An East Lothian farm run by a father and son team has been announced as Scotland's 'Scotch Beef Farm of the Year'.
The coveted title of AgriScot Scotch Beef Farm of the Year was awarded today (Wednesday 21st November) to Niall Jeffrey, in partnership with his father, Angus.
Bielgrange near Dunbar, run by the two, was revealed as the recipient of the award during a presentation in the main ring at the AgriScot event in Edinburgh.
The Jeffrey family runs two spring calving herds over three farm units. The 300-hectare lowland Bielgrange farm and 240-hectare upland Weatherly farm run 250 Aberdeen Angus cross sucklers.
The business also contract farms 160 Aberdeen Angus cross suckler cows at Halls Farm.
Both herds calve from March to May in a mixture of indoor and outdoor accommodation and are then moved to grazing from mid-April when they enter a rotational grazing system for the first half of the summer to try and utilise the grass growth.
Calves are EID tagged at birth and weaned outside before being housed in an outside corral and wintered on straw, bruised barley, dark grains and sugar beet pulp.
They are then grazed from April to July before being housed from August to finish around 16-18 months.
Production excellence
The aim of the Scotch Beef Farm of the Year Award, which is run by AgriScot and Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), is to showcase excellence in the production of cattle in Scotland and raise the profile of the dedication and stock management skills behind the production of Scotch Beef PGI.
Following the announcement, Niall Jeffrey was keen to praise the efforts of the team, including three members of staff.
He said: "We were honoured just to be nominated for the Scotch Beef Farm of the Year award but to become a finalist, and then go on to win, makes me even more proud of our team."
The other two finalists in this year’s award were Poldean near Moffat, run by husband and wife team Alisdair and Emma Davidson, and Midtown of Glass near Huntly, run by Gary and Angela Christie with help from their son Adam.
Fergus Ewing, Scotland's Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy, extended his congratulations to Niall Jeffrey and the other finalist farms.
He said: “This is a tremendous effort by Niall and Angus Jeffrey, and I extend my congratulations to them on being named Scotch Beef Farm of the Year. The competition this year was particularly good, as all three farms are excellent examples of the best of our beef sector, and I wish them all every success in the future.”
The assessors for the award this year were Robert Neill, AgriScot Chairman, Doug Bell, Director of Industry Development at QMS, and Robert Fleming from Castle Sinniness, AgriScot Scotch Beef Farm of the Year 2017.
