Why James Nisbet thanks the Charolais sire for quality, easy finishing stock!

Raising Charolais beef fit for a King on an Ayrshire
Royal Estate
James Nisbet has a
high class, uniform
herd of good,
square, easy fleshed
cows that produce
quality, easy finishing
stock, thanks to the
Charolais Sire.
One of the keenest buyers and sellers at the
Stirling Charolais sales this autumn will be the winner of
the 2022 Scottish and Northern Charolais Clubs Annual
Competition, James Nisbet. Now aged 37, James farms almost
2,500 acres, much of it tenanted land on the Dumfries House
estate owned by King Charles III.
Although his father, Jim and his mum Margaret, had built
a hugely successful farming business and an even more
successful chain of butchers’ shops across Ayrshire, James
always knew that the family farm Sorn Mains would not offer
him a full time living. Determined to establish his own farming
enterprise, when he left school at the age of 16, James took on
the nearby 530-acre Orchardton Farm on a five-year tenancy.
The young farmer started rearing Limousin and Angus cross
calves, keeping the heifers to build his herd. After four years,
James had in the region of 150 cows and a focus on improving
the quality of his stock, but with
the end of his tenancy just a
year away, could not justify the
necessary investment in the farm
to achieve his ambition. Then
royalty intervened.
“Investment is absolutely essential
to build a successful farming
enterprise over the long term,
and a short-term tenancy made
investment unviable. But then
fortunately the farm was sold by
the previous owner and bought
by the then Prince of Wales. I
was offered a long term almost
lifetime’s tenancy, and we could
invest for the future. We haven’t looked back since.”
In the subsequent 15 years, James and his wife Jamie have
joined forces with Jim Nisbet to create a powerful livestock
enterprise that runs hand in hand with the family butchery
business.
The Nesbet’s business model is based on producing the highest
quality meat for the Ayrshire market, supplying their own and
other butchers, direct to leading restaurants and hotels, and
when required to the King at Dumfries House. To ensure their
quality, James Nesbet says they rely totally on their Charolais
bulls.
“We run our own herd of 480 Black Angus crosses, and 2,000
breeding ewes, and we run 350 store cattle to give me stock to
sell at different times of the year. Any heifers we need to buy in
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come from Anthony Birkett near Duns.
“I have always put my cows to the Charolais, however, until two
years ago I was putting my heifers to Angus bulls. But after a
couple of difficult breeding years, I changed my breeding policy
and switched back to Charolais. They’ve done an excellent job
for us. There has been such an improvement in Charolais bulls
in recent times and they are now much easier to calve, have
a much better temperament, and importantly for me they are
producing the highest quality progeny.”
James usually purchases two or three bulls at the Stirling sales,
favouring the stocky Harestone, Midlock or Carwood pedigrees:
“I personally don’t use EBV measurements, I rely on my own
eyes looking specifically for a smaller, thicker type of bull, as
this is what suits our model best. I do not want a massive bull,
because I want to sell calves which are short, bulky, and easy
fleshed. The cut-off now is 400 kilos deadweight, so we want
to produce a Charolais to 600 kilos as opposed to 800 kilos in
the past.
“We put about 90 heifers to the bull for six weeks, and average
83 heifers in-calf. We keep cows up to ten years old, and 410
are put to the bulls, left for 11 weeks, and we expect 390 to
be in calf. Calves are born March, April and May, and weaned
October, November, December when they’re over 350 Kilos.”
All cattle are outside all summer, and everything is brought
in at the end of October. When they’re weaned, they go into
straw bedded pens and fed concentrate through calf creeps, a
feeding blend of barley, grains, and beet pulp along with home
grown silage.
Once weaned, James will expect his calves to achieve the kind
of market-leading net weight gain that keeps the Charolais at
the top of the EBV rankings. “I would think that our calves are
putting on 1.7 to 1.8 kilos quite comfortably a day, and I know
they go on to do well for the finishers.”
The Nesbets will sell in the region of 450 calves each year,
starting on the first Wednesday in January at the United
Auctions mart in Stirling, selling every Wednesday thereafter
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until the end of March. Heifer calves are sold at an average
weight of 380 kilos and bullocks between 420 to 480 kilos, an
average of 450. This year bullocks have sold to an averaged of
£1,200 and heifers just over £1,000, both just slightly ahead of
last year.
“I sell to finishers from Scotland and the North of England, who
will keep them to finish in the region of 650 kilos. We have a
strong following of customers, and I know which cattle to take
to the market to meet the needs of the individual buyers.”
point of view the cows are here to look after you as opposed to
you looking after them and that is exactly what our herd here
does.”
But like any livestock farmer and breeder, James Nesbet wants
his cattle to look the best, and even his landlord thinks he
has good-looking cows on his estate, which is the ultimate
compliment, coming from The King.
Clearly the commercial success of the farming and related
butchery business is crucial to the Nisbet’s future, but James
Nesbet is also proud of the family’s reputation for quality, both
for their meat, and for their herd.
“The primary aim is to produce first class meat, and we must
produce what the consumer wants at an affordable price,
which makes the Charolais’ fast weight gain and finishing all the
more important. We’re proud of what we have achieved, and
very grateful to everyone who buys our stock every year.”
“During the last 15 years we have tried to build up a high class,
uniform herd of good, square, easy fleshed cows that produce
quality, easy finishing stock. From a practical and commercial
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