of showing, but unlike many of the other Continental breeds, there are very few Saler classes at the shows, so they can find they are competing against much bigger beasts.
“Last year we showed at Echt, Dornoch, the
Royal Highland and the Black Isle. It is good for the beasts as they are so easy handled by sale time. We were Champion Saler at Echt, first in class at the Highland, with two seconds in the bulls in 2016. It was the first time Echt had a Saler class –there were 12 forward, as many as at the Highland.”
The summer of 2013 was the most successful showing season for these successful Black Isle farmers. Whitebog Homer, took home the Junior Male Saler Champion at the Royal Highland Show and Whitebog Gingernut secured the Reserve Junior Champion Heifer.
“We have won at the show at Castle Douglas five times in ten years and once reserve,” added father Alister, “and won Stirling most times, but not always.”
“We’ve been very lucky at Perth and Stirling,” commented Alister Jun. There is a wide range of buyers there, whereas at Castle Douglas it is just Saler buyers. I feel the main sale should be at Stirling.”
The MacKenzies had the last Champion Saler at Perth before it shut, selling to 4000gns –a centre record. They then secured a breed record of 7500gns at Stirling when it opened, with Whitebog Convenor, which they held for a few days! His
FARM FACTS
Farmers: Alister & Anne MacKenzie farm in partnership, while son, also Alister, runs the farm.
Farms: Whitebog & Blackstand
Location: Fortrose, Ross-shire
Area: 340 acres owned
40 acres rented
Altitude:
Cattle: 70 pedigree Saler cows
90 commercial cows, almost pure Saler
Stock Bulls:Bijou (11)
Seawell Diplomat(9)
Seawell Jewel (3)
Cumbrian Velocity (3)
Sheep: 50 pedigree Suffolks
20 pedigree Blueface Leicesters
winter 200 hoggs
Arable: 50 acres oats for home use
half brother Mr Harvey, named after the foot trimmer, made 7800gns a couple of years later.
They secured the Championship at Stirling again this year with Whitebog Kipper, who headed to Newton Stewart with the McCornick family at 10 000gns. Kipper, was born on 16/7/15 and is sired by Whitebog Sandy out of Whitebog Emily.
Alister Jun. feels that December is too early to be asked for numbers of bulls being put forward for sale at the February bull sales. “We list all we have for sale at that juncture, but may sell some on farm before that. With folk buying them at thirteen months, saves us work, training and commission. We take the top ones to the sales as the publicity is the best advertising.”
Nineteen is the highest number of bulls sold off Whitebog in a year. “In 2016, six went to Stirling, one to Dingwall and two to Castle Douglas, with the rest traded privately.”
The same policy is carried out with the tups traded off the Whitebog pedigree Suffolk and Bluefaced Leicester sheep flocks. “We sell some at Dingwall and a lot in private deals on farm in
September and October, with a fair number going to Shetland. The tups mainly go through an agent and with the bulls, we find it is word of mouth.
Social Media has also proved an excellent marketing tool.
“We find that more people want to buy on farm rather than go to the mart –some for animal health reasons, others it is a time factor, or distance from markets,”
The cattle are usually housed on the return from Castle Douglas, or beforehand if it is a wet backend. They are fed a mix of silage, straw, potatoes, draff and home grown bruised oats.
Walking through the cattle courts, like other herds the cows are inquisitive, but do not flinch and certainly don’t act wild, as the Saler breed seems to have been branded by the uninitiated.
Young stock are creep fed an oat mix with 35% Harbro nuts, while the pedigree bulls are on a Norvite blend, mixed with oats, straw and potatoes in a with 25% of the mix made up of silage, to push them on. “The bulls have been so contented since we put them on that mix –they are
so easy to work with and train,” added Alister Sen., who judged the Royal Highland Show in 2014 and Castlewellan, in Ireland.
The MacKenzies are planning another outing to France, this summer, to look at bulls. On a previous outing they marvelled at a show with 1000 head of Salers, with horns and bells and cows being milked in the mountains, with the calf suckling the last quarter.
On the topic of bull selection, Alister Jun. was rather evasive –“It depends what you need, to compliment the cows you have –good on legs is the number one, but I don’t want to give too many secrets away,” he laughed.
McNees Crack Luings
Robert and Hazel McNee, Over Finlarg, Tealing, Angus, topped the trade at Castle Douglas Luing sale –the 52nd annual Premier Sale at Wallets Mart mid February.
