Graham and son Ewan farm at Aldie Farm, which is situated near Tain where they run a beef and cropping enterprise with wintering sheep to take down the excess grass. Aldie has a medium loam soil type which drains freely and benefits from being very fertile. The priority is very much ground up and Graham and Ewan pay close attention to soil health. The rich productive soils are maintained with the use of FYM and through regular soil sampling every 4 years with any deficiencies of lime, N, P, K, S, Ca, and Mg rectified.
At Aldie they breed beef cattle from a mix of continental and native crosses. The majority of calves sold on as stores at 11 months, with all the Simmental and native cross bull calves left entire and sold on as fat stock. The remainder will either be used as replacement stock or sold on as forward stores.
“I have enjoyed working with Graham and Ewan for the last 3 years and I have always been impressed by the way they utilise their grassland and how they don’t try and overcomplicate things” Euan Campbell.
They use a paddock system with a 10-day rotation and any paddock that’s getting too far away from them is shut up for silage before returning to the grazing platform. This system ensures they get the most out of the grass, as well as providing the best nutrition for their animals. As well as maximising grazing, there is an emphasis on silage quality, and they look to take their first cut around the first week of June with one of two subsequent cuts taken at 7 week cutting windows depending on the weather. The silage is wilted for 36 hours aiming for a dry matter of around 35% and there is no additive added.
To meet the demands on the system they worked with Euan to come up with a special Dundas mixture with added red clover and the timothy removed. The timothy was excluded to raise the energy levels in the silage and the inclusion of red clover brings the benefit of increasing protein content and fixing nitrogen along with the tap root aiding drainage. The mixture has been performing into its third full season with impressive yields and analysing consistently well. The silage is all wrapped into big bales.
The 2023 silage was analysed with an example coming back from big bale analysis of: DM – 36.8%, D Value – 71.3%, Protein – 15.5%, ME – 11.4, PH – 4.3
“The Dundas with red clover mix has yielded well under a three cut system over the past 2 years before being grazed this coming season” Graham Burnett.
