Ewan Brewis
Ewan Brewis
Ewan Brewiss 700ha(1750-
acre) farm is split into two
units. Lempitlaw, the main
420ha (1037 acre) holding
near Kelso, and Gattonside
Mains with 180ha (455
acre) grass. Stocking is 340
sucklers, a 40-cow pedigree
Aberdeen-Angus herd, 20-
cow pedigree Charolais herd,
60 pedigree Suffolk and 960
commercial ewes
SINCE I last wrote, and with the weather being unseasonably mild, we got very excited and managed to sow all the spring barley, complete spreading fertiliser on the grass, put out the early lambed ewes and then guess what – it snowed. Since then we have had 50mm of rain/sleet and temperatures have dropped by about 5C. Nonetheless, nothing seems to have been too damaged and the grass, although lush, is surprisingly free from scorch.
One of the major tasks completed was a visit from MAFF who, believe it or not, wanted to count all the ewes for sheep annual premium, and count the suckler cows and read the ears of 20% of them for suckler cow premium.
This seems a peculiar time with the ewes in the middle of lambing and the spring calving cows already started to calve. Maybe MAFF hasnt heard of animal welfare, however, no harm has been done and the inspectors are only doing their job. In fact, despite the preceding dread, a sunny day and computerised records meant that the job was relatively painless.
Lambing continues unabated with the pedigree Suffolk ewes more or less complete in what looks like being good numbers and quality, even though the "herd" still informs me "theres a few singles". The main lambing – ie phase three – started on Wed, Mar 25.
Calving, although slow, so far hasnt thrown up too many problems – the worst, so far, being a couple of cows not wanting to let their calves suck, which is tedious and time consuming.
The pedigree cows are calved inside, and within a couple of days are put out so as to prevent scour, pneumonia, etc.
This last month also saw us sell approx 50 bullocks, mainly through Scotbeef where we continued to get the same price as last month. In the fat market we sold up to 130p/kg. We also sold cull cows at the dismal price of approx £250 a head. I think that we must be very careful when culling. Yes, we have plenty home bred replacement heifers and the younger cows breed better and produce better calves, but there is quite a difference between selling the culls at todays price compared with £600 two years ago. *
Fine weather meant Ewan Brewis completed spring sowing, putting fertiliser on grass and turning out ewes and lambs before it snowed.
Fine weather meant Ewan Brewis completed spring sowing, putting fertiliser on grass and turning out ewes and lambs before it snowed.