Their April 2015 born sire –Filner Tornado–of homebred parentage –Filner Bounty (d) and Filner Pedro (s) –which weighed in at 926kg, measuring 56” at the shoulders with a scrotal circumference of 40cm, sold to C C MacArthur, Nunnerie, Elvanfoot for 17 000 gns, matching last years top price. The couple also sold Finlarg Thunder for 3500gns to Brookstone Farm, Wrexham and Torpedo to Marshall Farms, Kingswells, Aberdeen.
Father and father-in-law, Roy McNee, Benhar, Armadale, West Lothian, was second top in the bull ring, selling Benhar Typhoon to 9000gns to D & A Stanners, Low Chesterhope Farm, Hexham. Benhar Tweed was knocked down to D & A Barr, Milkieston, Peebles at 5500gns, while Benhar Texas raised bids of 5000gns to Mrs LE Porritt, The Lampert, Brampton. Benhar Tokyo went for 3000gns to Mr A Lyth, Sheephouse Farm, Bacup.
Of the 26 bulls forward, 23 sold to average £4967, up £125 on the year. Other top bull prices included Craigdarroch Torres from W Graham & Son, Craigdarroch, Sanquhar to W.W. Dunlop and son Commonside, Hawick for 6800gns. Harehead Telfer, Prof W A Penny, Duns went to Beattie, Auchantaggart, Sanquhar for 5500gns. Lammermuir Tremendous, from Crerar, Newmains Stenston sold to McNee, Over Finlarg for 5000gns and Nunnerie Titan, sold to J & H Fergusson, Drumbowie, Rankinston for 5000gns.
Judge Mr. Leslie Robson, Buckholm, Galashiels chose a pen from Robert McNee Ltd, Benhar, Armadale as Champion pair of in-calf heifers. They went on to sell for 3000gns to Mr. D McFadzean, Balado, Kinross. Benhar herd averaged £2695 for 12 sold.
The reserve pair from Steven and Elaine Murray, Rockcliffe, sold for 1850gns to new breeder Mr. A. Robinson, Windmill, Hexham. Rockcliffe herd averaged £1681 for 23 sold.
In-calf heifers averaged £2029 for 35 sold, up £111 on the year.
The Grahams, Craigdarroch, Sanquhar took the rosette for the champion pair of bulling heifers selling for 2500gns to MG Halligan & AC Burke, Newton Stewarton Farm, Eddleston. Craigdarroch sold 6 to average £1855.
The reserve pair from Prof W A Penny CBE, Harehead, Duns went the same way. Harehead averaged £1393 for 24 sold. Other heifer averages included McNees, Benhar, 13 to average £1543. MacArthur, Nunnerie, 20 to average £1420. Torwoodlee & Buckholm Estates, Galashiels, 10 to average £1407. The Lampert, Brampton, 8 to average £1345, D & A Stunners, Low Chesterhope Farm, Hexham, 15 to average £1337 and Messrs. D & A Barr, Milkieston, Peebles, 16 to average £1313. Bulling heifers saw 136 sell to average £1372 up £114 on the year.
Agricultural Banking Team Boosted in South West Scotland
Seven new specialist agricultural bankers have joined the Lloyds Banking Group team across Britain, having recently graduated from an intensive course in farming at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) in Cirencester, Gloucestershire.
The course, which covers farm animal husbandry, agricultural policy and the environment, was introduced two years ago to equip those Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Bank managers new to the agricultural team with the technical background they needed.
Douglas Allan, who is based in Ayr with Bank of Scotland, is one of those new to the team; he will be supporting farmers in South West Scotland. While he grew up on a dairy farm in West Dunbartonshire and has had a life-long interest in farming, Douglas has also spent 30 years with the bank in commercial and corporate banking – so
New Head for Herefords
welcomed the RAU refresher into the agricultural sector.
Douglas said: “It’s a very challenging time for the industry at the moment, with significant volatility in market prices, depressed income and uncertainty about the future. But it was clear on the course that the rising global population and growth in middle classes means the long-term prospects for farming are positive. It’s important to take that long term view and support clients through these cycles.”
Head of Agriculture at Lloyds Banking Group, Andrew Naylor, says: “Farming is a unique industry – not only is it highly technical, but it can face cycles of varying profitability and price challenges. We need our bankers to really understand this so they can support their clients in the right way.”
Robert Thomas, owner of the Risbury Herd of Herefords, has been elected President of the Society for the coming year.
