Developing a new enterprise to meet with rising demand
Kinnermit Farm, Turriff
830 acres in process of organic conversion
75 commercial beef cows
15 pedigree Beef Shorthorn cows and followers
600 commercial ewes
Kenny and Sally Mair
Beef Shorthorn is destined to have a significant future role at Kinnermit, says Kenny Mair who works alongside his parents, Barclay and Lucy and younger sister, Sally; together they have established their Muiresk pedigree herd in the last two years.
“The breed is proving to have great temperament, with the ability to convert forage which lends to fitting well in to our future organic forage based system. It’s very easily fleshed and hardy, and since we’re farming light land, the herd will have the ability to out winter. We produce high quality silage preventing us from buying in expensive feed.
“The cows are proving adaptable and easy to keep; they calve themselves, they look after their calves and have plenty of milk. The cows are easily managed and great to work with which suits Sally and myself fine since the unit is nowadays run solely by the family.”
Farming pedigree livestock - both cattle and sheep, has always been a passion for the Mairs. Dairy cattle were farmed by the family at Kinnermit for over a century until 2018 when their 370-cow pedigree Holstein herd was dispersed for logistical marketplace reasons. “The decision left a serious hole at Kinnermit,” he says. “However, whilst working with United Auctions for two years I noted that Beef Shorthorn was a low-cost animal. The Morrisons Shorthorn Beef scheme’s premium makes them very attractive to both store producers and finishers.
A portion of the Muiresk herd
“We concluded that Beef Shorthorn is a functional suckler cow with a big marketplace; it’s adaptable to the diverse Scottish landscape, from the highlands to lowland,” he says. “Our objective is to breed bulls and surplus females for both the pedigree and commercial sector.
“We also believe continuing demand for low cost, low input native bred cattle will be underpinned by falling margins. Added to that will be consumers increasing interest in quality beef and its taste, and the subsequent increase in demand for branded Beef Shorthorn.”
So far, the Mairs have built their Muiresk herd to nine cows and nine young heifers with plans to grow to 20 breeding cows and followers. “We have selected proven genetics – sires and dams that have been seen to be doing well in the show or sale ring. Those that have a balance of a good set of Breedplan figures and have great locomotion; a well-balanced square body has also been key.
“We feel Beef Shorthorn have a solid future at Kinnermit, helping to develop an exciting enterprise to meet with current rising marketplace demand.”
“Heifers are calving at 24 to 26 months and will wean calves 50% of their bodyweight, and we are confident our Beef Shorthorn will stand the test of time and rear a minimum of six calves in their lifetime,” Kenny explains.
“Apart from buying in new sires, we plan to keep a closed herd once fully established and we will have a strict replacement policy with heifers coming in. This way we can continue to develop and improve the herd’s genetics, to hopefully become one of the top herds in the country. We are members of a CHeCS scheme, and test for the four major diseases,” he explains. “We have always striven for high health status stock at Kinnermit; whilst it will fit in to our new organic status, the higher an animal’s health, the easier it is to manage, and the higher the performance.”
He adds: “We have started to linear classify the herd; for over 30 years we found it to be an excellent tool in the Holstein herd not only to help the selection process, but also to build up family history, identify which lines are breeding the best and those we should be breeding from.