Downland at McCaskie: A Founding Partner Since 1979
Downland started in 1979. McCaskie joined in the same year and has stocked the range ever since — forty-seven years, which is longer than most of the farms we serve have had the same name over the gate. Minerals, milk replacers, lambing and calving kit, licensed wormers and flukicides, and the working dog food that goes out of all four stores by the pallet.
What Downland Is, and What We Are to It
A Group of Independent Merchants
Downland is a franchise. Every partner is a local merchant in its own right, buying and formulating together and advising on its own ground. It is not a manufacturer selling through agents, and Downland does not sell direct to farms.
In Since the First Year
Downland was founded in 1979 and McCaskie joined that year, which makes us a founding franchisee. Forty-seven years is long enough to have fed the grandfathers of the stock going through the ring today.
Why It Matters at the Counter
Buying together is why a Scottish family firm can put a full mineral, milk replacer and medicine range on the shelf at a price that stands up. The advice stays local; the buying scale is national.
What we do not claim. Downland is not McCaskie’s own label and we have never said it was. It is a range we have helped build since 1979, stock deepest, and know best — and if something else on the shelf suits your farm better, the person serving you will say so.
The Four Opti Ranges
Four ranges, four formats. Which one suits comes down to how the stock are managed rather than to what is in the bag — a bucket in a field, a lick in a shed, a block on a hill, or a powder through the diet feeder. Bring a forage analysis and an SQP will go through it with you.
Opti-Mol
Molassed buckets. Trace-element led. Aimed at grazing cattle and sheep to support growth, fertility and health, and at the deficiency problems that show up as grass staggers, lameness and mastitis.
Thirteen lines, below.
Opti-Lix
Molassed licks. Energy and protein led, with minerals alongside. Self-feeding, so intake is steady and labour is low — used indoors and out, on cattle and sheep.
High Energy · Pre-Calver · Cattle Balancer · Cattle Magnesium.
Opti-Blox
Compressed blocks. High energy and high protein, for supplementing grazing stock when pasture quality drops away or demand climbs — late pregnancy and lactation being the two that matter.
Standard Energy · Super Energy with fish oil.
Opti-Balance
Mineral powders, 25kg. A full mineral and vitamin supplement for correcting what a diet is short of — the range to reach for when stock are on a mixed or grain-heavy ration rather than out at grass.
Free access or in feed — see below.
The Opti-Mol Lines
- Cattle GP
- Cattle Extra
- Cattle Mag
- Cattle Balancer
- Mag Extra
- Mag Extra + Copper
- High Phos
- MinVit
- Dry Cow
- Beef Suckler Extra
- Breathe Rite
- Sheep GP
- Buzz Off
FA and IF on the Opti-Balance bags. FA is free access — the stock help themselves. IF is in feed — it goes through the ration. Which one you want depends on how the cows are managed, not on what is in the bag, and getting it the wrong way round is the commonest mistake we see at the counter.
Copper is the one to be careful with. Sheep and cattle do not tolerate it the same way, and a product that is right for one can be wrong for the other on the same farm. Ask before you buy; that is what the SQP is for.
The mineral range is a counter and farm-visit range rather than an online one. Phone your store and we will put it by, or get your representative out with a forage analysis in front of him.
Phone your storeDownland Through the Farming Year
What we keep on the shelf, in the order you tend to need it. Some of it is on the shop tonight; the rest comes over the counter or off the van. If you are not sure which product is the right one, that is a conversation with an SQP, not a guess from a list.
Lambing
Lamb Force Twin Lamb · Lamb Force Premium Colostrum · Lamb Force Ewe Milk Replacer · Lamb Force Boost · Essential Lamb · Optigain Lamb · Perk Up Spray · Blitz disinfectant.
LambingSheep Through the Season
Pre-Tupping · Opti-Lix High Energy · Sheep Natural Energy · Mineral Lick · Essential Sheep · Optigain Sheep, with copper and without · Premium Stock Marker Spray · and the licensed sheep range: Closiver, Albacert, Triclacert 5%, Vectocert, Zermasect Pour-On, Zermex Oral Drench and Zermex LA Injection.
SheepCalving
Opti-Lix Pre-Calver · Fresh Start Heifer · Fresh Start Recover and Recover Plus+ · Fresh Start Scourlyte · Keto Pro · Downguard Plus C · Strong Iodine · obstetrical lubricant · Flydown.
CattleCattle Through the Season
Opti-Lix Cattle Magnesium · Essential Calcium · Rumen Buffer · Essential Cattle+ · and the licensed cattle range: Zermex Pour-On and LA Injection, Triclacert 10%, Epricert, Premadex, Supremadex and Coxicert.
Animal healthThe licensed products above are animal medicines. Some are POM-VPS or NFA-VPS, which a qualified SQP can supply and advise on; others need your vet. We will tell you which is which for what you need, and we will not put a dose on a web page. Every store has more than one SQP on the counter, and every one of our eight field representatives is one too.
Three Ways to Get Downland from Us
Online, Any Time
The Downland collection on our shop — lambing kit, first aid, marker sprays, milk replacers and the working dog and cat food. Order tonight, collect or have it sent.
Downland in the shopOver the Counter
The full range, including the minerals and the licensed medicines, at Ayr, Kinross, Lanark & Stirling. Phone ahead and we will set it aside — worth doing if you are travelling.
The four storesOff the Van
Eight field representatives across Scotland, dairy, beef and sheep, animal health the priority. They walk the sheds with you through vaccinations, calving, lambing, turnout, silage and housing.
Find your repQualified, and You Can Check It
Every one of our eight field representatives is a qualified SQP, and so are most of the staff behind the counters. An SQP is registered with AMTRA and can advise on and supply the animal medicines in the POM-VPS and NFA-VPS categories — you are not waiting for the one person in the building who knows.
Forty-seven years of stocking one range means the person serving you has probably sold that bucket to your neighbour, and to your father. That is worth more than a product description.
Questions We Get Asked About Downland
Is Downland McCaskie’s own brand?
No. Downland is a franchise of independent farm merchants across the UK, founded in 1979. McCaskie joined in 1979 as a founding franchisee and has stocked the range for forty-seven years. We helped build it; we do not own it.
Can I buy Downland minerals online?
Not at the moment. The Opti-Mol, Opti-Lix, Opti-Blox and Opti-Balance ranges are counter and farm-visit products — phone your store and we will put them by, or get your representative out. Everything else of Downland’s that we list is in the Downland collection on our shop.
What is the difference between Opti-Mol and Opti-Lix?
Both are molasses-based. Opti-Mol is a bucket, led by trace elements, aimed at grazing stock. Opti-Lix is a lick, led by energy and protein with minerals alongside, and encourages steady self-feeding indoors or out. Which suits depends on how the stock are managed.
What do FA and IF mean on an Opti-Balance bag?
FA is free access — the stock help themselves. IF is in feed — it goes through the ration. It is the commonest thing to get the wrong way round, so check before you load.
Do I need a prescription for the Downland wormers and flukicides?
It depends which one. A large part of the range is POM-VPS or NFA-VPS, which a qualified SQP can supply and advise on. Others are POM-V and need your vet. Ask in store and we will tell you which is which for what you need.
Which mineral should I be feeding?
That depends on your ground, your forage analysis and what stage your stock are at, and anyone who answers it without asking those three things is guessing. Bring your forage analysis to the counter, or get your rep out to the farm.
Does McCaskie stock brands other than Downland?
Yes, and plenty of them. Downland is the range we know best and stock deepest, but the shelves carry the names you already ask for. If something else suits your situation better, the person serving you will say so.