Robert has been farming at Risbury Court close to Leominster in Herefordshire since taking over from his father-in-law in 1985. Prior to that he had farmed with his father and brother at Weston Court near Pembridge.
He has had a life-long involvement with the Breed and remembers a wonderful year working with the Hereford herd at The Haven in Dilwyn back in the late 1960’s.
Robert’s grandfather, Jack Thomas, registered his first Hereford calf, Blossom, in 1916 when farming at Home Farm, Norton, Radnorshire. Jack’s son, Geoff, Robert’s father, continued to breed Herefords first at The Rhyse in Lyonshall and later with his brother Ivor at Merryhill. Later, Geoff re-established his herd at Weston Court
David Thomlinson Appointed as Honorary President of Limousin Cattle Society
David Thomlinson of Park View, Scaleby, Carlisle, Cumbria has been appointed as the British Limousin Cattle Society’s (BLCS) Honorary President. Serving a two-year term of office, and becoming the Society’s thirteenth Hon President in all, he takes over the reins from John Temple of Chase Farm, Roughley, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands who stepped down at the Society’s AGM in September.
In a long association with the Limousin breed, David Thomlinson has been senior auctioneer at Borderway, Carlisle market where the BLCS hold Premier Society Sales along with numerous other production, reduction and dispersal sales. Starting as an office clerk, he quickly progressed through the ranks and has been with the company Harrison & Hetherington for some 54 years.
At a young age and with ‘limited funds’, David quickly saw that there was huge potential for the Limousin breed after seeing some of the cattle from the first importations in the 1970’s. Managing to get the money together he bought his first old cow and registered his first pedigree calf in 1979 under the Beeches prefix, naming her Beeches Philomena. Working and breeding away with his wife Sheila, the herd is still very much active with 50 breeding females run on the 200 acre farm at Scaleby, Carlisle.
David Thomlinson has previously been an elected member of the BLCS Council of Management, a position he held for some nine
years. He has also been heavily involved at various industry levels and is presently the Chairman of the NBA. Previously David has also served as Chairman of the Livestock Auctioneers Association and in 2011 he was awarded the prestigious Blamire medal of honour in recognition of his services to agriculture in the Cumbria region. With his pedigree auctioneer’s hat on David Thomlinson has presided over many high flying Limousin sales, both pedigree and commercial, and in 2006 he became the first UK auctioneer to sell a bull at six figures when Haltcliffe Vermount sold for the then world record of £105,000.
"The breed has become firmly established as the UK’s number one due to a combination of its ease of calving, ease of management, and ability to produce high quality consistent carcases with top killing out percentages and high meat yield. If the breed can maintain those characteristics along with feed efficiency, gestation length, and milk production of the females then I have no doubt it will grow its position as the benchmark beef breed,” said David.
In his new position as BLCS Hon President David Thomlinson is looking forward to meeting up with BLCS breeders and buyers at the upcoming autumn sales at Carlisle and Stirling, followed by the Borderway Agri Expo in November, and the various leading UK Winter Primestock events thereafter.
along with Robert and his brother Philip.
On moving to Risbury Court with his wife Diane and children, Richard & Lizzie, Robert continued breeding Herefords under the prefix “Risbury.” More recently he has concentrated on the beef market supplying pure-bred Hereford beef to numerous local butchers on a regular basis, not to mention The Old Court Hotel & Dining Room at Symonds Yat, South Herefordshire which has been serving Risbury beef for the last 10 years. His son Richard is now a partner in the farm, whose interests lie with his flock of commercial ewes, maintaining the farm’s standard cider orchards and growing a small acreage of cereals chiefly for home use.
Elected as Vice- President for the year is South West breeder, Jonathan Moorhouse “Cato Herefords” who farms near Taunton, Somerset along with his wife Rosemary.
Au s tral i a
The value of Australian farm production is forecast to increase by 13% in 2016-17 when compared with the average of the past five seasons.
Total product value was forecast by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, (ABARES) at A$58.4 billion (£35b), of which 75% would come from export earnings. Notably, total primary sector earnings would be split half-in-half between crop products, including horticulture, and livestock products.
It is the crop contribution that will rise significantly this season, as orchardists and arable farmers enjoy very good growing conditions after two or more years of drought. Crop volumes were expected to rise by 12% in total, from an additional 1 million hectares, making 24m ha cropped.
On the livestock side, cattle prices were expected to remain strong but beef exports were forecast to fall 12% as herd rebuilding limited the number of slaughter cattle.
