An ambitious young farmer who has built up a herd of almost 50 cows has been crowned the winner of this year’s Royal Northern Agricultural Society (RNAS) under-35 award.
Duncan Morrison grew up on a beef farm near Inverurie.
The 27-year-old has a passion for cattle and his long-term goal is to develop his own herd of pedigree Aberdeen-Angus cattle, with help from his girlfriend, Claire Johnstone.
After leaving school, he completed a BSc in Agriculture at SRUC’s Craibstone campus, near Aberdeen.Since then he has held two stockman jobs on north-east farms, and more recently he worked as a farm manager at Meikle Maldron Farm, near Banchory.
Following a three-week trip to New Zealand on a scholarship with the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society, Mr Morrison came back to news that he was being made redundant.
“I didn’t really want another job. For the last few years before that I had always been thinking about starting up something on my own,” said Mr Morrison.
“When I got made redundant my boss said he was selling all the cows and the farm was going to be rented out. I thought it was an opportunity and I asked him to sell me the cows and rent me the ground.”
He admits it was not an easy task, however he secured a loan from his bank and made use of ANM Group’s livestock finance scheme to purchase the cattle.
His herd currently stands at 45 suckler cows, comprising Simmental and Aberdeen-Angus, which are kept outside all year round. All offspring are sold as weaned calves to make life simple for Mr Morrison, who also runs a fencing business.
Away from farming and fencing, Mr Morrison is heavily involved with Young Farmers and he is currently agri and rural affairs chairman at the Scottish Association of Young Farmers’ Clubs.
A citation for the award, which is sponsored by SRUC, describes Mr Morrison as “someone who gets their head down, works hard and encourages others”.
Mr Morrison will be presented with his award at a special awards lunch on Friday, October 27, at the Jury’s Inn at Aberdeen Airport.
Tickets cost £25 and are available from RNAS secretary Alison Argo by calling 07714899628.