A low-input, easy-to-manage beef system is the name of the game for Stewart Whiteford.
And a move to Stabilisers has helped achieve this aim at the 1,100-acre farm he runs in conjunction with his brothers Alan, David and Jim.
In all the family runs arable, beef, sheep and pig farming enterprises across three farms – Wester Rarichie, Castlecraig and Shandwick Mains – near Tain.
Stewart and David are responsible for managing the livestock, while Alan and Jim oversee the arable operations.
As he prepares to sell nearly 120 store cattle at this week’s anniversary show and sale of stores at Dingwall Mart, Stewart explains why a move to Stabilisers eight years ago has reaped rewards.
At the time the breeding herd, which had until then been based on Belgian Blue bulls used on various crossbred cows, was closed in the wake of the BSE crisis.
“It had reached the point where new bulls were needed because all the cows had Belgian Blue genetics. This gave me the opportunity to review the herd genetics and make some decisions,” said Stewart.
Following extensive research, he opted to adopt Stabiliser breeding as he believed it was needed for his upland forage-based system. He then chose to buy 40 heifers and one bull from the breed, which is a composite of Aberdeen-Angus, Hereford, Simmental and Gelbvieh breeding.
The herd, which stands at around 175 cows and heifers, is calved outside over a 12-week period in the summer with some females retained for breeding and all other progeny sold as stores at Dingwall Mart. Stewart works alongside stockman John Macdonald managing the cows.
“The herd has good dam line traits and offers an excellent ease of management which is sustainable. The cows have a good temperament, good calving ease and good longevity, and produce calves which grow well and appear to appeal to buyers,” said Mr Whiteford.
The current breeding strategy at Wester Rarichie is based on the use of Angus and Stabiliser bulls crossed with Angus cross and Stabiliser cross cows and heifers.
Any heifers from these cows are kept for breeding and following the third calving a Charolais bull is put on the cows to produce steers and heifers for the store market.
After around 10 calvings cows are assessed for feet, quality of the udder and condition, before they are allowed to stay in the herd.
“We don’t carry passengers – if it’s not with a calf it gets culled,” said Mr Whiteford.
Nutrition is based on a grass-based system on either hill ground or the farm’s poorest arable fields.
“The management of the cattle is low input. Mature cows are outwintered with free access to shelter, but heifers, second calvers and older cows are housed,” said Mr Whiteford.
Stock is housed between November and May with calves weaned in February.
Cows are only fed silage, but stores get haylage, silage, cereals and dark barley grains – all grain is bought-in as the farm grows malting barley rather than feed barley.
By choosing to sell all the stores at one sale, Mr Whiteford says he is able to free up grass for breeding cows and heifers.
“I don’t have space to finish them,” he added.
Ahead of next week’s sale, Mr Whiteford is appealing to buyers to feed back to him, via the mart, what they want from their store cattle.
In return he has provided additional information for buyers which gives basic breed and health treatment history.
“I believe there is a need for more dialogue along the supply chain and would welcome the views of other producers and finishers,” he said.
Sale information
Dingwall and Highland Marts’ annual show and sale of store cattle takes place on Wednesday.
The pre-sale show, which kicks off at 8.30am, will be judged by Bill Cameron, of Burnside, Keith.
According to auctioneer Paul Spencer, more than 1,500 animals will be on offer from Caithness, Sutherland, Uist, Skye, Easter Ross, Wester Ross, Inverness-shire, Moray, the Black Isle and Grantown.
“The great thing about the sale, which suits a lot of buyers, is that about 98% of the cattle are bred by the consignors – they are one-sticker cattle,” said Mr Spencer.
“People like to come to the Highlands knowing that they will get natural cattle that are not pushed and have come from one farm. The supply chain is short.”
More stock on offer will be Scotch assured and aged between nine and 15 months old, he added.
The sale starts at 10am.