Family run herd with commercial outlook keep Angus cattle
By Pat Wilson, The Scottish Farmer
Aberdeen Angus cattle are synonymous with eating quality, thereby attracting valuable premiums in the pedigree, store and prime markets.
Unsurprisingly, they are the No. 1 beef breed in the UK and, indeed, for the Clark family from East Ayrshire.
Alistair Clark, his wife Ishbel and their sons Brian and Alistair own the prize-winning Duncanziemere herd of 60 pure Aberdeen Angus cows. In the last few years, they have added five pedigree Shorthorn females to the herd and also have a flock of North Country Cheviot hill-type ewes which run alongside 12 Bluefaced Leicester ewes.
The family is based at Avisyard Farm, Cumnock, which comprises 300 acres, situated at 900ft above sea level, rising to 1200ft. It’s not an easy farm to manage, or an early one – cows often don’t get out to grass until June. That means a first cut of silage, baled by a local contractor, is rarely made before July. Silage is fed when cows are housed between November and at turnout are supplemented with 1kg of Davidsons’ cake and pre-calving.
Brian and Alistair largely run the operation now but still take advice from their father who, by his own admission, says: “I’m more a slipper than a welly man now!”
Alistair Clark snr started life on a croft in Skye and moved about a lot as he grew up, doing various jobs. He was stockman for one of the best-known Aberdeen Angus herds at Monkwood Mill before taking on the tenancy at Duncanziemere in 1985. At that time, the unit was home to 40 Hereford cross cows, 500 Blackface ewes, and 30 Bluefaced Leicester females.
In 1996, the family invested in pedigree Aberdeen Angus. Despite not spending a fortune on foundation stock, their cattle have performed well in the sale rings, selling several five-figure bulls at auction and privately. Most of their original females were purchased at bargain prices to include Canadian embryos bought from the late Willie McLaren, Netherton, for just £250 each.
One of their best-known females, Duncanziemere Jody Y280, was flushed with her first two embryos producing two former Highland Show champions. Needless to say she has been flushed successfully over the years to produce numerous top-breeding females.
The second embryo was a bull that sold for 3200gns at Perth in 1999
Looking back, Brian says one of their most successful breeding females has been Ladeside Edwina, purchased for 1000gns at the Ladeside dispersal. All the Edwina females go back to her breeding.
Brian said: “We like good locomotion, plenty of size, power and length, when we look to buy females. We like animals that are easily fleshed, but we also like to see how the family has bred with a good calf at foot if possible. You have to have size in Angus cattle and treat them as commercial animals to get anywhere.”
Alistair added: “We also like good, big stock bulls with easy-calving figures so we can calve our Angus females at two years of age, without affecting calving ease, growth or fertility.”
Sadly, in 2011, opencast coal took over the farm where the cattle were based. However, the family bought the neighbouring farm the same year and because it was so close by, the stock could easily walk from one farm to the other.
Since then, the herd has continued to go from strength to strength.
The family’s most recent accolade was winning overall championship at this year’s February Bull Sales with Duncanziemere Jenson. This big win was also the herd’s first February overall championship. At the same sale, Duncanziemere Jacobite – a 30,000gns bull sold at the Bull Sales in February 2022 – sired the top-priced bull at 32,000gns for the Idvies herd.
The Clarks sell their best bulls through Stirling or Carlisle and retain 12 of their best females as replacements. The remainder are sold store through United Auctions at 350-400kg.
There can be no doubting the Clarks’ keen stockmanship and sheer hard graft have paid off but as dedicated breeders, the brothers not only aim to sell top-quality stock but also buy the best.
One of their most recent acquisitions was Hillfoot’s Eldorado, bought privately from Jamie Rettie. He is by Blelack Prince Consort and out of Hillfoots Evie. First in his class as a yearling at the Royal Highland Show 2023, Eldorado’s first son was sold privately to a commercial herd for £10,000 at just 13 months of age.
The Clarks also have a bull from his first crop of calves up for sale at next month’s Stirling sale, along with another two by Duncanziemere Sportsman – a bull sold privately to the Longbank herd, Dumfries, which was used after three seasons. Bulls from his first crop sold for 20,000gns and averaged £9500.
Duncanziemere Excalibur, a January 2023-born Eldorado son, is out of Edwina Y461, that goes back to one of the herd’s foundation females.
The first of the two Sportsman sons to sell is Duncanziemere Elite. He was also born in January and is out of Duncanziemere Ellen Erica X455. She is sired by Carruthers Grenadier, a former Highland Show male champion bought privately in 2017 that was sold three years later to Shadwell Estate.
Last but not least is Juniper Z537, a rising two-year-old Sportsman son out of Duncanziemere Jill X433, an Auchincrieve Exodus daughter.
When selling bulls, the boys know how much they want for them. “It’s never usually a high figure, but it’s always high enough that you need a bit more than killing price for them, because you need to stand by them. So, if it’s not going to be good enough for Stirling, you’re as well killing it in the first place and getting the Angus premium on top of it.”
However, it can be difficult to put a value on bulls. Brian recalls a 13-month-old they took to the May sale at Carlisle.
“He was last in the catalogue, and we didn’t get a bid for him, most likely because he wasn’t ready. We really liked him and decided to keep him until the Stirling October sale, where he stood reserve champion and sold for the top price of 13,000gns. It was a gamble that paid off. We could easily have taken him back home, and something went wrong, or we could have sold him and known no different.”
With the Aberdeen Angus breed riding on the crest of a wave, the Clarks believe the best Angus cross cattle can now match the top Charolais crosses price-wise. Furthermore, increasing numbers of beef and dairy farmers are returning to the Angus for the breed’s ease of calving or home-bred replacements.
There’s a growing demand for the bulls and the females, too, with native cattle in general having taken a lift.
However, while there is no doubting the popularity of the Aberdeen Angus, the Clarks are concerned that some breeders will downsize the breed back in line with what they looked like in the 1960s.
Brian said: “The Angus is so much bigger now than it used to be. Wee, fat, dumpy heifers are a thing of the past. And whether you like it or not, you go to any store sale and that’s not the kind of cattle that sells.
“It’s all very well making them the same as the type of cattle in America, but we’re not America. They’ve got fat bellies, high tail heads and no backside, which no-one wants to buy in a store market.”
He added: “It’s a fashion thing – feeders do not want these types of cattle and, at the end of the day, we need to produce what the commercial buyer wants.”
Brian also believes there’s every likelihood that breeding cattle, both male and female, will get scarce because of the value of killing them.
“Breeders will stop taking them to pedigree sales if they’re not getting a premium for them. Why would you put yourself through the hassle?”
As well as their Angus herd, the Clarks have also branched into Beef Shorthorns, running five pedigree females purchased from notable herd dispersals from the Dickies’ Knockenjig herd and the Ramsay’s Millerston herd. Their first purchase was a two-year-old with calf at foot for 5000gns from Knockenjig, with her sons having sold to 6000gns and 15,000gns at Stirling.
Sheep also feature at Avisyard, with Brian and Alistair halfway through lambing 350 North Country Cheviot hill-type ewes tupped by home-bred, traditional-type Bluefaced Leicester tup lambs sold at Carlisle as shearlings. All resultant Cheviot Mule ewe lambs are sold at Longtown, with wedder lambs finished through Ayr market.
It’s the Bluefaced Leicester that has brought the Clarks their proudest moment too. In 2002, they won the sheep inter-breed at the Royal Highland Show with a home-bred ewe – the first time a Blue has won the accolade. The same female was champion in 2003 as a two-crop ewe.
