Most livestock farmers perceive high inputs lead to increased outputs – however, low input systems can be just as productive and indeed more profitable.
That’s something the team at Carbeth Home Farm, in Balfron, have discovered by focussing on a functional animal tailored to suit the individual needs of their farm which in turn has allowed them to reduce input costs.
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This policy has proved a win:win situation for Daye Tucker and her farm manager, Lawrence Martin, who run a closed flock of 370 pedigree Lleyn ewes over their 410-acre Stirlingshire unit.
“We bought the farm back in 2000, with Lawrence taking over as farm manager two years ago following his part-time role as our shepherd whilst also working as a project manager for Sky TV,” explained Daye.
Lawrence added: “I didn’t grow up with an agricultural background but I aways knew that I wanted to farm. I attended SRUC’s Oatridge campus where I gained my HNC qualification in agriculture before then undertaking a modern apprenticeship through Lantra.”
It’s the Lleyn that breeds the best for Daye and Lawrence, with their prolificacy and maternal traits proving hard to beat.
“The Lleyn is a hardy sheep that has the longevity we are looking for. They don’t need constant interference – they look after themselves and their lambs, as well as being fantastic mothers,” commented Lawrence.
In a bid to make the business more productive and profitable, Lawrence and Daye are splitting the flock in two with the aim of targetting both the pedigree and commercial markets.
“The plan is to increase numbers to around 500 ewes. Around 200 of those ewes will make up the pedigree flock, where they will be used to produce replacements as well as breeding stock for our returning customers, whilst the remaining 300 will be run commercially,” explained Lawrence.
“We recently bought a Charollais cross Beltex tup, which was put out to around 100 ewes and we hope to produce cross lambs for the fat ring.
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"We originally were pushing to increase the carcase of our pedigree sheep, but that started to impact prolificacy so in order for us to try and achieve the best of both worlds, we have introduced a terminal sire to look after carcase side of things.
“Other than buying in the occasional ram to introduce new bloodlines, we have a closed flock and look to produce our own Lleyn tups that carry either the single or double myomax gene in a bid to help make the breed more attractive to the commercial farmer.
“However, the more you improve the carcase on a Lleyn, the more it loses key attributes – we need to remember that they are a maternal breed, so it’s all about trying to get that balance right. Our aim is to produce the right kind of Lleyn that you can put across a terminal sire and get the best of both,” he added.
Tups head out with ewes on November 16 and are left for 30 days in total, with lambing kicking off mid-April in a bid to make the most of the improved weather and grass available. Scanning takes place in January and percentages for the Lleyn ewes sit at 180%.
Living up to their hardy nature, ewes are mainly reared on grass with only molasses buckets made available for extra nutrition. In the run up to lambing, at around six weeks prior, the twin and triplet bearing ewes are mixed and fed around 300g of ewe rolls per head per day, with single bearing ewes remaining on a grass-based diet.
All ewes are brought indoors three days before lambing is due to kick off, with only the 100 commercially ran ewes being left to lamb outside.
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“Once a ewe has lambed, we aim to have her penned for a maximum of 20 hours, depending on the weather, as we look to get all the ewes and lambs outside as quick as possible to avoid disease,” said Lawrence.
Hygiene is of huge importance at Carbeth, with the entire shed, including pens, being disinfected with Pruex once per day and bedding treated with hydrated lime.
“Every pen gets mucked out, limed and re-bedded as often and as soon as possible as this help’s reduce moisture, smell and the risk of watery mouth breaking out,” added Daye.
With a dedication to improving their flock through the use of EBVs, Daye and Lawrence are convinced that the benefits of performance recording will help to further improve the breeding potential of their ewe flock for years to come.
“Recording is so important, no matter how basic it is. During lambing, we focus on specifically monitoring mothering ability of our ewes, lambing difficulty, milkiness, lamb vigour and disease control.
“We don’t weigh them at birth, however, but we do tag at birth specifically to help with recording purposes,” added Lawrence.
One major trial that they will be undertaking later this year during lambing is to switch from castrating lambs with rubber rings to using clips, with the hope of improving animal welfare.
“The benefit of using the clips is that they sever the nerve and blood supply immediately, which causes no pain to the lamb after around three seconds.
"With the rings, we would have to leave lambs in pens for longer for observation however, the clips will allow us to send them straight out into the field,” said Lawrence.
“Another benefit is that the clips are biodegradable. However, they are more expensive but we do think we will get that back with better lambs and a more efficient lambing system.”
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Vet and med costs have also been significantly reduced, too, with ewes given a Heptavac P vaccine four weeks prior to lambing to help avoid the risk of clostridial diseases and the lambs are given the same vaccine once the youngest lamb has hit four-weeks-old.
With sustainability and efficiency at the fore of the business, Lawrence and Daye upload and store all performance recording results on the livestock management software system, Agriweb, which helps manage the performance drivers that make their farm more productive.
Once lambs hit six-weeks-old, they are weighed every three weeks and they are looking for each lamb to have a daily live weight gain (DLWG) of 250g when reared solely on their mothers and grass.
With the aim of getting all lambs weaned by August and hitting 44kg from creep, Davidson’s Pearl Lamb Feed, is introduced. This has helped improve DLWG by 60-70g per day and is only introduced prior to finishing before they are sent off to Scotbeef.
However, with the price of feeding skyrocketing last year, Lawrence and Daye opted to sell the majority of their lambs store through United Auctions, where around 100 averaged £66 per head, weighing in at 34kg at seven-months-old.
