Land Management

Our industry is changing and with that change comes opportunity, as a team we have a variety of skills which allows us to manage land and livestock efficiently and effectively whilst operating safely within current legislation.

If you are looking for a solution to managing your land please get in touch to discuss options, we are more than happy to discuss opportunities for working together with land owners before identifying and implementing solutions.

We have an energetic team which includes three generations of the Scott family and an extensive range of highly skilled and experienced contractors who we trust to provide a top class service.

Contract Farming

Scotsburn 400 crossbred ewes 40 Luing cows

In 2015 we entered into a contract farming arrangement with RW Durham and partners, Scotsburn farm, working closely with Jen Campbell to develop a strategy which allowed us to re-invigorate the farming system and the farm itself whilst enhancing habitat for wildlife.

Its been a real team effort, creating a shared vision which has been brought to life by regular communication and complimentary skill sets.

In the early years we focused on drainage, PH, boundary fencing and started a grass regeneration program which saw all workable fields re-seeded with clover dense swards aligning with the ambition to farm utilising grass and forage as much as possible.

Ewe size was reduced and having explored different lambing dates and systems we settled on a mid-march date which allows ewes to be wintered off farm before returning to Scotsburn late March as the grass starts to grow.

The flock is now self-sufficient other than rams which are hired from Fearn tapping into top quality genetics and in August once ewe lambs have been retained for breeding, all remaining lambs are sold store at the first sale in Dingwall.

On the cattle side Luings are the breed of choice being well suited to the rougher hill grazing in the summer, calves are weaned in October with females being grown on for replacements and selling whilst steers are sold to Scott Farming Co for finishing.

Ten years on and Scotsburn is in good shape, both families next generations are now actively involved and the future is without doubt bright.

Quote from Jen Campbell

“The team at Fearn Farm have played an integral role in our farming business continuing for the next generation at Scotsburn. They have ably managed and cared for our livestock, whilst also giving valuable additional support and advice on keeping the land in good heart and remaining productive.

John, Fiona and their team have been flexible and adaptable, and we have worked together to ensure RW Durham & Partners has continued to run an active, sustainable and viable upland farming system fit for the future.

Fearn’s involvement over the last decade at Scotsburn has enabled me to juggle managing my family farming business alongside a career off the farm and bringing up my young family. We look forward to continuing to work alongside the team in the future.”

Sustainability

Every business must be sustainable without that there is no future, we have worked hard to reduce inputs over the years and believe that low levels of high quality product which is targeted at specifis areas give us bext results. We work closley with Yara to ensure what we are using is the right product for the right job. We will of course to look at ways in which we can reduce inputs further and have increased clover contnet in our grass swards considerably which has improved soil fertility and health.

Profitability

‘Turnover is Vanity, Profit is Sanity’ has often been said, our business has grown considerbaly over the years and as with any phase of growth sometimes it can be hard to achieve sensible profot margins whilst growing. It would be faor to say we have tested this over the years, we dont always get it right but we are on the right track and have learnt alot on the journey so far.

Efficiency

Are we efficient enough? Something we often ask ourselves, theres no doubt that there are things we could do to improve this, the main one being having all of our land in one spot, this would no doubt make life alot easier and undoubtably more efficient but its not feasable so we need to look at our systems to ensure they are as smooth as possible. Planning ahead is key to this identifying key calendar dates early whilst having carefully thought out health and cropping plans. Investing in people to ensure that they manage their time efficently is also very important to us and we work with some of the best facilitators around to make this happen.

Lease Blocks

Morangie and Tarlogie

In 2017 we got the opportunity to lease Morangie and Tarlogie farm from Glenmorangie distillery, as with any land we are involved in managing we want it to look right and this is of course magnified when its next to the busy A9 and surrounding an iconic distillery.

At the start we sat down with their land agent and identified the areas we needed to focus on and they recognised the need to invest heavily in the big three, soil health, fencing and drainage.

As part of the new agreement John oversaw that investment and several hundred tons of lime, weeks with a digger and a few thousand meters of fencing later and the farm was unrecognisable.

Over the years with a blend of forage crops, cereals and rotational grass its kept improving and with the addition of 3000m of hedging habitat and shelter has been created for wildlife and livestock.

This block now carries 400 ewes each summer and produces high quality malting barley which ends up being made into Whisky in the distillery once returned via the maltsters from Highland Grain.

Cambusmore

In 2022 Cambusmore Estate was on the market and following discussions with the selling agent we eventually agreed to take on the farming element of the lowland working closely with the new owners to identify which areas to improve first.

Again improving Soil Health, Drainage and Fencing was top priority and now three years on the land has been transformed into a productive block.

The climate is a little different over the bridge in Sutherland but its suits our herd of Luing cows and crossbred ewes well which migrate there from April through until Christmas before returning to base camp at Fearn.

Overlooking Loch Fleet this farm gives us stunning panoramic views and we always take a moment to stop and appreciate them when we are there.