ROBIN SPENCE – ROBERTHILL FARM

Home to 2nd generation farmers, the Spence family, Roberthill Farm has grown into one of the best beef cattle production farms in Scotland. Run by Robin, along with his wife Ashley, children John and Imogen, Granny Spence and farm dog Gus, the1000 acre farm falls between 100-800 feet above sea level providing a mixture of wet and dry land. The farm grows 400 acres of grain and 200 acres worth of silage. Robin sources stock with partial native bred heritage to give a higher quality product.

On the farm they have 650 cattle, mainly Charolais, Limousin, Angus and Simmental due to the performance and consistency of these breeds. Robin personally buys in younger cattle to keep them in the system longer, and they fatten mostly heifers on a diet consisting of clover and perennial rye grass as it is high in omega 3. The cattle enjoy this grassbased diet during the summer and in the winter they have high quality grass and clover silage, barley and minerals mixture.

All the farms have solar panels and there is a biomass boiler at Roberthill, as energy and environmental conservation is core to the business. Robin was also awarded a MBE for his work in helping to prevent the spread of foot and mouth within the UK.