Dairy farmers, too, were going to voluntarily reduce milk production because
of a major price shock and one major processor, Fonterra, forecast milk collection would be down 10-12% in Australia.
Official figures from Dairy Australia said milk production was down 10% in the first four months of the production year, from July to October, including 12% in Victoria and 6% in New South Wales.
Driving round western Victoria in late November, the contrast between arable and dairy industries was very obvious. Regular rainfall throughout winter set the conditions for bumper harvests of wheat, barley, oats, canola and lentils.
Grain farmer Will Mercer, at Derrinallum, nearly 200km west of Melbourne, said his paddocks would yield 8 tonnes/ha and some would produce records. He hoped the higher yields would counter the low world prices and he would get a good overall return.
Mercer had 550ha of wheat growing and would begin harvesting after Christmas, because the cool spring had delayed crop maturity by about three weeks.
The same wet weather produced very
strong pasture growth, but dairy farmers had reduced their cow numbers and were not able to utilise all the growth.
Farmers were standing in line for silage and hay making contractors, in order to put away the pasture bounty as supplementary fodder for the future.
Another incentive to get the excess growth cut and conserved was to reduce the fire risk, always present in rural Australia.
ABARES predicts nearly 50 million tonnes of all arable crops will be harvested across Australia, and that winter crops would yield 20% more than the previous season.
Wheat volume would be up 17% but the world price down 15%, to leave export earnings largely unchanged around A$5b (£3b).
Sugar volume would be up 3% and the price up 20%, so earnings would rise to A$2.3b (£1.4b).
ABARES also predicted that barley, cotton and canola volumes would be up 30% or thereabouts, with growers of the last two crops also expected to benefit from world
by Hugh Stringleman
prices rises – boosting farm gate returns by 40%.
World wheat prices were forecast to average the lowest level in 15 years in real terms, down 15% to US$180/tonne (£144/tonne). World coarse grain prices were also expected to fall, down 11% to US$150/ tonne (£120), because, like wheat, world stocks were high and production was expected to be high.
Growers of oilseeds were predicted to do better, with a 6% higher average price of US$395/tonne (£316), due to lower world stocks.
Low world sugar stocks would also benefit Australian cane growers, with a predicted price of 19c/lb US (25p/kg) to be 20% higher than last year.
In the dairy industry, ABARES said the national herd would fall by 35 000 cows to 1.6m and it predicted the farm gate milk price would be 42c/litre Australian (25p). However, that price prediction in September was based on world dairy commodity prices around US$2000/tonne (£1600) for milk
powders and by early December that was well out of date. Skim milk powder had risen to US$2500 (£2000) and whole milk powder to $3400 (£2720).
Consequently, the farm gate price forecast from Fonterra Australia rose to A$5.20/kg milksolids, equivalent to 43c/litre and the Fonterra New Zealand farm gate payout forecast rose to NZ$6/kg (50c/litre or 32.5p/litre).
Dairy farmers were also closely watching the Commonwealth of Australia Senate inquiry into the dairy industry and its farm gate pricing mechanisms.
There was an uproar earlier in 2016 when major dairy companies had to claw back payments made to farmers for milk when world commodity prices sank to very low levels (under US$2000/tonne for whole milk powder).
Companies blamed each other and farmers said they were suspicious of the payment system and wanted more transparency. Murray Goulburn, the largest Australian cooperative, told the Senate inquiry that it
forecast a farm gate milk price for the season and then paid 90-92% of that forecast to farmers on a monthly basis, according to production.
Fonterra Australia said it matched the MG payment pattern because farmers were free to change processors between seasons in dairying regions where there is competition for milk supply. But last season Fonterra warned that its advance payments were unsustainable based on world prices and Murray Goulburn dramatically slashed payout when its chief executive Garry Helou, resigned.
To try and bring the payout into line and balance the books, MG dropped from $5.60/kg down to $1.30 for the last two months of the season, causing the outcry that resulted in the Senate inquiry. The inquiry has heard that major cooperative Fonterra operated a more conservative advance payment system in New Zealand, paying only 60% of the forecast during the first half of the season. The inquiry committee will report in February.
The new United States President, Donald Trump, lost no time in pulling out of the newly signed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) that was designed to bring 12 countries around the Pacific Ocean into a free trade partnership.
“Instead, we will negotiate fair bi-lateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back onto American shores," he said during campaigning.
He also put the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on notice, having declared that he would, “either renegotiate it or break it.”
