Nestled at the foot of the Lammermuir hills not far from Innerwick, Dunbar is Aikengall, where visitors will come from far and wide to enjoy a good day out at the National Sheep Association's Scotsheep event on June 5.
Managed as part of a family partnership, Aikengall is one of six farming units under the watchful eye of the Hamilton family. The three brothers James, Charles, and Harry work as a team to run the different units alongside their mother Vannessa.
The family farm a mix of owned, tenanted, and contracted land between them, covering 6000 acres. At the home farm of Aikengall, acquired by the family in 1998, there are 1900 acres
While Vannessa now lives at Thurston Mains, Aikengall is managed by eldest brother James who has some 1400 Blackface ewes to attend to alongside 900 spring-calving commercial cows. The herd is reliant on Simmental genetics with Lincoln Red and Aberdeen Angus bulls also introduced into the mix for hybrid vigour.
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The Blackface flock is split into two groups with 700 bred pure while the remainder are put to a Bluefaced Leicester tup to produce Scotch Mules lambs that are then sent to the nearby holding at Nunraw where youngest brother Harry farms.
“We do sell some Blackie tups each year but we’re breeding predominantly for commercial attributes so carcase is the main factor. We’re quite lucky in the respect that we can move a pure-bred Blackie to the cross-bred flock if she’s not right, but we’ve found that we really need the Blackie and Mule flocks to be the same size to maintain a closed flock with home-bred replacements,” commented James.
Nunraw is just over the hill from Aikengall but is 14 miles by road. There Harry runs a flock of 1400 Mules on a high input, high output system. The Mules are crossed with Texel rams with the aim to sell 1200 commercial crossed lambs before the Royal Highland Show at the end of June. The remainder of lambs are weaned in July and sold thereafter.
Texels are used as a terminal sire to produce a uniform crop of lambs with shape and carcase that can be finished in a relatively short space of time off grass with minimal creep feeding.
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Harry explained: “We’ve tried a few different breeds here but the Texel clicks well with our ewes and our system. But, we avoid the fashionable sorts with strong heads and instead opt for big, bare rams with a good carcase hence we have the advantages of easy lambing and lambs that grow on well with a large proportion of them finished in 10-12 weeks.”
Next to Nunraw lies the recently contracted Stenton Newmains, 350-acre unit that is home to 156 red deer hinds and 40 Luing cows, which shares a march fence with Nunraw and is therefore easier to manage.
Closer to the coast is the 600 acre arable unit, Barney Mains, which is run by middle brother Charles. He grows spring barley and a variety of vegetables and fodder that is used in conjunction with the other units and allows a trading system between the brothers for grain, straw, grazing, and manure.
Having the different holdings so close together allows all three brothers to have their hand in the business.
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“This location has certainly helped with the ability to expand the business and create the opportunity for all three of us to have a go at farming,” explains James.
“Our late father John was extremely driven in terms of succession with the aim to build a business that could be split into three viable farming businesses, and to leave us better off than when he began his farming career.”
The family work well as a team too, with the outside assistance only needed during the busy lambing period which occurs over a tight four-week block. The workload is shared between the brothers with a team of seasonal staff called in for lambing and calving.
“We run the whole system on as minimal staff as we can and this year we had quite a large team helping out at lambing and calving. I couldn’t have been prouder of their effort in a year like this – it’s been herculean. They did great job,” said James.
The responsibilities of rearing and finishing of livestock are also shared between the brothers as fattening hoggs and youngstock are grazed on the arable ground whilst the ewe hoggs and bulling heifers go to the 2000 acres contract farmed unit at Coreshope for the summer months.
Animal health is of huge importance to the family when they had been losing up to 7% of their flock each year. Most of this had been down to Ovine Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma (OPA) but the entire flock is now tested twice a year by transthoracic ultrasound which detects tumours in the lungs which has brought OPA instances down to less than 1%.
“OPA has been a big issue in the national flock, but we’ve done a lot of work with Moredun and vet, Phil Scott who scans our sheep and we’ve negated our OPA percentage from about 5% down to less than 1% in five or six years,” James clarified.
