Selkirkshire pedigree sheep and cattle breeder Alan McClymont will be a familiar face to many in the show and sale rings and this month he will take on the task of judging the Galloway section at the Royal Highland Show.
Born and brought up on the family farm at Kirkstead, Yarrow, Alan McClymont has a longstanding reputation for turning out quality pedigree stock.
Together with his wife Hilary and with their sons Sam, 18, and Oliver, 16 the focus has been on pushing the Bluefaced Leicesters and Galloway cattle, a policy which is bringing success in the show and sale rings.
For Mr McClymont, keeping Galloways was a longstanding ambition, with the 50-cow herd at Kirkstead established in 1994 and now running alongside the 2,000-ewe Blackface flock and 35 pedigree traditional-type Bluefaced Leicesters.
The family farm spans across some 2,020 hectares (5,000 acres) between the main steading Kirkstead, Dryhope next door, which is contract farmed, and Newhouse at nearby Lilliesleaf.
Ground starts at some 1,000ft, running to 2,500ft at its highest point, with much of it made up of heather hill ground, while there is some 36ha (90 acres) of ploughable ground in-bye.
Galloways
Mr McClymont says: I first picked up a Galloway journal as a boy in 1974 at the Highland Show and I said at the time I was going to have Galloways one day. In 1994 I bought my first cow.
I have said a few times that it just reiterates the importance of shows; it wont be that uncommon for people to go there and see things and decide to make a go of it themselves.
Mr McClymont is also currently one year into a two-year post as chair of the Galloway Cattle Society for Great Britain, a role which takes him to many shows and events to promote the breed.
On the cattle at home, Mr McClymont says: Our aim was to build up a herd of well-built good cattle which were strong enough to live up here.
Everything lives outside all-year-round and is calved outside. The only cattle inside are finishing animals.
Two or three bulls together with a number of females are sold at the society sales at Castle Douglas each year, with the family topping the sale in February this year at 16,000gns for their young bull, Kirkstead Elite.
Some six or seven females will then be retained for the herd, while other males and females not suitable for breeding are finished; usually some 25 annually on a barley mix blend and sold on an Aldi scheme via Scotbeef.
Blueface
Time and investment more recently has also been focused on the Bluefaced Leicester flock and, in 2018, the McClymonts began an embryo transfer programme, flushing two of their best ewes, which resulted in more than 30 embryos out of the two ewes.
One of these was their illustrious show ewe, Kirkstead F22, which won the Scottish progeny show in 2015 and 2016 as a one- and two-crop ewe together with another which has bred well for the family. Both were the same way bred by a 6,800gns Shrewbridge tup.
They use Mule ewes bought-in from Mr McClymonts cousin at neighbouring Tinnis Farm as recipients, with one the main focuses latterly on getting new bloodlines into the flock, which they are starting to do by using frozen semen from notable tups from the past.
From September, shearling tups are marketed at society sales, as well as Kelso ram sales and the National Sheep Association Wales and Border sale at Builth, with the flock producing some great averages. Last years average at Kelso was 2,500, with a high of 7,000 for the 10 tups sold.
Bluefaced Leicester females are marketed through the ring at the Blue Belles society sale at Carlisle in January, an event Mr McClymont was heavily involved in setting up four years ago.
A total of 10 were sold this year, topping at 2,600gns to average just shy of 1,600gns.
Mr McClymont says: When we started showing at the Royal Highland in 2016, there was talk that there was a lack of a premier sale, so after speaking to markets and others, we were able to get one going.
It is still early days with it and we are trying to get breeders to take good stock there, but I think its reputation is building and buyers are getting to know they can come and buy quality.
While the Blues have enjoyed success in recent years, ewe numbers will remain as they are with the Blackfaces still making up the main of the sheep enterprise.
Blackface
About 400 Blackface ewe lambs are sold annually at Lanark, with tups also marketed through Lanark and Stirling marts, selling to a top price of 20,000gns for a shearling in 2015.
The McClymonts also sold three tup lambs for the first time last year to a top of 13,000gns to average 7,500gns.
Progeny not suitable for breeding is either finished or sold as stores through the ring at Lanark depending on trade at the time.
Shows have long been a fixture in the familys calendar and exhibiting stock is something Mr McClymont grew up doing locally and more recently at the Blueface Leicester progeny shows, although his first time exhibiting at the Royal Highland was not until 2016.
When the traditional and crossing-type Bluefaced Leicester sections split into two at this time, Mr McClymont says he was keen to support the move, with his sons also a main encouragement as they were keen to get involved.
The family went on to win the breed section three years on the trot in 2016, 2017 and 2018, together with a reserve inter-breed individual and inter-breed pairs tickets between their tups Burndale G1 and Mendick H18.
Exhibiting
Mr McClymont says: When we went to the Highland for the first year it was more to just have a look at the standard of stock being exhibited and to enjoy the event.
We would have been happy to come away with any rosette, so to come away with a championship in our first year was fantastic. Those three years of winning on the trot will always stick in our memory.
We enjoy the shows; they certainly lift our profile and it is good to socialise too. Plus we like to support the local shows and breed society events which have a part to play in making sure there is stock forward at the bigger shows.
Showing the Galloways is on the list of things to do and the boys are very keen on it, so it is probably something we will look at in the future.
While Mr McClymont has judged at shows and sales up and down the country, this will be the first time he has taken on the task at the Royal Highland Show.
He says: I enjoy doing it and I always take it as a great honour to go and judge peoples stock, whether it is the Highland or a small local show. These events are a crucial part of our industry and rural life.
Farm facts
- 2,020 hectares (5,000 acres) of mainly heather hill ground split across three sites, rising from 1,000ft to 2,500ft
- 50-cow Galloway herd, 2,000-ewe Blackface flock and 35 pedigree traditional-type Bluefaced Leicesters
- Together with family labour, the business employs full-time stockman David Faulds
- Galloway bulls and females sold at the society sale at Castle Douglas
- Bluefaced Leicester tups marketed mainly at society sales and Kelso, with females sold through the recently established Blue Belles sale at Carlisle
- Alan McClymont is current chair of the Galloway Cattle Society