That 24-year-old agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico, has been blamed by Trump for exporting jobs from the US to Mexico.
Mexico is also the source of the majority (60%) of an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants working in the US for minimum wages, for which Trump’s remedy is to build a wall on the Mexican border.
But academic studies over the years broadly agreed that the et overall effect of NAFTA on the US economy had been relatively mild because
trade with Canada and Mexico was a minor part of US GDP.The unintended consequences of breaking NAFTA, those academics believe, would show up in reduced access to the biggest markets (as a backlash against the US trade restrictions), a hit to economic growth and increased prices for fuel, vehicles, fruits, and vegetables.
Trump’s election platform included frequent promises to boost the American economy by restoring its manufacturing industries, which had lost millions of jobs to cheaper-wage economies.
China, of course, was the biggest villain, but Trump has not started his fight-back against China yet.
TPP was in limbo, having been signed by all 12 countries in Auckland, New Zealand in February 2016, but not subsequently ratified by the US Congress. It was an easy target for a new presidential decree.
Both presidential candidates, Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump, vowed to reject TPP because of the belief among US blue-collar workers that free
trade kills companies, industries, and opportunities.
Ministers and trade officials in the other 11 countries were quick to point out that the US had taken an inordinate amount of time to agree to TPP, at least seven years, and then was the first to pull the pin on it. Many called for TPP enactment without the US, but its withdrawal also seems to have weakened the resolve of other reluctant starters, like Japan and Canada.
China could see an opportunity to profit from the new US protectionist policy, by offering to effectively replace the US in the TPP. It is already a major mover in the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Agreement covering 46% of the world’s population and 24% of global GDP.
These large trade blocs are bigger than the European Union, particularly minus the United Kingdom when Brexit is enacted.
Trump’s battle cries alternated between “Make America Great Again” and “Put America First.” He diagnosed what was wrong with the
country – high unemployment, illegal immigrants, threats of terrorism and weak government.
His somewhat unpredicted election was seen as an example of voter reaction around the world against liberalism, mass immigration, and free trade.
The shape of trade in future, his triumph suggested, was a return to making real goods in one country, without globalisation to take advantage of different skills, lower wages, and tax laws.
Even traditional allies of the US are now worried that protectionism will spread unintended consequences, like the NAFTA breakdown threatens to do.
For instance, Australia and New Zealand have beef quotas into the US amounting to more than 500 000 tonnes annually, probably $5 billion of trade.
Trump said he intends to renegotiate all bilateral trade pacts with the euphemistically named “partners”, seeing that he wants to ensure that the
Trumped!
by Hugh Stringleman
US comes out on top of any new agreement.
For NZ, elimination of the beef quota would take 20% out of the export earnings, because for the type of manufacturing beef traditionally sold to the US and Canada, replacement markets and comparative prices would be hard to find.
Similar tariffs, 20% to even 40%, apply to most meats around Southeast Asian countries, obvious markets for Australia and NZ because of their proximity and lack of domestic production.
However the small farming sectors of those countries do put up a fight against free trade agreements, most notably Japan, which has sheltered behind high tariff walls for decades.
A leading NZ economic institute, at the request of the Dairy Companies Association, has published an estimate of the cost of trade barriers for the dairy industry. Tariffs cost NZ$1.3 billion (£750 million) and the extra costs of non-tariff measures amount to $3b (£1.7b) annually, it said.
Dairy products are the largest category of NZ exports, but it is relatively small country with an
efficient dairy industry.
In other words, target countries would find it very difficult to produce the milk needed to replace NZ imports, especially the milk powders sold to Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.
All major trading countries are members of the World Trade Organisation, which tries to spread globalisation and provides dispute resolution services.
The most ambitious world free trade agreement, called the Doha Round, is stalled under the weight of disagreements. One of the biggest is the ongoing argument between the EU and the US over agricultural subsidies, which of course European farmers and American farmers defend vigorously.
It is fair to say that President Trump will be in no hurry to move on the Doha Round and won’t be knocking on the door of the Geneva headquarters of the WTO.
When the biggest player doesn’t like the rules, the trade game changes considerably.
The Scottish Sheep Shearing and Wool Handling Teams that travelled to the World Shearing Championships in Invercargill, South Island, New Zealand, did Scotland proud on the world stage. With 32 countries from across the globe, the coloured finalists ribbons were hotly contested. Live streaming of the finals allowed a worldwide audience to enjoy the buzz from the comfort of their own homes.
