Page 94 - British Blue Yearbook 2023

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BLUEGRASS CATTLE (BRITISH BLUE X HIGHLAND) DELIVER AT COUL ESTATES
The team at Coul estate are turning out quality steers and heifers from a Bluegrass system and are establishing a pedigree British Blue herd. Following on from his late father’s trails, estate manager Allan MacDiarmid says he has unfinished business in maximising output on the hills by putting a British Blue bull over Highland females. These cattle command double the price of pure-bred animals in the ring.
The system sits alongside a growing pedigree British Blue herd which has big plans to hit the national show circuit next year. The estate also runs a pheasant and partridge enterprise shooting 15 to 20 days a year as well as 40 let stags and 30 hinds and runs a flock of 350 pure North Country Cheviot ewes.
Background
The Coul estate, outside Newtonmore was bought by Kevin and Sonya Fletcher five years ago when they amalgamated the home farm with Blaragie to make a 9000-acre unit. The land is made up of 300 acres of ploughable ground, 500 acres of permanent pasture and 8200 acres of hill. After purchasing the estate, the Fletchers took on Allan MacDiarmid to run the farm and the shooting enterprise. Previously Mr McDermid was an underkeeper for the Fletchers at the Kinrar estate, Aviemore and got offered the promotion here.
“I worked with Kevin before, and he offered me a chance to run the farm and shooting,” said Mr MacDiarmid. “We run the farm and the shooting together between myself and one other member of staff, Savio Genini. I find that
running them together saves any conflict between the enterprises. When you have separate farmers and gamekeepers it is hard to get a balance.”
Since purchase the farm has been going through a process of upgrades with new buildings being erected for housing stock, new fences and freshening up the grass with reseeds. Many of the fields had not been ploughed for the last 15-20 years and Mr MacDiarmid is keen to increase output. Many of the fields run along the flood plain of the river Spey which regularly floods and wipes out the fencing. As a result, the farm has rearranged their parks to make the fences run parallel to the river and reduce the issues when it bursts its banks.
Bluegrass
Back in the late 1990 Mr MacDiarmid’s father Charlie established a Bluegrass system at Glen Elenelg where he put a British Blue bull across Highland cows. The idea is to increase the value of the calves at sale whilst maintaining an animal which thrives outdoors over winter.
“Dad heard about the system in place in part of American and set it up here,” said Mr MacDiarmid. “A rancher