Scotland Insight 2022 PRINT 15.3.22 - Flipbook - Page 12
Daring to diversify: Andrew & Kayleigh Love
MEET THE CLIENT: THE LOVE'S
by Jan Claridge
Photos courtesy of BBC This Farming Life
Keen to carry on her parents farm
but aware of the changing face
of farming, Kayleigh Love knew
diversification would be key.
Why and when did you first start to
think about diversifying the farm?
We have been thinking about
diversification for over 5 years. We knew
due to our location at the very edge of
the town of Stranraer that it would lend
Can you introduce yourselves and itself very well to supplying the local
give me a potted history of your community so things have been done over
farming heritage and the farm? the last few years to get us to where we
We are the Love Family; Andy, Christine are now. Kayleigh sat an intense diploma
& Kayleigh, from Bridge of Aird Farm in course in Advanced Food Hygiene – a
Stranraer. We have farmed here since requirement or at least the equivalent of
1926 and Kayleigh is a 4th generation which is required for on site pasteurising
farmer. We are a dairy farm milking – when she was 9 months pregnant with
approx. 130 cows per year, with 7 her now 4 and a 1/2 year old daughter
Clydesdale horses and a very small and sat the exam when she was 3
beef herd (Mum, Christine’s hobby). weeks old. When we were renewing our
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contract with the creamery in 2016 we
asked for a clause to be added that would
allow us to pasteurise and sell some of our
milk locally if we decided to go down that
route. The thing that put us off initially
and until fairly recently actually was the
fact that we are tenant farmers and do not
own our farm – would such an invested
be too much of a risk on something that
wasn’t ours?! Tom from YoungsRPS soon
assured us it would be a great idea and
would show other tenant farmers that just
because we don’t own the farm it shouldn’t
put us off investing – our confidence
was of course boosted with the recent
Amnesty agreement that we had signed
in 2020, which YoungRPS handled for us.