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Happy 2011 and Farming

Published: January 25, 2011

Firstly a Very Happy New Year to you all!

So…I am being constantly nagged by "Young Donald (aged 29)" in my office to write some more for the blog. He is of course right that there is no point having a blog page if it's not updated. Trouble is I find the things that I want to rant about are normally pretty boring but then again that just my opinion. Young Donald has told me that I need to update on where we are with company developments, hotel world changes , trip advisor and a whole lot of other very important matters.

Of course being the obliging sole I am, I am happy to update you on …farming! I was accused online the other night of being a "spoon fed farmer" and at first I wondered what that meant but then I realised it was presumably a reference to the subsidies that British Farmers get from being part of the EU. There are indeed farmers out there who receive massive grant assistants for doing pretty much nothing - these guys are referred to as "Slipper Farmers" (basically they buy subsidy and then rent very cheap low grade land to use the subside on - which is a disgrace!). Then there are the rest who work very hard in a pretty tough environment to produce the world's best beef, lamb , cereals, pork and so on but the production costs in the UK are far more expensive than they are in mainland Europe…. so to ensure a "level playing field" as part of the EU there is a balancing check to farmers. Theory being without that balance there would be countries in Europe that would become 100% importers and so on - not a good position. However it costs about £100 to grow a proper saleable lamb and with prices peaking this year at £80 for the very best you can see why without a subside there would be no sheep on our hills. Even with subside the national flock and national beef herd is falling at an alarming rate.

It's always a controversial subject but from what I have experienced it's not the gravy train that the press portray it to be…unless you are a "slipper farmer" speculating on land rent etc and these guys will eventually be caught out. For me however as yet I have no subsidy - too old to get a new entrant grant and therefore if I want a subsidy I have to first buy it…so sadly for me there is no spoon to feed me with just yet! However what I am doing is growing a herd of Pedigree Isle of Luing Cattle which are known to be resilient beasts with high quality beef that require only grass to feed them and they live outside all year round. They are a heritage breed - that's relevant as it means the cost of production is a fraction of the normal commercial cattle breeds most farmers have to grow to satisfy the supermarket chains. My production is aimed at supplying other farmers with a high quality breeding cow with the second tier being the direct supply to hotels and restaurants with high quality grass finished bull beef. The bull beef will take probably 12 months longer than a standard commercial herd - this is good for taste but hard for cash flow! The way it was described to me was it's a choice between a good healthy natural diet , which is takes time and effort, to get you fit and strong versus a couch potatoes diet of cakes and pop - hope that makes sense!

And another thing …just you watch both Waitrose and Marks and Spencer's have started a big push on heritage beef and lamb, that's led by customer demand for top quality and a demand for knowing where the product comes from…but it's only a matter of time when production costs will force a rethink generally towards this on how we source beef and lamb, hopefully I have got it right. Anyway - still doing all the farming myself (with the help of wife and kids plus the indefatigable Broons next door) at nights and at weekends…I recommend it to anyone. All the silage is cut for the winter ….13 bails per acre - got that right ..phew. Bumper barley crop…the Broons take the barley and I keep the 200 bales straw. So ready for winter with plenty of good grass natural silage and cracking straw for the now 55 strong herd we have.

The first beef (Murial) appeared on Crerar Hotels menus - took her down to Galashiels myself for the slaughter and then through the butcher process with Shaws Fine meat. However my co director John being a man from Fife was very keen to find fault …but even he conceded it was as good as he has ever tasted.More on the way.......

Let me know what you think? Tell me on Crerar Hotels Facebook page.



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