Luing cattle always been renowned as a hardy, commercial breed with good mothering characteristics which coupled with their strong feet and legs, have made them an attractive investment for the Murray family of West Preston, Kirkbean, Dumfries.
“We have worked with a variety of cross breeds over the years, but we’ve never looked back since we fell upon the Luing in the mid-1990s,” said Steven Murray, who farms alongside his wife Elaine, who is a part-time farm secretary for Farming Partners and their two daughters Heather (27) and Hazel (25). The girls and Heathers partner David are currently working on farms in South Island, New Zealand.
“It was more by chance than design that we came across the Luings, as we were looking for some additional heifers and our neighbouring RSPB farm had recommended them to us ahead of a sale at our local mart in Castle Douglas.
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“They’ve worked tremendously for us over the years and I can compare them first hand against Angus crosses, Galloway crosses and Limousin crosses.”
The family has been based at West Preston for the past 20 years having previously farmed at Rockcliffe on a short-term tenancy, situated approximately seven miles up the coastline.
West Preston encompasses 300 acres with the Murrays renting an additional 400 acres nearby, which rises from sea level up to 70ft.
Sadly, the herd had to be culled during the 2001 foot-and-mouth out-break but it did allow the family to set up a new herd based solely on low cost Luing cattle that can be outwintered.
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“Luings are great foraging cattle and they tidy up the edges of fields too rather than stand at a gate waiting to be fed. During the winter we’ll feed them fodder beat and kale with the addition of silage bales in ring feeders.
“We grow 100 acres of spring barley every year and being able to outwinter the cattle means we can sell the straw which is a huge saving. We only grow 70 acres of high energy fodder beat and kale for strip grazing the cattle each winter and we take two cuts of silage from 60 acres of grassland.
“I aim to have around 1400 – 1600 bales on hand each year as you never know what kind of winter we might have so additional forage is purchased from a neighbouring farm to ensure we have enough,” said Steven adding that Kingan Farm, New Abbey, does all the contract silage work.
West Preston is home to 230 head of Luing cows and heifers of which the top two thirds are pedigree and take the Rockcliffe prefix while the remainder is crossed with a Simmental to produce Sim-Luings.
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Steven adds: “We start calving in April. All cows calve outside while the heifers calve at two years of age inside to ensure they develop a good bond with their calf.
“We follow a strict fertility policy, meaning all cows that calve after the first five weeks are synchronised to calve within the first week of the following year, pushing for tighter calving.
“Benchmarking is so important when we analyse the business and late born calves can be unviable when you think they can sell for £200 less which takes away all the profit. The harder you cull the better your stock!”
Backing up these statements, cattle that are not due to calve within the first eight weeks of calving are culled, after scanning.
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“Luings are proven to be very good mothers. Don’t get me wrong, at times they can be overprotective, but I believe that temperament is natural when calving outside, and it stimulates the calf to get up and sook.”
“Grazing the cows outside all year round helps keep them in good condition as they are moving around a lot more which means they have extra strength for calving.”
Last year only 3% of the cows and 25% of heifers needed assistance, with most of those calves being due to either coming backwards or with just one leg forward.
Some of the best stock sires purchased in recent years include bulls from the Craigdarroch, Culmaily and Benhar herds, most of which were bought at the breed sale at Castle Douglas Mart, along with home-bred bulls.
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Simmental bulls bought to breed Sim-Luings in recent years have been purchased privately from Newbie Mains, Incheoch and John Paterson at Hartbush.
“We multi-sire, so we put two bulls in with a group of 70-80 cows which allows us to continue rotational grazing. We aim to put an older bull with a younger bull aged around 1-2 years to prevent fighting.
“In previous years we’ve noticed a pattern in that the older bull tends to cover the first calvers and the young bull sires the later calvers, which works well for us as it helps to ensure all cows are covered.”
Young bulls are often sold at 24-36 months of age and the Murrays like to try the bulls on their own cattle first.
Cattle are weaned from late October till the end of November when replacement Luing heifers are selected.
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“Occasionally we buy in heifers for breeding if we see something we like, but our health status is important to us when our Sim-Luing heifers are sold privately at 12 months old to regular suckler buyers who focus on health. We also DNA test our calves.”
Remaining Luing and Sim-Luing heifers are housed on slats during the winter and sold in calf at Castle Douglas Mart the following year.
Bull calves are left entire, housed in straw/woodchip bedded courts and finished at approximately 15 months of age on a ration of home-grown spring barley and pit silage up to 650kg liveweight through Highland Meats.
“We recently introduced wood chip in a bid to reduce our outgoings on straw which was so expensive to buy because of the poor harvest. Before the cattle went in the shed we laid down 1ft of wood fines and scraped off muck when necessary to keep them clean. This is a new concept to us, and we are yet to determine if it is worthwhile,” said Steven.
The Murrays find their 120 Easycare ewes which they’ve had for 15 years compliment the Luings too.
“Easycares are a suitable breed as they are low maintenance, lamb in May and they can be finished off grass and sold directly through the Galloway Lamb Group. We also sell ewe lambs at the Society Sale in Carlisle at the end of September and one or two tups privately.
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While its coastal location sees few if any frosts, it does however have anywhere from 5000-6000 barnacle geese visit from September to mid-April, which seriously damages cereal and grass crops. At present, the Murrays do receive some compensation from Nature Scotland but they are unsure if this will carry on, which will be a ‘major problem going forward’.
Steven concluded: “Overall, Luing cattle tick all the right boxes for us due to their low input, strong mothering ability and hardiness on a well fleshed and square frame.”
Farm Facts
Family: Steven and Elaine Murray and their two daughters Heather (27) and Hazel (25).
Acreage: 300 acres at West Preston farm, along with 400 acres rented nearby. Two cuts of silage are taken each year for bales and a single pit.
Livestock: 230 Pedigree Luing cows plus 120 Easycare sheep and 5000-6000 barnacle geese which reside on the farm from September through until mid-April.
On The Spot
Future goals: “I’d like to think my daughters will take over the farm one day. We aim increase herd numbers year on year, whilst pushing fertility.”
Best investment: “Buying West Preston farm.”
Best advice: Listen as much as possible and then make your own mind up. Don’t be afraid to try new things as you will never know until you have a go.”
Industry concerns: “Politicians don’t understand the importance of food production. A growing world population needs fed. The green lobby minority controlling governments and forcing through green agendas into law throughout the world without engaging with the people on the land. The best way to implement policy is to work them hand in hand with food production. The protests in Europe could just be the start of a backlash.”
Where do you see yourself by 2034? “Hopefully retired! Saying that I’d still like to be doing something, just not at the level I am today.”
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