Napier shearer Johnny Kirkpatrick, who has shorn for Iain MacGillivray, Polmont, here in Scotland, at his fourth attempt won the individual machine shearing final, to deafening applause from a crowd of over 4000, one of the biggest ever to watch a shearing event. According to Invercargill locals, it was also the biggest crowd for any event held in the stadium, better known for netball and basketball matches and short boxing fights.
Pairing with World Championships first-timer Nathan Stratford, four-times Golden Shears Open winner Kirkpatrick, 45, won his third World teams title, pushing reigning titled Scots, Gavin Mutch and Hamish Mitchell in second place.
Both machine shearing finals were fast and furious with Scotsmen Hamish Mitchell and Gavin Mutch, as expected, intent on blasting the home shearers out of the contest with speed.
They were first to the finish in the teams event and first and second respectively to finish the individual final of 20 sheep, comprising long wool,
second shear and lambs, which Mitchell cut-out in 16min 50.75sec.With Mutch next and Kirkpatrick finishing in 17min 22.079sec the points judged out the back in the pens was crucial. Kirkpatrick had the edge and ultimately won with a 1.353pts buffer from Mutch, with Stratford in third. Ivan Scott, Hamish Mitchell and Jack Robinson took up the remaining slots in that order.
In the team final the Kiwi pair always looked to have the quality, but it was a closer result than expected with Kirkpatrick and Stratford claiming victory by just 0.79pts. There was a further gap of more than five-and-a-half points to the third place-getters, Australian pair Shannon Warnest and Jason Wingfield. Northern Ireland, Wales and Ireland took up 4th to 6th places.
Dunedin-based Joel Henare, from Gisborne, regained the woolhandling title he won at the Golden Shears in Masterton in 2012, teammate and surprise New Zealand selection Mary-Anne Baty, also from Gisborne, having the best night of her life to finish runner-up and pair with Henare in taking the teams title.
It was also a big night for New Zealand-based Cook Islands pair mother-and-daughter Tina and Maiden Elers, of Mataura, Tina Elers finishing third in the individual final and the pair claiming third place in the teams event.
South African craftsman-supreme Mayenseke Shweni successfully defended the blade shearing title he won in Ireland in 2014, and the teams title
Fagan back where it began: Watching the Golden Shears
Shearing legend Sir David Fagan tomorrow(Thursday) heads to Masterton’s Golden Shears for a 42nd year in a row as keen as ever about the big event, despite industry and sports concerns about a drop in the number of entries.
Sir David first travelled from King Country to the shears as a schoolboy in 1976 to support older brother John. Despite having at the time, he reckons, barely known what a shearing handpiece looked like, it was only eight years later that he was runner-up in his brother’s only Golden Shears Open win, and just another two years before the first of his own record 16 wins in the glamour event from 1986 to 2009.
Now chairman of national body Shearing Sports New Zealand he says the decline in the number of entries, in the three-day Golden Shears, part of a drop experienced across many of the 60 competitions throughout the country this summer, punters can still expect to see the best in the country, including four new World champions, coming through heading towards Saturday night’s big finals.
“The cream will always rise to the top,” he said. “Once the elimination stages are through, it really heats up and all the top ones will still be there.”
While no longer competing, apart from a minute sharing the competition board with Prime Minister Bill English in a break during the World Championships in Invercargill two weeks ago, he said: “The Golden Shears is still to the forefront of any shearing sports competitor’s mind. Me? I’m a spectator now. I’m looking forward to it.”
Golden Shears president Philip Morrison said more than 30 entries had “come-in” this week and he hoped entries could get to 350, which would still be short of the 2016 entry.
More than 3500 sheep are ready, mainly Romney ewes from farms in the district but also including about 200 fine wooled merino wethers from Central Otago and small numbers of lambs and corriedales.
Classic examples of the talent on display are the appearance of the new World champions, shearers John Kirkpatrick, of Napier and Nathan Stratford, of Invercargill, and woolhandlers Joel Henare and Mary-Anne Baty, both from Gisborne.
But Hastings shearer Rowland Smith, the 2014 World champion, is defending the Golden Shears Open title, and was rated such a hot favourite by the TAB that in addition to its usual “To Win” pool it has established an option with Smith excluded.
Competition will take place in the Open, Senior, Intermediate, Junior and Novice Shearing grades, the Open, Senior, Junior and Novice woolhandling grades, and men’s women’s and pairs woolpressing.
