• 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.

  • 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.

  • Lamb crop drops 8%

    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.

  • Rejected bull makes five figures privately

    DESPITE CHANGES to the pre-sale inspection at Limousin society sales, many breeders remained bitter about the continued inconsistency of the panel at last week's breed show and sale at Carlisle, where 20+ bulls were rejected – one in seven.

  • Demand for grass-fed stock on the up

    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.

  • Limousin bulls peak at 40,000gns

    A distinct shortage of cash, due to the soaring cost of concentrates and the lack of available grass, resulted in a decidedly sticky trade for pedigree Limousin bulls at a society show and sale at Carlisle, where overall averages fell more than £800 per head – despite a top price of 40,000gns.