Holehouse Goes the Whole Way

‍Holehouse Farm, Kilbirnie, Ayrshire was announced as the recipient of the coveted Scottish Dairy Farm of the Year award, at a special AgriScot presentation ceremony today (Wednesday 9th February).

Farmed by the Logan family, Holehouse supports 280 pedigree Holstein cows in a new, modern dairy complex as part of a wider 1930Ha livestock operation. A significant percentage of the cows are red and white’s and the overall herd averages 10,300ltr per annum.

Gilmour Lawrie, convenor of the award on behalf of AgriScot commented:

“It was a pleasure to visit the Logan family at Holehouse as part of the assessment visit. Everything about the premises at Holehouse is clean and well-appointed and is a credit to the family and their team. We saw happy, content, comfortable animals and were in no doubt of the high welfare standards from birth to parlour.”

“Holehouse exemplifies the use of modern dairy practices, embraced by the entire team, alongside acute attention to detail.  The assessors were particularly impressed by the use of on-site renewable energy production to lower the carbon footprint of the farm.”
Announcing the award, Douglas Armstrong of sponsors CowAlert from IceRobotics  said:

“I believe the standards were very high this year. I would like to congratulate all 3 finalists and in particular Holehouse Farm, the 2021 Scottish Dairy Farm of the Year.”

Alistair Logan, from Holehouse Farm, commented after receiving the accolade:

“We are delighted! It’s a very welcome and pleasant surprise to receive this award. We are an all-family farm; everyone works so hard and it’s lovely to have this recognition!”

There were two other finalists in the running for the award, East Brackenridge at Strathaven, farmed by the Neilson family and Queenscairn at Kelso farmed by Robert Shanks. Each was presented with a Finalist certificate by Cabinet Secretary, Mairi Gougeon, who stated:

“AgriScot is about innovation, knowledge exchange and best practice for the farming industry so I am delighted to be able to recognise all the finalists and recipients of the AgriScot farm of the year awards.

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“The finalists – across all of the categories - have been selected following a process of nomination, because each of their farms and farming businesses is thought to be trail blazing, innovative, or simply just an example of a farm being operated to its optimum potential. I commend each of the finalists, across the sector categories and hope that they will all be willing to share in their secrets to help others – including new entrants – learn and thrive.”