NUMBERS might have taken a hit due to the poor spring, but the quality was well in evidence at last week's Road to the Isles' Show, held just outside Arisaig in the usual picturesque site at Camusdarach.

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In THE past year, liver fluke has become a major problem across the country, with wet weather and a mild winter suiting it perfectly, allowing it to multiply to the point where, in recent months, there has been a tenfold increase in cases of the parasite.

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According to Stuart Ashworth, Head of Economic Services, Quality Meat Scotland, this may be due to several retailers, and ready meal manufacturers, making public commitments to only supply UK and Irish beef in their UK outlets, at a time when supplies are tight.

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Current farmgate prices for prime cattle continue to benefit producers in the UK and Ireland, with prices advancing almost 10% since the start of the year.

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The Scottish red meat industry made a £2.1 billion contribution to the economy of Scotland in 2012, according to the Scottish Red Meat Industry Profile launched today (June 17th 2013) by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS).

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A warning that rumen fluke could become as widespread as liver fluke in Scotland was issued today (June 14th) during the launch of Quality Meat Scotland’s Research & Development report.

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A BORDERS farm has been confirmed as the venue for Scotland’s biennial national sheep event next year.

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Ahead of CAP talks reaching their climax in the next few weeks, NFU Scotland's President, Nigel Miller and staff have met with Defra minister, Owen Paterson and his advisors to reiterate Scotland's priorities which have yet to be addressed in concluding discussions between the EU Commission, EU Parliament and Member State governments via the EU Council.

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THE VOLUME of lamb exported to Belgium is set to rise significantly after one of the country's largest supermarket chains switched its sourcing away from the Southern hemisphere.

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SCOTLAND MAY have enjoyed two relatively dry weeks, but the risk of liver fluke remains ever present on many units with the result that livestock farmers are being urged to consider a plan of attack now, should this year's summer be as wet and cold as that of 2012.

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LIVER FLUKE and Schmallenberg have had serious implications on the overall health and financial fortunes of many sheep flocks on both sides of the Border during the early part of 2013 and these diseases are likely to cause just as many problems in the near future.

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SCOTTISH SHOPPERS looking to support Scottish farmers are being misled into buying imported produce as a result of ineffective rules around product labelling.

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Farmer confidence in the short-term future of the arable sector is at an all-time low as growers across England and Wales revealed the amount of land they expect to harvest was likely to be almost a third lower than last year.

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THIS WEEK'S heatwave may have been responsible for a rampaging bull attacking a stocksman at Ayr mart's main breeding sale on Tuesday.

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A single Scotch Mule ewe lamb shown by regular Mule winner, Alan Shennan, Farden, Girvan, triumphed to win the supreme overall at a busy Carsphairn Show, recently.

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NSA Scotsheep 2014 will be held on the Berwickshire farm of Quixood, Grantshouse, courtesy of the Macfarlane family, on Wednesday, June 4.

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Leading figures in the Scottish farming and food industries will be launching a high-profile campaign at the Royal Highland Show next Friday to make the case for rural Scotland remaining part of the UK.

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The Vestey Food Group, and Donald Russel on video

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Beef Chapter from the QMS DVD Meat Quality, Science into Practice. Contains some abattoir scenes.

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Scientists at Edinburgh’s world-renowned Moredun Research Institute have announced a major breakthrough in the control of parasitic worms in sheep which it is estimated costs the UK sheep industry more than £80 million a year in lost production.

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A free, new soil carbon app was launched today (June 14th 2013) to provide farmers with a quick, cost-effective source of information about the organic matter content of their soil.

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MEMBERS of the Scottish Parliament rural affairs committee were yesterday told by UK farm minister Owen Paterson that, while the broad outlines of the next common agricultural policy (CAP) were set at member state level, regional governments would be able to set policies to suit their specific farming needs.

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NFU Scotland yesterday claimed a leading discount supermarket chain has been misleading shoppers selling meat with labels 
featuring the Scottish Saltire and using the thistle emblem along with words stating “produced in Scotland” while the reality was the contents – beef and turkey – came from animals reared in the EU.

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CHANGES to the £65 million dispersed annually through the less favoured area support scheme (LFASS) could help those farmers keeping livestock and those coming into the industry, according to Jonny Hall, NFU Scotland policy manager.

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CLA is a highly infectious disease, often spread during shearing and signs of it can exclude breeding sheep from many premier markets

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The commitment of a Scottish beef processor to staff development and raising the profile of employment opportunities in the red meat industry has been recognized with a Scottish Food and Drink Excellence Award.

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In recent days, several farmers have highlighted to NFU Scotland a range of cooked meat products currently available in Aldi supermarket stores.

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IT'S NEARLY Highland Show time, and just in case that fact has slipped anyone's mind, the RHAS staged a stunt at Edinburgh Airport last week, greeting arriving travellers with the sight of Suzie the Highland cow, borrowed from Pollok Country Park, led in style by young RHS veteran, Cameron Cormack, 10, who has been attending the Ingliston event since he was only one year old

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Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) chairman, Jim McLaren, said the system of production behind Scotch Beef PGI and Scotch Lamb PGI has a very positive sustainability role and there needs to be much better understanding of this.

