Great future for young Angus fan

Winner of last year’s Youth Development Programme definitely has big plans for his future in farming

David Gray

At just 23 years old, young Scotsman David Gray has the world at his feet. He’s also living out the dream that many young farmers would give a lot for – travelling the world, setting up a new business and working with some of the best genetics in the pedigree sheep and beef world.

Working alongside his father Gordon on the family farm in Lindean, Selkirk, David has a keen passion for all things farming.

Helping run a successful flock of 120 pedigree Texel sheep and 500 commercial ewes alongside 20 pedigree Aberdeen-Angus cows, David terms himself as a “jack of all trades” as he reckons he can turn his hand to pretty much anything. “The farm isn’t large enough to allow both Dad and I to take a wage, so I’ve had to explore opportunities on a self employed level.

Now, David supplements his earnings with regular contract work with the summer harvest playing a large part. But now, he’s developing a new interest and is mastering the art of sheep and cattle scanning.

David joined the Aberdeen-Angus Youth Development Programme in 2007

But behind that, his passion for pedigree stock runs deep. Both the Texels and Aberdeen-Angus sit under the Ettrick prefix, a name that has become well known in the sheep world when the Gray family sold Ettrick Jackpot in 2003 for 36,000gns. More importantly that sale was to form the foundation investment for the Angus herd, one that has been built on some of the finest genetics in the breed.

“I’ve always wanted black cattle, so when we made the decision to go in to Angus, we sought the best genetics. Since 2003 we have bought bloodlines from Netherton, Rawburn, Wedderlie and Nightingale.”

And that investment is now paying dividends as recent trips to the Perth Bull Sales have yielded well for the new herd.

His love affair with Angus cattle has always been there, but having been encouraged by Borders breeder John Elliot, David joined the Aberdeen-Angus Youth Development Programme in 2007.

“The programme is all about giving guys like me as well as members without livestock experience the chance to develop stockmanship skills, showing and presentation ability and provides us with a greater understanding of the technical points about livestock production such as performance recording and scanning.

“It’s also a great way of meeting young members from all over the UK and Ireland and the points awarded throughout the process go towards obtaining an NVQ qualification,” he adds.

Having been in the programme for just a year, David worked his way through the workshop sessions, on farm and show training to be named overall winner at the finals held last year at Agri-Expo in Carlisle. Held in conjunction with a national Angus calf show, David competed against other senior members for the chance to be given a trip of a lifetime to further his Angus knowledge.

“It’s the year of the Angus World Forum in Canada, so I’ve chosen to go out there for a few weeks.” The event itself is huge and ties in with the Calgary Stampede an event David is desperate to see.

“With talk of breeders being able to see a mile of Angus cattle all tied up for inspection, I hope to use this opportunity as a fact finding mission to further enhance the genetic base of our herd.”