Eunson
Keith Eunson farms 430 acres at Braebuster Farm, on the east side of Orkney’s mainland. Here he calves 300 cows every year, which is 10 times higher than the average Orkney suckler farm size of 30 cows.
The herd for the most part is geared towards spring calving, apart from 90 cows that calve in November and December.
“Our calving begins in mid-March, with the busiest period being April and May,” Keith explains, “but every year with the harsh weather it is slipping and getting later and later. Initially we started in February, but that is just not possible now.”
The farm is split into two distinct blocks, with one being drier and more suitable for early turnout. Keith tries to maximise this every year in order to shorten the winter housing period, that lasts from September until late May.
The cows on the farm are Simmental crosses, which is a direction Keith has been pursing in the last five years.
“We found the cows were getting lighter and lacking in milk. Out of all our calves the heaviest ones year-on-year were coming from the Simmentals, so we try to keep all the heifers from those cows. Half the calves are sold at just over a year old and are targeted to average 450-500kg.”
Keith would like to sell more at this age, but the inability to get all stock out early means that it is currently not possible.
With the large numbers of stock on the farm, hired labour is crucial to the farm’s viability. The farm employs two local men on a full-time basis, with Keith covering weekends.
“I just could not manage without the labour,” Keith says bluntly. Farms like Braebuster provide important employment opportunities for the community on Orkney.
Moar
One of the looming challenges in farming surrounds generational renewal and the need to encourage a new wave of young farmers to take the steps towards ownership. That is exactly what Kieran Moar of Eastaquoy Farm has done in recent times.
Kieran calves 60 cows, split between spring and autumn, and has plans to increase his numbers to 80 cows now that he has secured extra permanent facilities. The cows on the farm are Saler crosses that are put to a Charolais bull. He believes they are stronger cows and suffer fewer problems with their feet than other breeds when being housed for so long on slats.
“It’s hard when you’re depending on lets, because it makes planning for the long term almost impossible,” he admits. Kieran credits his success to a recently retired farmer John Ewell, who gave him the opportunity of taking over the tenancy at Eastaquoy.
“Myself and my wife, who is in partnership with me, have been very lucky that we got the chance.” He was delighted to see young folk getting a start because “there are definitely not enough about at the moment”.
When existing facilities had reached max capacity, Kieran managed to secure another place close to the main farm.
“When you are calving on bedded courts, all it takes is three or four cows overcapacity to severely impact the quality of the bedding, so we were very restricted in the numbers we could carry.”
On the newest addition to the farm there is a large amount of fencing investment required. Many of the fields are in 20 to 30-acre blocks, which Kieran says is hard to manage, despite the fact it is stocked correctly. The aim for the farm now is to divide these fields up into 10-acre blocks to improve grass utilisation.
Coghill
For most farmers in Orkney selling cattle as stores is the only game in town. Terry and Lee Coghill buck that trend to an extent, with over half their stock brought through to finish. Previously 500 stores were bought in the spring for finishing, but that has changed in recent years.
“Previously we had no sheds to keep cows, but we built them and now keep 135 mainly Limousin cross cows, along with 100 stores. With the autumns so wet here its very hard to grow barley, so it makes sense to sell cattle as stores. When the subsidy system changed, and the slaughter premium was removed, it meant there was not the same incentive to finish all our cattle,” Terry explains.
With their home farm divided in two, calving in separate locations was becoming an issue. They have recently installed cameras, which Lee says have been a tremendous success.
“Before when you would head outside you would be wide awake and have no chance of getting back to sleep. Now it just takes 15 minutes of close inspection on the sitting room TV for the same peace of mind.”
The family recently welcomed Lee’s son in July and as a result have had to take a step back from showing cattle.
“We have always shown, but there is a lot of work involved with training cattle and attending shows. For us it has always been about the enjoyment,” says Terry. “Here in Orkney we have six agricultural shows, which is a testament to the size and importance of the agricultural community here.”
There are five regional shows, along with the main County Show in August that is attended by half of Orkney’s population. For years Terry has judged these shows, along with the likes of Balmoral Show, the Highland Show and the Royal Welsh Show.
Donaldson
While sucklers cows are the dominant system in Orkney, there are a number of sheep flocks – like Alistair and EJ Donaldson’s at Coldomo farm. When not on the farm, EJ also runs a Facebook page called A Farming Life in Orkney, which offers an insight into what it is like to run a family farm on the islands.
They keep 225 Lleyn and Texel cross ewes, along with Simmental cross cows. A number of years ago the farm was affected by scrapie and had to start afresh with a new flock of ewes, something that has been challenging but allowed them to take a new direction.
“The Lleyn give us the prolificacy in the flock, while the Texel provides a decent shape to the lambs,” says Alistair. EJ elaborates saying that while the high lambing percentage may look good on paper, it can be a nightmare at times. This year they sold 420 lambs, giving them a weaning percentage of 190% – much higher than the average on Orkney.
The farm was previously organic for five years, but the paperwork and regulations were too challenging when weather conditions soured, so they have reverted to conventional farming. This has allowed the farm to tackle a growing dock problem that was affecting pasture quality.
Straw is a premium product in Orkney. The ability to grow barley on the islands is limited, which means a large amount has to be imported. With this in mind, Alistair and EJ decided to use sand bedding this year to stretch supply.
“I would say it’s been very successful,” says Alistair. “The cows seem happy and once they are moved onto straw bedding before calving then there is no problem.”
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