Farming
The Douglas and Hirsel Farms have always underpinned the Estate’s business activities.
The Firm of Shawhead (the Estates Farming Partnership) was set up to farm land as it came back in hand from retiring tenants, and currently extends to approximately 5,000 acres, comprising three separate hirsels of Blackface sheep, and a herd Luing cattle. The farm at Castlemains is also the home of the renowned "Douglas Fold" of Highland cattle - with which the Family have been associated for over a 100 years.
The Douglas in hand farming operation utilises some of the most highly sensitive environmental areas of the Estate (the Muirkirk and North Lowther Uplands SPA, and the Red Moss SSSI) where the grazing and cropping regimes are managed specifically to maintain the balance between commercial farming and enhancing the environmental habitat of the farms (Kinnox, Auchendaff, Greenburn, Shawhead, Greenfield, Bog House, Crawfordjohn, and Crawfordjohn Mill), working with other tenants where appropriate in order to achieve the optimum grazing regimes.
Premium sheep and cattle are sold either through local livestock markets, for both meat and for breeding stock, or privately to specialist outlets.
The Lowland Border farming operations at the Hirsel “Hirsel Farms” comprises principally of mixed arable cropping (wheat, barley, rape, peas, beans, potatoes and grassland) covering 1,500 acres at Homebank, Birgham Haugh, Fireburn Mill, and Crooks Farms.
The Tweed gravels of the Hirsel are ideal for modern potato growing, coupled with irrigation from the River Tweed and two modern temperature controlled potato stores, potatoes are the farm’s most important crop – accounting for approximately 50% of the farm’s total output.
The Estate has invested significantly in the infrastructure of the farm, including potato storage (2,500 tonnes), grain storage (2,500 tonnes), irrigation main and roadways, in addition to 10 miles of new hedge row planting – combining modern intensive arable cropping with the environmental enhancement / improvement of the Farm.
The Hirsel also has its own fold of Highland cattle (brought over from Douglas in the 1980s), which make a positive addition to both the visitor facilities at the Hirsel and the Farm to Fork Schools Project.
Enquiries about the farming operations at Douglas or the Hirsel should be made to Grant Conchie at the Douglas Estate Office (01555 851536) or by email to grant.conchie@daestates.co.uk