
A small family farm in the Scottish Highlands, raising heritage breed livestock, and using regenerative and sustainable practices – old and new – to bring the family farm back from 30 years of neglect. Share our journey with us!
Hirsel:
1. Scottish : a flock of sheep
2. Scottish : the land grazed by a flock of sheep
– http://www.merriam-webster.com
The Hirsel:
A small family farm in the Scottish Highlands


Our ‘softly softly’ approach to reclaiming the farm from 30 years of neglect means that we balance the need to cultivate enough land to tend to ourselves and our domestic animals, but leave as much ‘wild’ as we can to encourage many species of birds and small mammals to take up residence with us. Field margins, birch copses, ancient woodland and the far reaches of our small bog host passing dear, a fox family, buzzards and woodpeckers, red squirrels, rebel pheasants, and shy hedgehogs.

We raise pure bred Hebridean sheep for their wool, meat, and conservation grazing benefits. A native Scottish breed, these sheep have survived near extinction, and are gaining in popularity again. We breed both the modern HSS registered (small black, usually 2-horned) lines, as well as the ancient, more variegated lines: reddish (‘raddie’), greys (‘silverback’), and whites (very rare, due to culling for black lines) In the autumn of 2021 we added a 4-horned ram to our flock. The multi-horned characteristic of this breed was one of the reasons rare breed keepers first collected them, saving them from extinction. Though most keepers breed 2-horned now, we’re looking forward to seeing Lachie’s lambs!


Our Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs – Basil, Ginger and Saffron – joined us in the autumn of 2019. This docile and hardy breed is perfect for our mixed terrain farm, and for our style of animal husbandry. They settled in nicely, free ranging through one of our rougher bits of wet/woodland, turning it up and clearing paths – when they’ve done their work, and rotated to another part of the farm, we’ll reseed this field with a woodland mix of grass and wildflowers.

Located in an area of outstanding natural beauty, the Hirsel enjoys stunning views across the farm to the Dornoch Firth. We’re doing all we can to allow that beauty to flourish on The Hirsel, including participating in a 5-year Scottish government Agri-Environmental scheme, which covers one of our largest fields, part of our ancient woodland, and our wetlands.