The farming family behind the new Sutherland monitor farm has set itself the goal of producing more lambs from its flock of 900 breeding ewes.
Jason Ballantyne and his wife, Vic, who farm in partnership with Jason’s father, Murdo, are the new monitor farmers for Sutherland at their Clynelish Farm, near Brora.
The 300-acre farm is one of nine farms taking part in the new monitor farms programme, which is being run jointly by Quality Meat Scotland and AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds.
Funded by a £1.25million grant from the Scottish Government, the scheme aims to help improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of Scottish farm businesses.
During the first meeting, which was attended by more than 50 local farmers and crofters, Jason and Vic Ballantyne gave a tour of their farm and an overview of their current farming policies.
Mrs Ballantyne said: “We love farming and are always looking at ways to improve what we do so that our business is sustainable in the future.
“However, for us, we need a good work/life balance, so we are keen to develop a low input, high output system, as well as improving the consistency of their product and find innovative ways to develop our business.”
The family runs 80 Simmental cross suckler cows, which are calved outside in May and June with calves sold as stores at 10-months-old at Thainstone.
During the first meeting, the Ballantynes gave details of the performance of their 2016-born calves including the average daily liveweight gains both before the calves were weaned in November and since – these were 1.17kg a day and 1.06kg a day respectively.
The family also provided scanning and lambing data spanning the last six years for their flock of 900 breeding ewes. Half the sheep are Lairg-type Cheviots and the other half are Lleyn cross – they are currently lambed outdoors at the end of April. Jason and Vic said they were keen to focus on increasing their current scanning rate of 161% to more than 170% and to look at ways to increase the survival rate of lambs at weaning from its current 144% to more than 150%.
Jason said: “I think it is really important to us as farmers to challenge ourselves and look at our businesses and the way we do things. Hopefully by doing this, we can go on to make improvements and improve our bottom line.”
Farmers who attend future meetings at Clynelish will be invited to suggest changes the Ballantyne family can make to improve the efficiency of their farm, and then monitor the results on the farm over the three-year period of the programme.
A community group has also been set up to choose topics and speakers for future meetings, and also to discuss issues that are local to Sutherland.
Farmers and crofters wishing to get involved are asked to contact Willie Budge or Cat MacGregor at SAC Consulting’s Thurso office on 01847 892602.
