THE Charolais bull is the linchpin of the suckler enterprise at Headshaw Farm, Oxton, which has been home to the Anderson family, since 1933.
Initially rented, the farm was purchased in the 1950’s and is now farmed by James Anderson in partnership with his wife Pamela, sons Hamish and Adam, and his mother Marion, who is retired.
Hamish is very much dedicated to the machinery side of the business but also carries out contracting work. Adam’s passion lies with the stock; he works full-time at home and shears and dresses sheep for friends and neighbours. Pamela bakes two days a week at a local coffee shop and spends the rest of her time running the farm office and working outdoors when required.
The family has relied upon the Charolais bull as a terminal sire since the 1970’s when James’ late father Ronnie, introduced the breed, after being lured by their renowned growth and conformation.
The farm steading sits 950ft above sea level on the south face of Soutra Brae, overlooking the Lauderdale valley and operates a clean grazing system.
This conventional mixed upland unit has been developed and improved over the years to provide grazing at its peak, where traditionally only heather had grown. A Bateman cattle handling system was installed in 2021 and a new shed for housing cattle was built in 2022, allowing all cows to be housed in winter. The farm also runs 620 breeding ewes, 120 hill-type Cheviots; 35 pure Texels with the remainder of the flock made up of Texel cross and Suffolk crosses. An additional 100 Mule ewe lambs are bought in for gimmering. Home-bred pedigree shearlings are sold at the Kelso Ram Sales.
Located in an area famed for its native breed stronghold, Headshaw boasts an alternative system, based entirely on a continental herd. Two-thirds of the cows are Simmental cross and the remainder Limousin cross.
James said: “I do believe there is nothing smarter than a fully continental-bred, pen of store calves. In terms of replacements, I do artificially inseminate some heifers to a Limousin bull and two draws of cows are mated to a Simmental bull.
However, the vast majority of the cows are put to the Charolais bull.” Having completed an AI course James is also able to experiment with new Charolais bulls on selected cows.
Calves on the ground are predominantly by Mornity Mushroom, a bull bought at Stirling in 2017 for 10,000gns from Jack Nicoll Farms, that has been a prolific breeder.
“Charolais-sired calves cannot be beaten when it comes to weight for age, which is an important factor for my customers’ finishing enterprises.”
This statement is supported by AHDB’s latest National Beef Evaluation breed rankings published in August 2024, where the Charolais ranks highest for average daily carcase gain, the best for carcase weight and shares the continental top spot for age to slaughter.
“Weight for age is a key measurement for us in terms of profitability. It also demonstrates environmental consideration, which is important in terms of marketing our product to farmers, finishers and consumers.
“I firmly believe if you have the right product and get on with the job, and do it well, there should be money to be made!”
All stock is sold live through local markets.
“It’s important to support the local markets and by doing so we have built our reputation supplying quality calves, which in turn, attracts repeat customers. I like to use the mart as our ‘shop window’”. The farm is a also member of the SAC Premium Cattle Health Scheme.
Spring calves have access to a 19% ad-lib creep feed outside from the third week of August and once inside receive 3kg per head per day. Autumn-born calves have access to 1.5kg creep feed.
Two months before the sale, both lots of rations are changed to include home-grown barley to ensure weight gains of 1.2kg-1.3kg at sale time.
Last October, the family sold 18, 11-13-month-old bullocks at an average 487kg for £1474 per head or £3.03p/kg. Heifers levelled at £1357, or £3.01p at 452kg. Feedback from the longstanding, repeat buyer confirmed that six to seven months later, all cattle killed out with U grades – bullocks produced 438kg carcases with heifers at 418kg.
In March 10-month-old heifers and bullocks averaged £1455 head, with the ‘stars’ of the sale being the heifers which weighed 432kg and sold to £1492 or £3.46 per kg.
“The autumn trade for bullocks was good but come the spring, heifers were in demand – I firmly believe that Charolais heifers at finishing, outweigh and outperform heifers of most other breeds. Our system relies on selling store calves live at the earliest opportunity and the Charolais sire enables us to do that,” said James
The Bull Sales at Stirling later this month will see 130 Charolais bulls and three females go under the hammer.
Farm Facts
Family farm: James, Pamela, Hamish and Adam Anderson and Marion Anderson, Headshaw Farm, Oxton, Scottish Borders
Livestock: Three Charolais bulls,135 continental suckler cows, 620 breeding ewes
Farm: 920 acres owned land consisting of 110 acres of lower ground and 810 acres of upland and hill.
Cropping: 35 acres of feed barley grown for home use, 20 acres of hybrid kale with green globe turnips.
Photographs by Isla Campbell
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