Producing self-fleshing tups full of commercial attributes is the only vision for Peter and Lynn Gray, and sons, James, Billy and Scott of the Scrogtonhead flock, from Galston, Ayrshire.
The very much family affair with Peter and the team taking to the sheep enterprise, along with Lynn’s father, Jimmy Gibson, and her brother, Alan who prioritises the dairy herd at Cowgrove.
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The Suffolk have always been in Peter’s family having dated back to 1978 where the first five foundation females arrived, with the Texels adding to the enterprise in 1992 when Peter was gifted a pet lamb from his first of nine lambings for Charles Scott, East Middle, Hawick.
Since starting the Texels the main aim was always to produce commercial sheep for Kelso Ram Sales and that goal has never changed. Aiming to sell to the commercial buyer for both the pure flocks, however, it is always the icing on the cake if they do sell to a fellow breeder.
“The Suffolk and Texel are on par with their growth rates, and both have the commercial traits we are looking to breed. Texels are easy kept, and they don’t require a lot of feeding prior to lambing. They are good for crossing over any type of sheep and produce quality breeding cross-bred ewes. The value once you are finished with them are above many other breeds. Being part of both breeds it really is a joy to have met so many characters over the years, and created lifelong friendships,” said Peter.
Scott added: “In terms of Suffolks, they can also be crossed with various other breeds to give you a fast-maturing fat lamb and many early lambing outfits use the Suffolk over Texel cross ewes for a fashionable lamb that can be sent away early. The Suffolk female is growing in popularity as people are beginning to see the shear growth potential. We pair this female with the Beltex tup to produce an outstanding cross, but the breed is so volatile it can cross well with any breed.”
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Gearing up for Kelso this year the family have 28 Texels and 14 Suffolk rams entered for the event, which the Texels will be in Ring 9, lot 6, with the Suffolk heading into Ring 8 lot 16.
Another key selling point for the pens are the regular customers that return year after year.
“We feel Kelso Ram Sales is the place to be for the commercial man, he can get any breed of tup on the day, and there is a high demand from all across the country. Our aim is to produce a self-fleshy meaty tup – feeding is expensive, so we would rather breed that into them,” Peter said, with the shearlings being fed six weeks prior to Kelso – just to give them that sale finish – with the Harbro nut, Maxammon Clover Kelso tup and lamb.
This year’s Texel pen consists of the first crops of sons from Cornmore Diamond – a joint Lanark purchase with Craigdarroch - and Scrogtonhead DJ, along with some shearlings from Scrogtonhead Class Act, which was used twice in the flock before being sold to commercial ram producer Paul Slater, Whiteley Hey, privately being the first shearling of Knock Brutus – a tup bought at Lanark in 2018.
Following on from Kelso Ram Sales, the following week the Grays will take 18 shearlings to the first ram sale at United Auctions’ Stirling centre, followed two weeks later by the Ram Rendezvous Sale also at Stirling in which the team will have a consignment.
On the Suffolk side the shearlings destined for Kelso Ram Sales feature the Roseden Thunder sire which was purchased at Carlisle in partnership with the Illingworth family of Glenrock with this being the first shearlings for sale from him. Also producing some of this year’s pen is Scrogton Black Star, which is a son of Brijon Black Magic another purchase with the Illingworth family.
When selecting their tups, the family are looking for: “A shoulder that you could eat your dinner of off, carrying this width right through. They need to be self-fleshing and full of gigots, with a leg in each corner.
“If they are not well wooled it is a waste of time having them and we want a sheep that is going to last. We don’t want a sheep to be too bare, as it can get cold up on the Ayrshire hills as well as a lot of rain,” said Billy.
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Scott added: “On the Texels we want white hair as it is going to be producing the milk and mothering abilities along with plenty of length in the neck although not taking away from the width on its shoulders.
“We aim to breed ewes that can last, and if they are well wooled we feel there is no problems with Mastitis. Getting the right tups makes a huge difference in the breeding of your flock,” said Peter.
Breeding for that perfection, one of the most influential tups on the Texel flock has been Foyleview Superstar, which produced Scrogtonhead U Stoater - a former Kelso record priced ram which made £35,000 in 2014 selling to Procters Farm.
Clinterty Yuga Khan and Scrogtonhead Class Act have also really made a stamp on the flock producing the type of sheep the Grays want to be breeding. On the Suffolk side, the tup that has put the family on the map has been Crookstead Class Act which was a joint purchase with Langside and Carwood. This private buy has produced some very strong females for the flock to breed with. Another would be Brijon Black Magic which was bought in 2016, he has already bred shearlings to £9200 at the Kelso alternative sale in 2020 staged at Carlisle, with their pen of 11 averaging £2204.
“It is becoming more difficult to find a stock tup never mind buy one,” said Billy, with this year’s lambing being of Ettrick Everest, which is jointly shared with Langside and Craigdarroch, and Dovedale Elixir also shared with Langside. The lambs this year also feature Midlock Express which was used on loan.
