Standing at over 1000 feet overlooking the
North Sea to the north of Berwick, it is hard to imagine
that this is an ideal farm to run cattle outdoors all winter,
but the organic system at Aikengall, Dunbar, lends itself
nicely to such a scenario. The view from Aikengall hill is
awsome, as it rises to 1400 feet with a heather hill which
winters the 50, two year old Simmental cross and Shorthorn
cross heifers. All of the 300 cows winter outdoors and only
come in for calving, where they calve in courts and in straw
corrals, as the straw is cheaply available in the area, after
which they are moved back outside within a couple of days
to help prevent scour, into batches of around 30.
It has
been John’s intention for some time to eventually run
an entire herd of red coloured cattle, which he is achieving
over the years. “There is no particular scientific
reason for it.” says John, “I just want a uniform
bunch of red cows!” It is easy to see that he will
eventually achieve his aim as he is currently running a very
uniform type of cow. Hill cows must be of a medium frame
and carry a good fat cover to survive the cold east winter.
When I last visited the farm on a very cold
wet November day with a delegation of breeders from Poland,
the cattle were wintering on rape, which has now already
been ploughed up for planting potatoes for this season. The
cows are fed on Kale and supplement silage prior to coming
in for calving leaving the fields to rest before they are
turned out immediately afterwards. The calves have their
horns pasted to prevent stress later but this has been less
successfull than John would have liked and there is a bit
of dehorning to do in the spring.
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| John Hamilton with the year old heifers |
About 200 of the smallest
of last year’s
calves are kept in an open shed and court, next to the calving
cows and these will be finished when a few have been taken
out for breeding. The calves are able to creep into the court,
into which they will eventually be weaned. The calves are
free to come into the court and care is taken that they do
not put on too much condition before going straight out to
grass and the use of the shed and court system prevents pneumonia.
All of the heifers are put to the Shorthorn
to maintain size and fat cover, which is important to allow
the cattle to winter on the hill. A short dumpy type of bull
is preferred for the first cross Shorthorn to maintain the
fat cover. The Luing had been used previously but in this
system, had been found to be too difficult to finish in comparison
to the Shorthorn.
The Shorthorn is an easy calving bull for
the heifers and has the cover to finish the calves quckly
and also maintains the size of the cows. The cows are then
put to one of the 7 Simmental bulls running on Aikengall,
which are also selected for their fat cover and size. The
progeny are then finished and sent on contract to Dovecote
Park to supply the Waitrose Organic brand.
John Hamilton,
wife Vanessa and sons James and Charles have been farming
organically for 11 years. “People think that organic
farmers only do it for the conversion grant” says John “but
we do it because on our farm it is the most efficient way
of farming. We also get a good premium for our finished product
and have stuck with Dovecote Park since the beginning as
they are good to work with and very fair. We are currently
getting £3.40 per kilo (as at 1st April) and I am sure
this will rise steadily like all meat this year. The organic
premium rises normally come about 4 weeks behind the rest
of the market.” Everything is finished on the farm
with homegrown produce. Despite a less intensive system of
feeding, the finished cattle are expected to be away at an
average of 22-24 months at over £1000 per head. There
is also a 50p premium on organic cull cows.
John stresses
that everything is commercially run and that he would infact
prefer to calve outside as well if the farm wasn’t
east facing and so near the coast making it bitterly cold
during the spring. Like the cattle the sheep enterprise is
self contained and run primarily by James, who has just returned
from working in New Zealand for a year. Charles will finish
agricultural college at Harper Adams this summer and intends
to come home too. John laughs “We had trouble finding
good stocksmen so we decided to breed our own!”
200
of the 1300 Blackies are bred pure as replacements for the
flock, with the rest going to the Bluefaced Leicester and
the female offspring sold privately to the same buyers every
year. The ewes are allowed to be dosed with a product which
doesn’t kill the dung beetle, to keep them clean before
they are moved up to the lambing fields for the rest of the
lambing season. Only the Bluefaced Leicesters are lambed
indoors.
Like all farmers diversification has to be
taken seriously and following 7 years of trying, the farm
has finally been granted planning permission for 16 large
wind turbines which will be installed on the hill. Of the
800 acres of hill the acreage lost will be in the region
of 10 hectares but this will be replaced by the benefit of
a 20 foot wide road leading straight up the hill. The turbines
are 125 metres high with a central core which weighs 90 ton
and it takes 50 cement lorries to “plant” one of these monstors.
I am one of these people who find them fascinating and appreciate
the good they can do rather than the harm they can do to
the environment. The positioning has been carefully done
and I am sure will not detract from the remarkable scenery
of the area.
While looking at the next 230 finishing cattle
in one of the sheds, we discussed the potential for the price
of ordinary farmed beef reaching £3 per kilo this year.
Both John and I agreed that this is a definite possibility
although its sustainability in the face of our lack of exports,
a temporary drop in imports and the current strength of the
euro was probably not possible. What we both did agree on
was that the public are destined to pay more for their food
from the UK and abroad and hopefully this will help British
Farmers to obtain a satisfactory return on cost of production,
whether organic or otherwise. |