Around 100 replacement females are retained each year, with any surplus sold privately, through society sales, or at breeding auctions at local markets.
Last year, some 50 breeding females were sold privately to level at £95, whilst ewes with lambs at foot averaged £60 per life for around 20 sold in total.
With quality proving an important aspect of the system at Carbeth, Lawrence and Daye have a strict selection policy when it comes to retaining females.
“We look at the ewe's performance and their progeny’s performance, thanks to the Agriweb system, to allow us to retain only the most productive breeding females and genetics for the future,” explained Daye.
“We want a ewe that produces lambs with good growth rates, and will take into account mothering ability, prolificacy and overall bill of health. We always pick more than we require as we know that throughout the year – as the ewes are put under more pressure – we look at them again and make a final selection.
“The replacement ewes are the last to get any supplementary feeding as we want to push them to perform under pressure. The aim is to rely on and sell ewes that won’t melt away when taken off feeding – they need to be as efficient as possible,” she added.
Worming and fluking is only done only when absolutely necessary in a bid to reduce costs and prevent any immunity to the various drenches building up.
“As we weigh stock so regularly, we do target testing and worm sampling. It’s not a perfect science but, as a result, we haven’t had to worm or fluke treat our ewes for three years, which is also helped by our rotational grazing system in place.
"We have a plate metre for measuring grass and we only move stock as or when need to – usually when grass is down to 4cm,” commented Lawrence.
Contributing to the successful grazing system at Carbeth is Lawrence's own herd of Galloway cattle. Run on a leader/follower system, the cattle are contributing to the improved fertility of the soil and grass at Carbeth, as well as helping to manage the rushes.
“I currently have four in-calf Galloways, six heifers and four Highland crosses, which are all bulled by a Whitebred Shorthorn. My aim to breed the Blue-grey cattle that I can go on to sell for breeding purposes, with bull calves going store.
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"I've always liked the idea of running a native herd alongside the sheep, and hope to increase herd numbers to around 20 in the future,” said Lawrence.
Keeping in with the native breed theme, Lawrence has also founded his own Herdwick flock, comprising 10 ewes. “As a new entrant, I was lucky to find myself on a salary, so the opportunity to be able to invest in stock and experiment is something that most people in my position don’t get a chance to do.
“I managed to secure an SLDT tenancy for five years on a 17-acre unit, so I was looking at different breeds and liked the Herdwicks as they have similar attributes to the Lleyn,” he explained.
“They are a very efficient breed and I’d like to try and capitalise on that. My current ewes are due to lamb mid-March, with my long term plan being the gimmers and one-crop ewes will be go to the pedigree tup and any older ewes will be crossed with a commercial sire to produce fat lambs. I’ve no idea how they will perform ... but it’s an experiment I’m looking forward to undertaking.”
Whilst running a busy beef and sheep farm, Lawrence also runs a bed and breakfast service on the farm which was founded four years ago.
“The B and B business was a no brainer. It provides an extra source of income, as well as makes use of outbuilding space that is not being used by the farm,” he said.
Looking to the future in an ever-changing industry, Lawrence concluded: “We want to continually and gradually grow the flock, as it’s important that the farm works that little bit harder.
“In regards to the future of the sheep market, the continental breeds have the potential to be bigger but the inputs are a lot higher and because we are breeding resilient livestock that required very little input for output, I believe we are in a strong position,” he stated.
Daye added: “The irony is that for farming to move forward, we’ve all got to go backwards and reintroduce a more simple approach to agriculture.
"You’ve got to have mixed farms that cross graze, as well as having a shift back to working with predominantly native breeds on a low input system. At the end of the day, profitability comes down to looking at the finer details of your business, which in turn will contribute to efficiency.”
Lawrence also gave this advice to new entrants who may be looking to make a career within the industry: “Speak to as many people as you possibly can – networking is your best friend. Become a member of organisations like NFUS, NSA, soil association groups, QMS and go to as many workshops as you can.
“When you find one good thing, don’t just settle for it. By working with these organisations it get’s your name out there and opens the door to more opportunities. The story of our farm and business has attracted a lot of interest and people want to know how, but you simply cannot do it as a new entrant on your own – you have to have somebody that gives you a chance and the time of day,” he explained.
Daye added: “It is rare to find someone with the practical and intellectual skills that Lawrence has and we are very grateful for his contribution to our farm. It goes to show that you don’t need to own land to become a good farmer.
“I’m a firm believer that you cannot be successful unless you have an enthusiastic and hard-working generation coming behind you, regardless of whether they come from an agricultural-based background or not – they are the future of our industry.
“The older farming community shouldn’t be afraid of the idea of change, and giving a younger individual the chance to take the reins ultimately is allowing the likes of my generation to farm for longer,” she concluded.
FARM facts:
Farm – Carbeth comprises 410 acres, based in Balfron and is home to 370 pedigree Lleyn ewes. Owned by Daye Tucker and managed by Lawrence Martin. Producing 30 acres of own hay and silage for feeding.
Lambing – All indoors in April, with commercial ewes lambing outdoors. Performance recording undertaken throughout the year to ensure only productive stock are retained.
Feeding – Sourced from Davidsons in the form of Pearl Lamb Creep feed and 16% cattle feed.
Showing – Heading to both local and national shows.
Diversification – Bed and breakfast on farm.
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