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LAMB PRODUCERS looking to maximise their profits – particularly this year with the extreme wet weather and lack of fodder – should pay close attention to Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) in order to combine improved carcase weights and conformation with reduced days to slaughter, if the results of Quality Meat Scotland's Scottish Sheep Strategy Better Breeding project are anything to go by.

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Quality Meat Scotland continues to support the Scottish Government’s commitment to deliver a positive result on levy repatriation.

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RURAL affairs cabinet secretary Richard Lochhead yesterday admitted that the UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) could veto Scotland’s hopes of securing a continuation of so-called coupled payments – support linked to production – under reforms of the common agricultural policy (CAP) due to be agreed by the end of this month.

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BUDGET figures released by the European Commission showing a drop in the cash the UK will receive through the rural development programme sparked of a political war of words yesterday.

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THE CHAMPION sold for the top price of 300p per kg, at Lawrie and Symington's Scottish Limousin club show and sale, held at their Lanark centre on Monday.

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Regular weighing has highlighted the wide gulf in the performance of bulls in the finishing system at the Dumfries monitor farm at Hartbush, Amisfield.

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AS PREDICTED by many, the continual decline in the Scottish beef herd is beginning to affect trade as demand for Scotch beef at the top end of both home and export markets, outstrips supply.

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mprovements to ear tag design by a leading Scottish manufacturer look to have countered some of the key welfare and tag retention problems experienced by sheep farmers.

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NEW SEASON lambs are slowly beginning to infiltrate the market and producers are witnessing a steady rise in trade to boost severely depleted cash flows following what has been one of the most difficult starts to the season.

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Mr Lochhead has been lobbying for the 'repatriation' of the disputed £1.4 million a year, arguing that it should rightfully be spent on promoting Scottish meat, rather than subsumed into southern budgets. But following another 'frustrating' conversation with DEFRA ministers this week, Mr Lochhead said it was unacceptable that they were refusing to tackle this longstanding problem.

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An Orkney farming family are delighted their cattle were chosen as the source of the Scotch Beef served at the Diner des Grands Chefs, one of the most prestigious gatherings of top chefs in the world.

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Tesco buying Scottish chickens

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IT COMES as no surprise that the latest forecast for the 2013 lamb crop has been revised downwards, with the new figure of 15.8m head down a massive 1.36m (8%) on the 2012 figures.

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The Scottish red meat industry has made its presence keenly felt in Hong Kong this week at HOFEX, the largest food and hospitality trade show in Asia-Pacific.

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THE Scottish Government’s announcement earlier this week of details of its £6 million weather aid aimed at sheep and cattle farmers was yesterday viewed with a degree of scepticism by the chairman of the Scottish region of the National Sheep Association.

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The prospect of Scotland getting its hands on £1.4 million of livestock levies annually going into the English meat promotion board slipped away this week with Whitehall rejecting the Scottish Government’s latest claim to the cash.

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THE GREEN stuff might be growing slightly more than it was, but with the cold weather continuing and grass growth up to a month late, there is little enthusiasm to invest in breeding females and younger store cattle.

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NEXT MONTH'S Royal Highland Show will live up to its billing of 'the greatest show on Earth', with almost 6000 livestock entries set to compete from all over the UK and Ireland.

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Sheep producers have been slow to commit to using performance recording as a method of improving their financial returns but one of the enthusiasts for using breeding figures yesterday claimed that there could be a bonus of around £1,000 per ram from doing so.

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A RETIRED Edinburgh University professor has been trampled to death by a rampaging herd of cows while out walking his dog.

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THERE was unanimous support for only one issue yesterday at the EU Agricultural Council yesterday and that was a need to have all the main bones of the next common agricultural policy (CAP) settled by the end of June when the Irish will lose the council presidency.

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Online Auction Modern Abattoir, Meat Processing and Packaging Facility

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Sheep producers have been slow to commit to using performance recording as a method of improving their financial returns but one of the enthusiasts for using breeding figures yesterday claimed that there could be a bonus of around £1,000 per ram from doing so.

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A sausage produced by an Inverness butcher has made history by scooping the title of Scotland’s top beef sausage in a new competition the winner of which was unveiled today (Sunday 12th May).

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THERE was unanimous support for only one issue yesterday at the EU Agricultural Council yesterday and that was a need to have all the main bones of the next common agricultural policy (CAP) settled by the end of June when the Irish will lose the council presidency.

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DAIRY FARMER'S daughter Laura Paterson, of Barbeth Farm, Cumbernauld, has been selected as one of the ten finalists for Miss Scotland 2013

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In NORMAL times, this is the changeover period in the sheep trade, with the supply of hoggs from the previous year drying up and new lambs coming on to the market.

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A £3 million investment in new accommodation at the Scottish government’s bull stud at Knocknagael, Inverness, was officially opened yesterday with politicians and farming and crofting leaders emphasising its potential contribution to Scotland’s beef industry.

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IT MAY be in short supply throughout much of the country, but demand for grass and indeed grass-fed raised and finished beef and sheep has soared since horsemeat DNA was first confirmed in some processed foods on sale in British supermarkets.

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The Scottish red meat industry is making its presence keenly felt in Hong Kong this week at HOFEX, the largest food and hospitality trade show in Asia-Pacific.

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Scottish TV personality Carol Smillie has visited butchers and farmers in Perthshire and Fife this week as part of a programme of visits to meet people working at the heart of the Scottish red meat industry.

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