Two young famers who spoke at a NSA Scotsheep seminar had both started by building up flocks, but they had other traits in common. Ewan Pate reports.
A willingness to take on any opportunity that came along as they sought to build up their reputations as serious contenders were traits two young farmers speaking in a next generation focussed seminar at NSA Scotsheep had in common.
Both have now built-up substantial businesses in the Scottish Borders.
Bob Rennie, now at Attonburn Farm, Yetholm, near Kelso left school at 16 with few qualifications but plenty of enthusiasm. He stared work at Attonburn with the previous tenant before going on to gain experience on other farms.
I never turned down contract work and along the way picked up plenty of sound advice and gained good experience of farming at scale, Mr Rennie said.
He also steadily built up a quality pedigree Texel flock. When his big break came and Roxburgh Estates offered him a contract farming opportunity he was able to sell his 70 ewe flock at Carlisle for a total of 160,000 giving him seed capital for his new business.
Career
Andrew Marchant, Clonhie Farm, Penpoint, Dumfries, had a similar story to tell. He began his farming career in 2012 as a farm manager for Buccleuch Estates.
Through time he negotiated a 230 acre Limited Duration Tenancy (LDT) with Buccleuch, now extended to 850 acres. He keeps 800 ewes, 35 beef cows and 350 red deer hinds as well as rearing 200 dairy calves annually.
He said: It has been quite journey. You have to build up a reputation for yourself for being trustworthy and reliable. My advice to would- be new entrants is to be open minded as to location, breeds of livestock and so on. You should also be prepared to do plenty of budgeting for the bank.
Funding
Steven Buchan, regional head of Agriculture with Scotsheep sponsor Virgin Money, advised new entrants to pay attention to preparing a business plan.
He said: [A business plan] will go through a number of hands but remember it has to be distinctively yours. Assume the readers have no idea about your business but be prepared for them being experts and asking detailed questions.
Top tips for a business plan:
- Have a great one page summary
- Explain what makes your business unique
- Describe your vision
- Explain your marketing and distribution plan
- Engage the reader by using video and photographs
The numbers:
- If they look to good to be true, they will be viewed as such
- Spell out your assumptions
- Budget for best, worst and most likely scenarios.
- Remember cash pays back loans, not profits.
- Expect questions and be prepared to answer them.
- Funders challenging your number is normally a positive.
- Funders will want to know how much is required and when they will get their money back
Land Matching Service
Ian Davidson, independent adviser to the Scottish Land Matching Service explained that this was free service launched in September 2019. Its purpose is to facilitate arrangements between those with land they would like farmed and those willing to take up opportunities. Find more information at slms.scot.