On the female front, any Texels not retained in the flock will be sold at the family’s production sale on farm as gimmers. This started off in 2010 selling a pen at Ayr auction market and resulted in last year having their first on farm sale organised by themselves with Peter taking to the auction box. This year 35 gimmers sold to a top of £1250 and averaged £500.
“We do cull hard on the lambs as we wouldn’t want to sell anything that we wouldn’t use ourselves,” said Peter.
To get different bloodlines into the flock when they are using some of their own home-bred tups, the odd female will be purchased, which has recently included two Rusha gimmers and one from Courthill.
As a new venture Scott begun his 10 Beltex ewe flock two years ago, with a lot of help from the McQuistins of Airyolland. The main aim here is to try and breed his own tups to use on the bottom end pure Suffolk ewes to produce that outstanding Suffolk cross Beltex.
“The Beltex is the perfect tup for tupping the hoggs due to the size of the lamb, these types of hoggs are capable of nursing two lambs no problem,” said Peter, with all commercial cross ewes getting 14 days with a Texel tup before the Suffolk cross sires take over.
The Suffolk cross shearlings will be sold privately often finding their way to Kings Arms, Ballantrae and the Mull of Galloway.
On the commercial side of the business the 600 non-MV accredited sheep are made up of a variety of Scotch Mules, Texel crosses, Cheviot Mules, Cheviots and Suffolk crosses.
“We do find the Mule is very hard to beat in our system, the mothering ability is second to none and there is a massive demand for a Texel Mule ewe lamb,” said Peter, with the firm managing to sell 100 Texel cross ewe lambs privately to go to make gimmers, along with selling a batch of Texel hoggs with lambs at foot and come the back end a batch of gimmers will also be sold privately.
The Texel and Suffolk crosses are home-bred with the Scotch Mules, Cheviots and Cheviot Mules being bought. Most of the Mules are bought from Peter’s brother, John at Scrogton. Lambing takes place inside due to the wet ground and very little shelter outside. Starting at the end of March with the commercial ewes, which aim for a lambing percentage of 190%.
“It is a total disaster if a commercial ewe is put outside the shed with a single – we don’t like pet lambs here!” said Peter, with the additional help from son, James at lambing time who is a freelance Gardner to trade, as well as self-employed shepherd, Ewan Cochrane, who has completed eight lambings here.
All commercial lambs will be sold off farm through Vivers and Scot Beef, with 650 lambs having left the farm before August 4 finished off of grass. The majority will be away by the turn of the year, whilst cull ewes go through Lawrie and Symington, Lanark sold by Archie Hamilton, which Peter believes is very hard to beat.
The commercial flock is very much a management tool for the cattle enterprise to keep the grass right, in which the family run 180 dairy cows through the 16/32 Boumatic Rapid Exit parlour twice a day.
“We don’t have our eggs all in one basket because they are bad for breaking, we need everything in the enterprise to make the jigsaw,” said Peter.
All milk is on a Muller contract with the family undertaking most of the milkings themselves with the occasional help from a relief milker.
The team breed their own replacements with a 1/3 of the herd going to dairy same sexed semen, and the remainder will be put to a beef bull to be fattened on farm, which will then be sold to Highland Meats. Cull cows will also go there or to Hendrie Bros at Galston.
The Limousin bulls and British Blue semen are used to compliment the dairy herd, as well as producing a growthy calf that will grade well once fattened. The Limousin cross dairy heifers will be sold privately to Peter’s brother, John Gray, with everything else finished on farm or retained for breeding.
“Again, our main aim in the cattle is a very much commercial focus everything needs to pay their way on the farm,” said Alan, with 360 acres silage taken this year to feed the cattle when they are housed throughout the winter.
Farm Facts
Involvement: Jimmy Gibson and his son, Alan and daughter, Lynn are partners in the business, with Lynn’s husband, Peter taking to the sheep enterprise with sons, James, Billy and Scott.
Acreage: 800 acres, sitting at 500ft above sea level and rising to 700ft.
History: Family have been in the farm for 170 years, having bought Cowgrove in 1922.
Stock numbers: 180 dairy cows and 20 suckler cows. On the sheep front the team are running 920 ewes consisting of 160 Texels, 30 Suffolk, 10 Beltex, 10 Beltex cross Suffolk and 110 MV accredited cross ewes, along with 600 non-mv accredited, including 400 hoggs going to the tup.
On The Spot Questions
Best investment: Peter: My wife, Lynn has to be my main investment. On the Texel front it would be buying half a leg of Clinterty Yuga Khan, and a whole leg of Foyleview Superstar. Jimmy says buying Sornbeg in 2010, and Alan believes putting in the new parlour four years ago.
Best advice: Treat other folk how you would like to be treated.
Would you have done anything differently: No, we are happy the way things have progressed over the years.
Where do you see yourself in 2032: Hopefully still managing to dodge away, continuing what we are doing, and with luck Peter will have had two new knees by then!
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