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Pitgaveny Estate in Moray has been in the
Dunbar family ownership for many generations, extending to
2000ha (in excess of 4900acres), of this 1000ha remain in
the farming enterprise, with 284ha ran organically, it is
run by Farm Manager Martin Birse with Stockman Geoff Anderson
responsible for the livestock.
The Suckler herd is split into two calving periods,
100 backend calving cows and 120 spring calvers, all of these
are now Simmental cross.
In 1996 the decision was
made to close the herd, predominately for health reasons,
and at the Perth Bull sales in February 1996 Innerwick Eclipse
was bought for 5500gn. It was this first Simmental purchase
that started what has turned into a passionate following
for the Simmental breed. In recent years five bulls have
been purchased at prices of 10000gn or more with Martin insisting
that “it pays to invest in
quality and whilst paying considerably over the average price
for bulls they are consistently breeding better than average
calves”. The herd sires at present are Pasturehouse Snickers,
Corskie Woody, Grangewood Storm and the most recently purchased
11,000gn Drumacritten Arnold.
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This initial Simmental purchase led to a complete
changing of colours at Pitgaveny, originally all the herd sires
were Charolais but the performance of the Simmental and the
demand for surplus Simmental heifers, coupled with a desire
to have easier calving and instant suckling of calves led to
all Charolais being replaced by Simmentals.
All the cows run
in and out prior to calving to keep them physically fit, the
backend cows graze on sparsely covered fields and on straw
while inside overnight, after calving they are fed silage/
draff and straw with minerals. The spring calvers are out-wintered
on stubble turnips and a TMR ration made up of pea straw/draff/minerals
and then silage is added one month prior to calving.
The Spring born calves are
weaned at just over six months of age and by this time the
bull calves are taking 5kg a head per day resulting in no
standstill period after weaning. Bulls are then fed a barley
based ration with clean straw available but not mixed through
the feed as this can reduce total intake, they are marketed
through Vion and Mathers and are all finished under 14 months
with over 90% achieving grades of U– or better. The
Autumn born bull calves are weaned prior to the cows going
to grass and then finished the same way as the spring born
calves.
The heifers are treated
in a completely different manner, spring born calves are over-wintered
on a silage/straw ration with minerals but no concentrates
then grazed one full season before being sold off the grass
at approx 17-18 months old. The Autumn born calves are overwintered
after weaning and then sold out of the house again at 17-18months
old. The majority are sold privately at £400 per head
above store price with most buyers nowadays being repeat customers.
It
was this premium along with the ability of the bulls to finish
and grade well that drove the change of colours from Charolais
to Simmental at Pitgaveny.
Bull selection is important
for Pitgaveny and all tools are used with particular attention
to calving ease EBV’s,
calving daughters and 200 day weights.
Whilst buying bulls at the top end of the sale is not for every
commercial farmer. Martin calculates that on average it only
adds £30 to the price of each calf over the normal breeding
life of a bull, but he reiterates that this is a sound investment. |
