The Colquhoun family, from Inverbervie, have been crowned winners of the coveted Scottish Dairy Herd of the Year for the second year since its inception.
The award, sponsored by Cogent Breeding, was presented to Blair Colquhoun and his son Gregor at AgriScot yesterday.
Blair, wife Judy and Gregor farm in partnership at Dendoldrum, a 324-hectare unit which lies on the sloping ground above Inverbervie, looking out over the North Sea.
The unit, which is focused entirely on the family’s Bervie dairy enterprise, is split between permanent grass, rotational grass and arable cropping.
Here, the Colquhouns run 441 Holsteins to an average yield of 10,550kg with two-thirds of the herd milked three times a day robotically, whilst the remaining third are milked twice conventionally.
The Bervie herd also offers enviable fertility and longevity figures, with a calving index of 394 and first calving currently at 25 months (and a target of 24), a significant proportion of the herd milk into their fifth lactations and beyond.
Gregor, a trained animal nutritionist, is the third generation to run the herd at Dendoldrum, where, the best part of £1 million has been invested over recent years in new buildings and increasing herd numbers.
The Colquhouns won through as one of four finalists of the national competition, which is based on the performance data of all recorded dairy farms north of the border.
A shortlist of 20 of the best Scottish dairy herds had previously been drawn up for the award, following initial assessment by Hugh McClymont, farm manager at SRUC Crichton Royal.
“For cow welfare, diet and rationing, calf rearing, breeding policy and overall team effort, Dendoldrum is a great advert for Scottish dairy farming and well deserves the accolade of Scottish Dairy Farm of the Year 2013,” commented Mr McClymont.
“Selecting a top 20 from over 1,000 dairy farms was a difficult task, and getting down to the top four was even harder.
“On my subsequent visits to each of the top four farms I was very impressed with the total dedication and attention to detail shown,” he said.
The Colquhoun family, who sell the milk from Dendoldrum to Muller Wiseman for a dedicated Tesco contract, also have herd expansion in their sights.
Plans to have 550 cows in milk next year are well under way, with continued expansion on the cards for the following four years.
“We couldn’t have won this without the combined effort of the whole team on the farm: not just dad, mum and I, but the staff too,” said Gregor.
“They will be delighted with this recognition for their efforts.”