As well as the Trastasman test matches, there are also the PGG Wrightson National Shearing Championship final (the country’s premier multi-breeds shearing event), a Speedshear, a traditional Maori-Pakeha teams shearing event, YFC events dating back to the shears’ earliest days, and a triathlon – the combined points of competitors prepared to have a go at all three disciplines of shearing, woolhandling and pressing.
he won this time with Bongani Joel. New Zealanders Tony Dobbs, of Fairlie, and Phil Oldfield, of Geraldine, were second and third respectively in the individual final and second in the teams event. Australians Johnathon Dalla and Ken French achieved their best ever result in blade shearing with the third-place ribbon.
A highlight of the Shears was when Prime Minister Bill English earned the first major victory of election year when he beat shearing legend Sir David Fagan in a one-sheep-match on the final afternoon of the four-day 40th anniversary World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in ILT Stadium Southland, Invercargill.
The Prime Minister was right at home in his home province and shore one of the fastest long blows of the Championship to date, blasting Sir David away down the last side!
The shearing champion from Te Kuiti, winner of 642 titles worldwide, including five individual World championships, was later gracious in defeat at the hands of the Prime Minister. “He won it fair and square,” said Sir David, who retired from competitive shearing in 2015.
Mr English said: “I did one a couple of years ago at the Southern Fieldays and I reckon it would be 15 years before that, so that's two in the last 15 years.”
“I’ve just got such deep respect for the skill and the work ethic and the athleticism of these shearers,” he said. “I always admired it since I was a young guy and actually hearing about (Sir) Dave when he was 18 or 19, so it’s just fantastic to have the opportunity to be here, to get up on the board and show respect to what these guys do.”
He was high in his praise for the event and its spectacular venue. “But of course it all comes down to the brilliance of these shearers and the woolhandlers and what they do for the sheep industry in New Zealand and for our export industries, and that’s important to me as Prime Minister.”
“I’ve followed the sport and have had some of my family involved as pretty good shearers and one of my sisters has been a physio for World Records, so I’ve always kept an eye on it and it’s such a display of total excellence, with these top shearers.”
Hawke’s Bay shearer Rowland Smith scored a stunning All Nations Open win after a near three year reign as World Champion. The win was some compensation for Smith, who last year won five of the six preliminary rounds of the 2017 New Zealand team selection series, only to finish third in the series final and miss selection in the two-man machine shearing team and the chance to defend his World title won in Ireland in 2014. Smith won by almost two points from NZ team member John Kirkpatrick who made a gallant bid to claim the title by producing fastest time of 17min 6sec, beating Smith by about 11 seconds. World championship favourite and 2012 World title winner Joel Henare, now living in Dunedin but from Gisborne, won the All Nations Wool handling final by about 5.4pts over runner-up Alexandra’s Pagan Karauria, who had earlier in the night finished sixth in the Senior shearing final. World blade shearing champion Mayenseke Shweni stamped a big mark on the event when he won the Southland All Nations blade shearing title. Shweni won the World title in Ireland, in 2014.
Shweni won by more than 12 points from
runner-up and New Zealand shearer Tony Dobbs, a Fairlie farmer, but second South African shearer Bangani Joel slipped to fourth place after shearing the six sheep in 16min 9sec, almost two minutes quicker than his teammate who was 2nd to finish.
Waipawa shearer Aaron Bell became the second winner from Hawke’s Bay within a few hours, claiming the All Nations Senior machine shearing title after Napier’s Angela Stevens won the All Nations Senior woolhandling final. Ironically, Stevens’ husband was among Bell’s opposition his six-man final over 10 sheep each.
WORLD SHEARING CHAMPS
Blackface In-lamb Sale
The Blackface in-lamb sale at Lawrie & Symington, Lanark, hit new highs with thirty-five selling over 1000gns and thirty-four heading across the water to Northern Ireland.
Joe Cockburn from Troloss, set the trend with lot no.1 –a homebred, Lurg loan sired 4yo ewe inlamb to £40K Dalchirla, hitting the guinea grand, knocked down to Lurg.
John Harkin, Loughash, third consignor in the ring, was next to hit four figures, with his blue ribboned 1-crop ewe of Elmscleugh parentage, scanned with twins to £20K Auldhouseburn, headed back to Ireland with Veronica Fullerton, Draperston, Co Londonderry for the princely sum of 4600gns.
