Mains of Fincastle is home to a herd of 50 suckler cows. These are made up of a small fold of Highlanders crossed with Whitebred Shorthorn to produce the basis for the suckler herd.
These cows are crossed with a Limousin producing 18-month-old store cattle. The cows are on the rough grazing through the summer months.
The farm also has 400 Texel X producing finished lambs from mainly rough grazing.
The sheep are run on the in-bye through the summer and rough grazing are used by sheep in late summer/autumn and again after tupping through to lambing.
Why Trees?
Andrew and Seonag list benefits to integrating woodland on the farm, including:
- carbon sequestration
- shelter and shade for the beasts
- an early bite of grass
- increase in productivity of stock
- saving on feed costs
- better financial returns
- productive timber
- working capital
- long-term investment
