Forth Monitor Farm. Duncan McEwen Arnprior Farm, Stirlingshire

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1 Forth Monitor Farm Duncan McEwen Arnprior Farm, Stirlingshire Report from meeting held on the 5th of December 2012 Date of Next Meeting: Thursday 31st Jan 2013 Facilitators: Colin MacPhail Stephen Whiteford Tel:

2 Introduction A great turnout of 45 farmers and members of the wider agricultural industry attended the second meeting of the Forth Monitor Farm at Kippen Village Hall. There were numerous apologies from members of the Community Group who were unable to attend. Aim of the Project To improve the efficiency and profitability of farms within the Forth area by establishing and demonstrating best practice on the Forth Monitor Farm. Aim of the meeting: With there being such a large attendance at the open day in November, it was impractical to carry out group activities within the timescale available. Therefore, a second meeting was scheduled to complete the introductory process and set some objectives for the Forth Monitor Farm going forward. Meeting Agenda: Re-cap of what was covered during the open day virtual farm tour using slide show of photos taken on the day. Summary of Whole Farm review Strengths and Weaknesses of the business Identification of opportunities for improvement and subsequent meeting topics Appointment of Management Committee Summary of Farm Business Area (Ha) Arable 90 Temporary Grass 150 Permanent Grass 30 Rough Grazing 60 Total 330 Family partnership involving Duncan Senior, his wife Anne and Duncan Junior (who is supported by his wife Rebecca). Various Duncan McEwen s have held the tenancy at Arnprior for 5 generations Duncan Jnr has been involved in the business for eight years since completing his studies at SAC in Edinburgh.

3 Cattle Enterprise Summary: 70 mainly Simx suckler cows to Sim and Lim bull Breeding own replacements, finishing remaining heifers and steers Calving May August outside Calves normally weaned in January but bringing forward to December this year Wintered in Cubicle Shed which is situated half way up the hill Cattle Finished on slats with ration of silage, barley and beans Target 1.1kg/day liveweight gain for finishers. Performance measured at 0.5kg/day after first weighing at grass in Therefore, finishers housed in July to ensure weight gain target was achieved thereafter. Cattle tested for BVD, IBR and Leptospirosis Cows fed ag-bagged whole crop silage or straw with pot ale syrup/ammonia treated straw

4 Sheep Enterprise Summary: 550 Scotch Mules to the texel tup Lambs finished and sold at Caledonian Market Ewes scanning %, weaning 170% Wintering used at Duncan Jnr s Mother-in-Law s farm in Wigtownshire Lambs finished off grass and fodder rape Generally no supplementary feeding of ewes other than some molasses and hay when grass is in short supply Liver fluke has become a problem especially now that immunity to Fasinex is suspected approximately 10 lambs lost in week prior to open day.

5 Arable Enterprise Summary: Typical cropping plan as follows: Crop Area Ha Market Yields (acres) Spring Barley 35 (86) High N Malting 1.8t/acre Spring Oats 37 (91) Feed 2.0t/acre Winter Wheat 11 (27) Feed 2.5t/acre Beans 7 (17) Feed/Human 2.0t/acre Consumption Total 90 (222) Arable ground starts at 10m above sea level on the carse ground and rises to approximately 180m at the top of the farm. Heavy and saturated carse ground is now a huge challenge to successfully cultivate Straw for dung swap deal with neighbours in place to provide cost effective source of nutrients Less and less wheat being grown year on year and due to current ground conditions, there will be no winter wheat grown for the 2013 harvest However, salvage job of 2012 harvest was a relative success with all crops harvested and nearly all straw gathered. Yields were poorer than normal but market prices helped to make it a worthwhile process.

6 Infrastructure and Facilities Main Steading: Long narrow farm steading with mix of traditional and modern buildings. Close to main road and at centre of village of Arnprior General purpose feed and machinery stores (above left and right) Converted to lambing sheds in spring Slatted shed at steading (above left) used for finishing cattle with capacity for 150 Cubicle shed (above right) located up the hill with capacity for wintering of 70 cows and calves Shed layout has cubicles and feed face on either side of large feed storage area in the middle Slurry scraped in to outside midden next to shed entrance

7 Main machinery shed and workshop (above left) potential calving shed? Grain store (above right). Located on opposite side of road to steading with capacity for 440 tonnes of grain Sheep fank located on the upper part of the farm above the cubicle shed Recent investment of Ritchie Combi-clamp (above right) has improved efficiency of sheep handling greatly