Harkin’s second ewe sold to Charlie Gallacher, Co Donegal for 2000gns, while the third was a telephone bid from D Harrison, Co Down, who splashed 4200gns for the triplet bearing 1-crop ewe out of a £42K Nunnerie dam and £24K Elmscleugh sire.
Next in were Messrs Coubrough, Whelphill with their classy 3-crop Biggar Show Champion, pictured bottom right. Of £19K Elmscleugh and £6200 Midlock linage, she commanded bids of 5000gns by Conway Bros of Omagh.
The Blackwoods of Dalblair sold to 2000gns to radish grower, Scott Watson, Straiton & Norfolk, as did Glenrath to Charlie Gallacher.
All four from Dyke made four figures, on their inaugural outing to this sale, topping with Doune
& Dunblane Interbreed Champion 2015, to Sam Wallace at 3500, averaging 2475gns.
Crossflatt’s first prize, reserve champion gimmer, off £90K Blackhouse and £26K Crossflatt headed north to Newtonmore with Ewan Fraser, Balgowan Farm at 5000gns. He sold 5 to average 2380gns.
Last year’s judge –Elliot Bowman, Islay –paid 2200gns for a £30K sired ewe hogg from the Kennedys of Mitchellhill.
Irish eyes were smiling for David Morrison, Dalwyne, as he entered the ring. Keeping a half share in the first lot, he sold the other half to fellow Irishman, McFarlane, Londonderry at 1800gns for the share.
Lot 77, a gimmer out of a Buffalo dam and Brokeleg (s), served by £52K Crossflatt, (pictured above right) set the ring alight with a bidding frenzy. Auldhouseburn were triumphant.
David’s final lot –an embryo out of his best show ewe –Bang Tidy and £52K Crossflatt, headed to Crossflatt at 2000gns.
Second top price of the day –5800gns was spent by the judge Paul Coulson, High Staward for Auldhouseburn’s leader (right) –a gimmer, scanned twins, joined to £160K Dalchirla. She is an embryo daughter out of £65K homebred ewe and £90K Blackhouse. Their second gimmer made 3600 to Gallacher, NI. (ave 3486gns for three sold).
Dean Aitken, Uppercleugh sold all three, to a top of 2700gns, to Sean McCrystal, Maghena, Northern Ireland.
Allanfauld’s females went airts –Argyllshire, Ayrshire and Skye –with the leading lady heading to the Campbells, Succouth, Strachur at 3000gns.
Oliver Brannigan took the show champion, from Lurg (above) across the water to the Emerald at 3200gns. Mullach, Rhoda Munro, who farms the Island of Geometra purchased the second at 2700gns.
Stuart Paterson sold the Harestone pen to 2600gns for the Black Isle Show Champion to Nunnerie. The McArthurs went on to make 5200gns, in a two way split between Elaine Gammie, Lanark and David Murray, Lurgan.
The Yara Farmers Curling Championship, which has been running for 34 years, took place at the Dewars Centre in ice rink Perth recently.
The largest event of its kind in Europe, with 72 teams competing over the five days, the championship sees an entire industry take to the ice in a spirit of fierce, yet friendly, competition.
“It’s the highlight of the Scottish farming calendar,” says Championship Organiser Alan (Woodie) Wood, who retired from Yara in 2016 continues to help organise the event, “and brings everyone together. We have teams of farmers, merchants and hauliers coming from all areas of Scotland.”
Local teams pit their skills against those from further afield and there is also a prize for the highest placed ladies team and a low road competition for the second placed teams after the group stage.
The 2017 competition ended in a nail biting finish as the championship was decided by the final stone in an extra end. The closest final for many years ended with a local team skipped by Sandy Reid from Carnoustie with lead Hamish Robertson, second John Dunn and third Stuart Stark taking the championship title, trophy and £600 prize money. The runners up from Auchterarder, who put up a great fight were lead Adam Haggart, second Peter McLaren, third Andrew Bayne and skip Roy McGregor
Yara Curling Event
The low road winners from Perthshire (pictured below) were lead Ewan Stark, second Graham Reid, third Gordon Stark and skip Graeme Prentice, who were very strong competitors throughout. The ladies competition was won by defending ladies champions Kerry Clark and her team of Maggie Barry, Fran Stretton and Susan Kesley (above left), who were the highest placed ladies team.
“The final was the best game of the week and could have gone either way right down to the last stone. Congratulations to all the teams and a big thank you to all who came along through the week to support all the players." It was also announced that the competition will continue again in 2018 which will be the 35th year.
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