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Livestock - Grasstrac Booklet - 07

“Grasstrac restored the trace element balance and improved performance”
Alister MacKenzie - Black Isle, Ross-Shire

Farm Profile
Lying at 500 feet above sea level, Alister MacKenzie’s 360 acres is predominantly a grass farm with 20 acres of both barley and swedes. The land has a good, medium loam soil.

The Stock
The stock consists of 400 ewes. They are pedigree Suffolk, Charollais, Bluefaced Leicester and Blackface. The latter are mated to a Charollais ram to produce fat lambs. The Blackface are lambed outdoors, in April, with the rest lambed inside. There are also 200 sucklers which are based on the French Saler breed.



The Problem
When the ewes and lambs grazed a 45-acre piece of ground that had previously been a forestry nursery, they didn’t do well. Alister was disappointed with the performance of the Suffolks in particular. A soil analysis revealed a poor trace element profile.

The Grasstrac Experience
Alister has applied Grasstrac to the problem 45 acres for two years now. The lambs have grown well with the Charollais x Blackface lambs being sold fat in Dingwall Auction Mart at the end of September for the first time ever. They were weaned about one month before. Alister says he is well satisfied with Grasstrac.