Any sheep with consistent health issues are swiftly culled out to prevent it becoming a permanent problem amongst the flock.
James explains: “We are ruthless in getting rid of problems and have a tough culling policy so anything with problem feet, bad back or prolapses are gone – there are no second chances here.”
“We firmly believe these issues are genetic so by getting rid of them as we go has made the job easier further down the line and I can proudly say I haven’t turned a ewe over to sort her feet for about 10 years.”
The cattle are also constantly appraised for any feet, udder or temperament problems and any that don’t make the cut are swiftly sent down the road. Thanks to a six-week bulling period calving also takes place over a tight block so any health issues are removed from the gene pool.
The Hamilton’s have also significantly invested in the infrastructure of their sites and at Aikengall they have recently erected a 300ft x 80ft slatted shed. This allows for the indoor wintering of 600 head of cattle which during the summer is used to house and feed the bullocks for more efficient growth and weight gain.
James pointed out: “To us, the cost of putting up sheds can be equated to buying more land as it’s allowed us to increase our stock numbers but we also lamb everything inside now, including the Blackies which we did for the first time when the Beast from the East hit as the losses during that time would have been unimaginable.
“Plus, we get the advantage of slurry and the difference it’s made to our grazing ground. The reduced fertiliser costs are clear to see.”
When the Hamiltons first came to Aikengall they opted to go down the organic route which taught the family a lot.
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James said: “When we came here in 1998 we converted the farm to organic which was a great learning curve for us. We’ve always integrated swards with a lot of clovers to help us with drought tolerance which we’re quite prone to here – even in a year like this. Introducing clover really does help the performance of the stock.”
Soils are constantly tested for nutrients and pH, and grass is freshened up every 10 years in a rotation. Grass mixtures tend to have 15% red clover mixed in, a fine balance between being a small percentage so not to affect ewe fertility but enough to aid drought resistance.
The brothers are also keen to point out the carbon retention of well-managed land.
“As part of our Scotsheep grass trials conducted by Watson Seeds, we had some carbon testing of soils which we found is up to 10 times higher than what the government assumes we have. I genuinely believe that’s going to be the route that we’re on and if we can find a way to market that we are onto a winner as an industry.”
The hill is also home to 16 wind turbines in partnership with Community Windpower. Aikengall Community Wind Farm opened in 2009 and has the capacity to generate 48 megawatts of community power for the town of Dunbar.
The brothers are looking forward to hosting Scotsheep with James noting the improved infrastructure has helped the business.
“It has finally given us a good reason to get round to fixing up bits of the sheds and making sure the roads are paved and potholes filled. We’ve been lucky enough to get surplus tarmac from when they were redoing bits of the A1 to use to pave the roads that will be in use during Scotsheep. So many of these are too minor that they get passed over for bigger jobs so it’s good we have a chance to improve aspects of the farm before the big event.”
Another big reason for the brothers to host Scotsheep was a way to honour their late father John Hamilton.
“It’s something our father would have jumped at the chance and if it means we get to showcase all his hard work and our continued work in the business all the better.”
Farm Facts
Farm size: 6000 acres across six units including Aikengall, Thurston Mains, Nunraw and Barney Mains, while Coreshope and Stenton Newmains are contract farmed. Aikengall spans 1900 acres and sits 1000 feet above sea level.
The Hamilton family: Brothers James, Charles and Harry, alongside their mother Vanessa, wives Emma, Jane, and Rebecca, and James’ son Richie, and Charles’ son Hugh.
Livestock: 2800 breeding sheep including 1400 Blackface at Aikengall and 1400 Mules at Nunraw; 900 Simmental cross cows and 40 Luing cows. 156 red deer hinds at Stenton Newmains.
Scanning lambing percentage: In the past it’s been nearer 210% but this year it was 195%.
Other enterprises: Community wind farm installed in 2009 providing community power for nearby town of Dunbar.
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