Preparations are in full swing at Over Finlarg Farm, near Dundee, as husband and wife farming duo Robert and Hazel McNee get ready to host NSA Scotsheep.
Situated close to Dundee on the A90 Dundee to Forfar road, Over Finlarg has been home to the couple, where they live with their children, Kate, nine, and Alan, seven, since they purchased the farm in 2011, which they were able to do with help from what was Clydesdale Bank (now Virgin Money) at the time.
They have since invested heavily, making improvements across the 300-hectare (740-acre) unit to farm buildings, fencing, drainage and lime spreading with the aim of improving efficiencies and increasing the farms productive capacity.
Ground here rises from 244 metres (800 feet) above sea level to 365m (1,200ft) on the hill, with half the farm ploughable but mainly used for grazing, aside from 30ha (75 acres) of cereals and 10ha (25 acres) of turnips that are grown. The couple also rent a further 16ha (40 acres) of grass from a neighbouring farmer, as well as a 162ha (400-acre) heather hill.
Farm tour
Visitors to Scotsheep will be able to take in a view of the farm and surroundings from the hill at the event, with the summit part of a farm tour route which will be running throughout the day.
The farms altitude can mean a late spring if conditions are poor, Mr McNee says, although 2022 has been a better year so far and this has allowed them to get well ahead with shutting fields up for first cut silage.
He says: We are pretty exposed to the east here. I was brought up lambing everything outside but here, we spread lambing out a bit so if we do have a storm, we have accommodation to bring as much inside as we can as there is not much shelter in the fields.
Stock numbers have built gradually in the 11 years the pair have been at Over Finlarg.
This now includes a 200-cow suckler herd of Luing cows, run on the hill, while Limousins, Simmental and Charolais graze the lower ground.
Some 600 North Country Cheviot Lairg-type and 200 Blackface ewes make up the main of the sheep flock, which are run alongside 60 pure-bred Texels and 40 traditional and crossing type Bluefaced Leicesters kept for ram breeding. An additional 200 home-bred Texel cross and Mule ewe hoggs are tupped to the Beltex.
Tupping
All North Country Cheviot gimmers and 100 of their best North Country Cheviot stock ewes are tupped to Auldallan tups, hired from Mr and Mrs McNees brother-in-law, Bob Adam, Newhouse of Glamis, to produce home-bred replacements, with Blackface gimmers also bred pure for easy lambing.
The remaining Blackfaces go to the crossing type Bluefaced Leicester to produce Scotch Mules.
The main ewe flock typically scans at about 175 per cent, with gimmers and hoggs at 150 and 130 per cent respectively.
Well-known producers of top-quality sale stock, the couples Texel cross and Mule ewe hoggs sold with lambs at foot have topped at 230 at United Auctions Stirling centre.
But it is the sale of 260 Cheviot Mule gimmers at Longtown and Forfar which the couple have really smashed the records with, achieving a centre record at Longtown in 2021 when they sold a pen for 232 per head.
Lambing at Over Finlarg takes place from mid-March, beginning with the pure-bred Texel and Bluefaced Leicesters in two batches of 150 indoors, with the main flock starting outside from mid-April followed by the Cheviot Mules in late April to early May.
Pure Texel and Bluefaced Leicester tup lambs are used as tup lambs at home first, before they are sold the following year as shearlings through Stirling, Huntly, Dingwall and Forfar.
Texel shearlings regularly average 1,000 per head, with Bluefaced Leicester tups hitting a top of 1,700.
Lambs which do not make the cut for breeding are finished and sold deadweight, with the first lot away by the end of September and the last sold by mid-March. The aim is to try to get most of the lambs finished off grass, but turnips are used for wintering.
The aim is that all stock on the farm are taken through to finishing and sold deadweight, with cattle supplied to ABP and sheep to Scotbeef.
When it comes to feed rations, the aim is to keep expensive inputs to a minimum.
Mr McNee says: We try and keep the number of lorries delivering feed on-farm as low as possible.
Minerals and some additional proteins are the only inputs needing to be bought-in for rations, plus ewe feed which is fed in troughs to some twin and triplet ewes, weather depending, four to six weeks pre-lambing.
One of the main reasons is to train the ewes to eat feed so that if any do have a problem at lambing and need to be brought in, she knows what feed is and will eat it.
Cattle
Pedigree Limousins, Luings, Simmentals and Charolais make up the beef suckler cow herd, with 60 Limousins run under the Westhall prefix and 120 pedigree Luings kept in the Finlarg herd.
Some 25 bulls are typically sold for breeding each year.Bulls not suitable for breeding are sold entire to ABP Perth.
Calving takes place mainly in the spring months, with Luings calving down from the end of March onwards and Limousins calving throughout May/June and November/December.
The business employs one full-time member of staff, Alistair McCarthy, as well as Jody Jackson who is working at Over Finlarg during the lambing period and in the run up to Scotsheep. Labour on the farm mainly comes from immediate and extended family members for routine livestock work through the year.
