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Robert and Becca Rennie contract farm at Mowhaugh and Attonburn on the Roxburgh Estate running 2,200 hill type North Country Cheviot predominantly for breeding with the aim of maximising the value of every animal leaving the farm.

They sell 700 ewe lambs, 200 draft ewes and 30 two-shear rams every year, along with 1,500 store lambs.

They have recently bought a lowland farm near Kelso which had been tenanted by the Rennie family for more than 90 years where they run 400 Romney ewes lambing outdoors with minimal interference.

They also have a flock of 100 pure Texel and Texel cross Beltex ewes which breed 30-40 shearling rams to sell at Kelso Ram Sales every year. Before being sold they are used on the Romneys to produce fat lambs to sell,  with some finishing off grass in 12 weeks.

They also have a small herd of Limousin and Limousin cross British Blue cows to breed show potential calves.

Monitoring

Since taking over Mowhaugh and Attonburn the Rennies have implemented a new tag management system which enables them monitor not only how rams are performing but also how groups of females are performing.

From this they can track the breeding of their sheep right back to when they took them on. This monitoring process is also used to cull out traits or issues which are not wanted in the flock.

Ewe’s feet are monitored closely and a big improvement has been seen in instances of lameness resulting in a saving of time and expense as well as helping to keep ewes in the best condition at all times.

In the short term since taking on the additional enterprises Robert and Becca have increased their profits and broadened their customer bases.

Future plans include opening a farm shop to sell their own meat and produce.

They believe this will be an opportunity to grow the farm business whilst diversifying into a different sector and help realise their dream of producing food with very low food miles and selling it to their local community.