Farming
By Alec Ross
Following a meeting of the UK farming unions’ livestock board chairs in Scotland last week, the organisations have underlined the need for any changes to cattle identification to utilise new and effective technologies so livestock and dairy businesses can fully benefit.
The UK farming unions agreed that there potentially benefits in introducing bovine Electronic Identification (bEID), from efficiency and animal health and welfare gains to improving the health and safety of livestock handlers.
New bEID technologies were demonstrated as part of the visit at Upper Nisbet, Jedburgh, as part of the pioneering research and development carried out in Scotland by ScotEID.
NFU livestock board chair David Barton said: “The benefits of transitioning towards bEID tags are very clear – reducing transcription errors, improving the health and safety for those of us that handle cattle, and driving forward innovation and productivity. I have seen first hand the benefits that UHF tags can offer the sector, and as a beef farmer I do not want these technologies to be overlooked and ignored.
“Future governments will need to seriously consider what is best for the long-term future of modern farm businesses, and I believe access to both UHF and LF, mandated at the same time, should be part of that”.
Round-up
Bullocks at St Boswells yesterday averaged 283p/kg and sold to 312p/kg, while heifers averaged 294p/kg and sold to 328pkg on three occasions, and cast cows averaged 201p/kg and sold twice to 229p/kg or £1784/head.
Lambs dropped slightly on the week but still met with demand, averaging 400p/kg and selling to £220/head for Texels, and hoggs also held up well at 300p/kg or £130/head and sold to 378p/kg for Texels. And cast sheep averaged £146/head and peaked at £222 for Rouge ewes.
Yesterday saw the annual show and sale of Suffolk lambs at Ayr in conjunction with the West & Central Scotland Suffolk Sheep Club.
Judge for the show, John Gilmour of Humeston, awarded the championship to Messrs CA Smith, North Boig for a superb pen that averaged £208/head or 443p/kg. The reserve championship went to James Thomson & Son, Blairbowie, for his pen average of £200/head or 476p/kg.
In general trading, spring lambs sold to an average of 414p/kg and a peak of £212/head on two occasions, firstly for Texels from Farden and later for Texel crosses from Redding. And all classes of cast sheep met with excellent demand and sold to £187 for a Suffolk cross ewe from Waterside, while tups peaked at £181/head for Cheviots from Lochgoin.
Prime beef-bred heifers at Lanark yesterday averaged 308p/kg, up 7p on the week, and sold to 370p/kg for a Limousin, while black and white bullocks were largely unchanged at an average of 246p/kg and sold to 269p/kg for a Limousin cross.
Cast beef and dairy cows held up well on the week at averaged of 202p/kg and 164p/kg respectively, while new season lambs met with great demand, jumping 79p on the week to average 409p/k and selling to £250/head. And a hogget average of 312p/kg represented a drop of 19p on the week, although a peak of £230/head suggests that quality was still commanding a premium.
Prime heifers and bullocks at Carlisle yesterday dropped by 11p on the week to averages of 268p/kg and 277p/kg respectively, and although beef-bred young bulls dropped by 17p on the week to an average of 246p/kg, dairy types held up well at an average of 223p/kg and a peak of 243p/kg. And new season lambs averaged 405p/kg, up 20p on the week, with lowland ewes peaking at £320p/kg for a Texel.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here