Alnham Farm

Livestock and management

Harry manages 260 spring-calving Aberdeen Angus x Simmental cows with a handful of Luing cows.

These cattle are either finished at 18–20 months or sold as stores at 10–12 months. Heifers are calved at 24 months.

The farm also has a flock of 2,400 hill and upland breed ewes, and breeds its own replacements, and features both hill and in-bye flocks.

Livestock is marketed both deadweight and liveweight through the farm's local market.

Lamb sales are staggered throughout the season, starting in July when lambs are generally sold fat. Later-season lambs are often sold as stores if they are not going to be finished in time.

These lambs tend to draw on forage and labour resources at a critical time when the focus needs to shift to managing ewes for tupping and early to mid-pregnancy.

Cattle management

Coming from an all-cattle herd that was split into autumn and spring calving, Harry and his family decided to simplify things and move to spring calving only, with the hope of making it easier to control costs.

Recognising that finances were not where the farm wanted them to be, they decided to explore new ways to cut costs and add value.

A big focus has been on maternal genetics, moving away from using Charolais bulls to more easy-calving and easy-fleshing genetics.

They have also introduced some Luing cows to try and fit better into environmental schemes.

Grazing management

To improve livestock performance, Harry has been trying to improve grassland management over the last couple of years with rotational grazing; this has aligned well with herbal ley management and outwintering strategies.

Read our best practice guide to outwintering

Future plans and innovations

During 2023/2024, Harry focused on tightening lamb finishing and removing late-keep lambs.

The aim was to free up both pasture and labour resources, reduce wintering costs – particularly for the cattle enterprise – and alleviate time pressures on staff.

This change also reduced internal parasite burdens by providing more of a break between lamb crops.

Additionally, reducing the days to slaughter helps them meet climate change targets by lowering methane emissions.

Research and results

Harry has participated in various research initiatives, including one project looking at optimising lamb finishing. As a result, he increased efficiencies and made cost savings, particularly in reducing wintering costs and labour demands.

Current research

Harry is currently (April 2025) part of an Innovative Farmers field lab, collaborating with seven farms across Scotland and England. The group is exploring bale grazing for overwintering cattle.

The project aims to gather data over four years to understand the impacts of bale grazing across various locations, soil types and herd sizes within the UK.

This research will support Harry’s management decisions on bale and deferred grazing, demonstrating the flexibility required to manage the system effectively while providing high-quality forage.

Find out more about the project

Read about AHDB’s support of the Innovative Farmers field lab

Additionally, AHDB funded a cost-benefit analysis to identify and evaluate the trade-offs and impacts of bale grazing compared to winter housing. Harry successfully manages to outwinter 160 suckler cows on deferred grass and silage bales.

Conclusion

Harry’s business is a dynamic and evolving system that balances traditional practices with innovative research and environmental stewardship.

Through careful management and continuous improvement, he aims to maintain the sustainability and productivity of Alnham Farm for the future.

Further information

Read our best practice guide to outwintering

Read about AHDB’s support of the Innovative Farmers field lab

Read about the benefits of bale grazing

Hear from Harry as he explains the outwintering system

How varied plan gets cows outside for Northumberland suckler unit

Outwintering system hopes to beat £163 a cow savings (Farmers Weekly)

Bale grazing – lessons from our field lab (Groundswell 2023)

Hear from three field lab farmers who have been implementing bale grazing as an outwintering strategy for a couple of years.

Bale grazing as an effective livestock outwintering strategy (Oxford Farming Conference 2024)