Aiming to be as self-sufficient as possible is the name of the game for father and son duo, Alec and Anders Brown, of Macqueston, based in Thornhill.
Macqueston and Corriedow are set in the rolling hills of Shinnel Glen, near Moniaive. Alec was brought up here, with his father and grandfather purchasing the farm in the early 1950s. The farm extends to 800 acres, with a further 160 acres rented.
Alec runs around 1000 ewes, consisting of 900 Blackface, 75 Scotch Mules and 35 Bluefaced Leicesters. Among the Blackface flock, 340 are kept pure and a selection of Blackface shearlings along with all cast ewes are sold at Lanark Market. The rest are crossed with the Bluefaced Leicester to produce Scotch Mules, something the family are very well-known for.
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The Leicesters begin lambing in the first week of March, with the in-bye ewes starting in the middle of March and hill Blackies following on three-weeks later.
The in-bye flock achieved a scanning percentage of 176% last year with the hill ones at 152%. Prior to lambing, they are fed a Tarff Valley ewe roll to hold their condition.
The main aim of the business is the all important Mule ewe lambs, 20 of which are kept for replacements for their own growing flock. The remaining ewe lambs are sold through Wallets Marts at Castle Douglas, with their top pen of 40 reaching a top price of £220 on Monday past, averaging £149.38 for 378.
This was a similar trade last year when their reserve champion pen made £185 and their run cashing in at £154 for the same number as this year.
“We have sold at Castle Douglas for 20 years now, with it being one of the biggest sales of Mule ewe lambs in Scotland, attracting buyers from across the country,” noted Alec.
“The Mule ewes were originally retained for embryo work, but we have found that they are easily managed, along with their great mothering ability and milkiness that we wanted to start keeping some. We put them to the Texel tup, producing a quality fat lamb, which can be sold early off their mothers at top grades,” he said.
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Anders added: “The Mule wedders also fatten well off their mothers, with them going deadweight along with the Texel lambs at the end of June. They finish early and hit good weights, with us sending a draw of lambs to Vivers Scotlamb, at Annan, every fortnight on a Marks and Spencers contract.”
To produce their own home-bred tups for putting over the Blackface ewes is where the 35 Bluefaced Leicester ewes come in. Alec was brought up with Bluefaced Leicesters – his father, James, started the flock.
The first sale he took Leicesters and Mules to was at Thornhill Mart, then moving to Castle Douglas after its closure. It’s there where Macqueston secured their flock record price to date of £9500 in 2013, selling to the late Hector Macaskill, of Woodhall.
“We aim to breed a Mule lamb with a good skin and flashy, clean colours and by using home-bred sires, it helps us to have consistency throughout our run of Mule lambs each year, something we think is important,” said Anders. The majority of the crossing Blackface ewes go to home-bred tup lambs, many of which will be sold as shearlings the following year.
The Browns have five shearlings destined for Kelso Ram Sales this year, along with five for Castle Douglas and lambs which will be heading to Hawes, Kirkby Stephen and Junction 36, Kendal.
“This will be our sixth year going to Kelso and have been pleased with our trade. We find it is a good venue for attracting buyers from across the UK for Bluefaced Leicesters, as it is for other breeds too,” said Alec. Last year’s pen of four averaged £2225 having topped at £5200 when the hammer fell to Dougie Fleming and Bertram, Nisbet.
This year’s pen for Kelso features these sires: L018 Midlock, M001 Farden, N002 Marriforth and M002 Emmetts. Two of the favourites are twin brothers by the Midlock tup and out of a ewe by G019 Highberries, which was an influential tup for the flock. This ewe also sold a lamb at Hawes in 2019 for £3400 to the Masons, Oddacres, which is breeding well.
The leader of the pen, one of the brothers, produced the second prize Mule ewe lamb at Peebles Show this year, along with having lambs in the top pen of Mules at CD.
The second shearling, an M001 Farden son, is also one of the picks, being a full brother to the £8000 lamb sold at Hawes last year to Arnicle, and the £5000 tup which went to Tinnis the year before. All shearlings destined for Kelso produced lambs in Macqueston’s top two pens of Mule ewe lambs.
One of the main sires on the Leicester lamb front this year is M001 Highberries, which has bred well, ‘producing bonny, clean coloured Mule lambs, with good skins’ on both the Blackface and Swaledales. He was also the sire of the first prize North of England Mule ewe lamb at the Royal Highland Show for Neil Marston, from whom they purchased a half-share of the tup from.
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N002 Marriforth is another of the featured sires, having been bought at Hawes in 2020 and he has also bred well for the flock.
On the female front, the majority of the Leicester ewe lambs are kept as replacements, however the flock have had recent success at both Carlisle and Junction 36, Kendal sales selling females.
Last year, the January sale at Carlisle produced a top call of 7500gns for the pre-sale champion from the flock, which averaged 3100gns for five. It was also the first year the duo ventured down to J36 where they received a top price of 3800gns.
Both of these hoggs were by M001 Farden, with mothers by K026 Hewgill, which has left his hoof-print, particularly on the female side of the flock.
The farm has increased ewe numbers in recent years after dispersing 120 commercial cows back in 2016. However, cows have made a return in the form of a small herd of Beef Shorthorns belonging to Anders.
The foundation cow was purchased at Stirling February sale in 2017 from the Westbroad herd and Anders has since bought additional females from Cairnsmore and Skaillhouse.
“Increased costs are a growing concern at present and is something to keep an eye on. We just need to continue to do what we do to our best ability, whilst keeping a positive outlook for the future,” concluded Alec.
Farm facts
Involvement: Father and son duo, Alec and Anders, who left school in May and is set to go to SRUC in Edinburgh to study Agriculture.
History: Macqueston was purchased in 1950, with Corriedow following on the next year.
Farm: 800 acres owned and 160 acres rented between the two units. The farm sits at 600ft above sea level rising to 1000ft.
Livestock numbers: 1000 ewes consisting of 900 Blackface ewes, 35 Bluefaced Leicesters, and 75 Scotch Mules.
On the spot
Best investment: A good sheepdog.
Best advice: Never criticise others achievements, if you haven’t achieved yourself.
If you could change one thing, what would it be?: To receive a fair share of the profits from the retail sector for the quality product we produce.
Diversification: Holiday cottage and Hydro Scheme.
Where do you see yourself in 2032: Giving Anders expert advice on a daily basis when required.
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