A young family owes a debt of thanks to an open-minded landlord and a small and hardy cow type that thrives on rough Cairngorm hill country.
Without the faith of Clare Carson at the Inchmarnoch Estate, Aberdeenshire, Ian and Rachel Christie would not have had a chance of farming the challenging area east of Ballater and cutting their teeth as suckler farmers.
But the opportunity was seized by the Christies, who made the most of rocky hill park, rough grazing and heather hill. Their low-input system has been a rare testing ground for Hereford and Hereford-cross suckler cows.
The system treats cows much like hill sheep. They must get in calf, calve and winter outside, with winter supplementation provided by energy blocks and haylage.
After 11 years, the result is a genetic package that has got some of the UK’s leading commercial farmers interested, allowing the Christies to diversify into bull sales.
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