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Butchers hope for Bank Holiday bonus

SCOTTISH BUTCHERS are gearing up for a busy bank holiday barbecue weekend – despite weather forecasts ranging from sunshine to snow!
Red meat levy rage

ATTEMPTS TO retrieve red meat levy paid out on Scottish-reared livestock slaughtered south of the border have been blocked by English ministers, prompting an angry outburst from their Scottish counterpart Richard Lochhead.
Ulster fodder aid success

AN EMERGENCY scheme to bolster the supply of livestock fodder in Northern Ireland had an immediate impact after its introduction last weekend – so much so that the Province administration has already dropped part of the incentive to importers.
August wait for weather aid

SCOTTISH FARMERS hit by extreme weather applying for a share of the Scottish Government's emergency £6million aid fund will have to wait until August to get it.
Land Reform report pleases no-one

A MUCH-ANTICIPATED report into Scottish land reform has been met with some not-at-all unexpected criticism from both sides of the land ownership debate.

Higher lamb returns with EBVs

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.
Weather continues to affect cattle prices

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.
Tag pin improvements boost sheep welfare, retention and management

Improvements 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.
Potato prices set to remain strong this season

Potato prices across Europe are set to remain historically strong as the effect of an increase in plantings is limited by poor weather and grower concerns over profitability.
Blonde champ makes 6200gns

Only eight bulls changed hands at a show and sale of pedigree British Blonde cattle at Carlisle, where the male champion and supreme overall, Alasdair McSporran's Eilean Godfather, from The New House, Innerleithen, Peebles, topped the trade at 6200gns.

Success story for the 'all new' Balmoral

THE ORGANISERS of this year's Balmoral Show in its new home on the site of the former Maze Prison, could not have hoped for a better start for their ambitions.
Horse champion leads at wet Fife

Despite some relatively dry weather for the early morning judging, the heavens opened by lunch-time for the overall champion of champions at Fife Show where the top accolade was presented to the horse leader – a three-year-old Appaloosa gelding from Carolyn Fletcher, Thornlea, Bo'ness.
Miss Moneypenny is top at Dalry

IT WAS during a rainy Dalry show last weekend that a commercial heifer took champion of champions.
Holstein Friesian to the fore at Stonehouse

IT WAS the Holstein Friesian champion that took the supreme accolade at a very wet and muddy Stonehouse Show, last weekend, where stock and crowd attendance figures were down on the year due to the heavy rainfall in the week leading up to the show.

Top two Limousins sell to Morrisons

AT THEIR annual Limousin show and sale, last week, Caledonian Marts had 43 cattle forward for judging by Philip Goodwin, general manager of sponsors, Wishaw Abattoir Ltd.
Ervie Herefords sell to £4600

Buyers from as far a field as Argyll, Cheshire, Northumberland and Northern Ireland, were forward for the fourth on-farm sale of pedigree Hereford cattle from the Douglas family at Mains of Airies, Stranraer, last weekend, where Dumfries auctioneer, Harry Beggs, took the top bid of £4600.
Dairy cattle reach 2500gns at Ayr

TRADE PEAKED at 2500gns at a Holstein show and sale, at Ayr on Tuesday.
Golddigger heads to Edzell

SCOTTISH LIMOUSIN breeder, G Yarr, who runs the Portmore herd at Witton, Glenlethnot, Edzell, Angus, came home in style from last week's show and sale of pedigree bulls at Ballymena, having purchased the top priced bull at 6100gns.
31,000gns Charolais centre record

Charolais bulls sold to a centre record breaking 31,000gns at Carlisle, when the reserve junior and reserve overall champion, Whitecliffe Highlight, a 15-month-old bull from North Yorkshire breeders, Mark and Jane Hayhurst, sold to Scottish breeder, Wendy Kingaby, buying for her Utopia herd at Mains Auchmedden, New Aberdour, Fraserburgh.

Ewe hoggs to be major feature of NSA Highlandsheep

A UNIQUE multi-breed show and sale of pairs of breeding ewe hoggs will be a novel feature of the National Sheep Association's Highlandsheep event to be held at Dingwall Mart on Thursday, May 30.
Bentham hoggs reach £138

SELLING for the top price of £138 or 353p per kg at Bentham Auction Mart's annual Easter spring lamb show and supreme hogg competition was a Beltex cross hogg from Andrew Rigby, Slaidburn, purchased by Vivers Scotlamb of Annan.
Ewe hogg tops Cheviots at £520

The champion Cheviot in the main register show, a ewe hogg from Jim Farquhar, Smiddyquoy, Watten, topped the trade at a show and sale of 28 registered Cheviot females at Dingwall, last week, which included the dispersal of 89 in lamb females from WR Cameron's Amat flock.
Buoyant demand for Blackface females

Blackface sheep breeders and enthusiasts were out in huge numbers for the association's annual female show and sale at Lanark, where a top bid of 6500gns was achieved complete with a further 26 lots selling at four-figure prices.
Smearsett tops Skipton sale

The sole entry from David and Robin Booth's Smearsett flock secured the overall championship and the lead price of £1250 at a Bluefaced Leicester female show and sale at Skipton last week.