8 Whole Farm review Summary An independent Whole Farm Review was carried out prior to the open day to assess the current business performance and scope out some recommended points of focus for business development. A summary of this was provided at the meeting as an opening to group discussions on strengths and weaknesses of the business and suggested routes for development. The overall assessment of the business was summed up as follows: The business is financially viable and is well managed. The farming policy and resources are well matched to the farm unit and the forward strategy should be focussed on fine tuning rather than significant change Gross Output Analysis Summary: Year Target Average GO% GO% GO% GO% GO% Output Variable Costs Gross Output Fixed Costs: Labour Power & Machinery Overheads (Prop & Gen) Profit (before rent & Interest) Min 30

9 Arnprior Business Evaluation Four groups were formed to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the individual enterprises with a view to identifying areas for improvement. Cattle Strengths: Own-Bred replacements/closed Herd Simple System Health Status/Treatment Plan Marketing Flexibility Good range of facilities Able to grow most of feed requirements Weaknesses: Health status disease present Calving Date Fluke Weaning Dates Poor live weight gain at grass Lack of slurry storage Adverse effect of cattle on ground conditions Arable Strengths: Self-sufficient in terms of work that can be carried out Good drainage on dry-field Availability of hay production within rotation A third of crops sold on contract Achieving premium markets (malting) Range of soil types Weaknesses: Climate North-facing fields Poor drainage on carse Compaction Restricted working hours to minimise disturbance within village Sheep Strengths: High Conception Rate Availability of away wintering Low feed costs Use of lamb weighing information Substantial numbers Good range of equipment/facilities Access to good student lambers Weaknesses: Fluke Protracted lambing High losses scanning to weaning No use of performance recorded tups Lambing at bottom of farm away from grazing High number of triplets and pet lambs Whole Farm Business Strengths: High level of enthusiasm, knowledge and skill Clear path for succession Active roll and high level of support from Anne and Rebecca (Wives) Good and appropriate mix of enterprises High technical efficiency achieved Good level of access throughout farm Weaknesses: Restrictions of tenancy Ground improvements required Public road through farm Layout of infrastructure spread out Exposed to effects of CAP reform Exposed to effects of poor climate conditions

10 Development Ideas/Areas for Improvement The group came up with a number of strategic objectives in terms of what they would like to achieve over the three year period. From those objectives they identified issues relevant to both the Monitor Farm and their own businesses at home. These objectives and relevant issues will be used to steer the meeting topics as we go forward and the outcomes of these meetings will be tied back to the core objectives to measure progress. A summary of the objective setting exercise is given below: Overall Strategy Improve Animal Health Planning Sustainable Soil Management Establish Grazing Policy Improved Community Group Understanding of Business Analysis Issues Fluke management plan required BVD, Johnes, Lepto, IBR Compaction Difficulties with drainage High Rainfall Can t get on the land Grassland Management Forage crop selection Weed control Understanding Gross Output Analysis Tax & VAT Management Meeting Topics/Formats Fluke Control and Management Planning Soil management practical session with specialist input and machinery demonstrations Using outcomes of above to include reseeding trials using different techniques and seed mixes as well as treatment plans Practical sessions on benchmarking of accounts Specialist Input from tax accountants Improve Overall Business Performance and Efficiency Need to increase output without increasing costs Need to improve technical performance in: Fertility Calving Pattern Feed Conversion Further to financial benchmarking, carry out technical benchmarking on each of the enterprises.

11 Management Committee The Monitor Farm process is producer led and should meet the requirements and demands of the Community Group that participate within it. In order to ensure that the Monitor Farm project is meeting its objectives, a Management Committee has been formed with the following remit: To advise facilitators and the Monitor Farmer on any aspects of the project To appoint a chair person To provide feedback on the project To provide an independent point of contact for Community Group members To represent the Community Group Those present at the meeting were invited to openly propose Community Group members to join the Management Committee. Once the management committee was formed a Chair was elected from within the committee. Lyn Matheson was subsequently appointed as the Chairperson. The position of chair will last for one year at which point a new chair person will be elected. The following Community Group members have been elected to the Management Committee: Name Contact Number Bruce Duncan Andrew Cullens Lyn Matheson Scott Adam Kyle Campbell Sandra Stewart Ian Watt David Bryce David Hendry Willie Brewster Provisional Dates for Meetings: 31st January 2013 Liver Fluke 27 th February 2013 Soil Management