GENETIC BREEDING PARTNERS

Without a team of Genetic Breeding Partners, Rissington Breedline would not have been able to achieve the scale necessary to provide scientifically superior breeding programmes. Each of them are well regarded operators in their region and have themselves been able to benefit from productivity gains in the commercial environment.

B Q Farming Partnerships Ltd, Drew Guthrie
Bowhill, Selkirk, is the base for Buccleuch Estate's 34,000-acre in-hand farming enterprise concentrated in Southern Scotland and in Northamptonshire in the English Midlands. The livestock operation includes around 13,000 breeding ewes and 660 beef suckler cows. Several years ago Drew Guthrie, Buccleuch Farming's Business Manager, started to search for an easy care system to reduce the management time and costs of their operation. After meeting with Rissington Breedline and subsequently M&S and Scotbeef, Buccleuch Farming decided that in addition to supplying commercial lamb they would also establish a pure Highlander flock and become a ram multiplier unit in Scotland.
"The ewes carrying the Highlander cross lambs lambed with very little assistance. The lambs were full of vigour and it seemed that nothing would stop them growing. The Highlander cross males finished at least 2.5-3.5kg heavier than equivalent pure bred hill lambs, but the major benefit was that they also finished up to two months earlier."