‘BEEFING Up Your Profits’ has been adopted as the main theme of Scotland’s Beef Event, to be staged at Fans Farm, Earlston, Berwickshire, on Thursday, June 8, courtesy of the Stewart Family.
The 2400+ acre mixed arable and beef farm is run by Douglas Stewart and his wife Kelda, and comprises a herd of 400 Aberdeen Angus cows all of which are bulled to an Angus with the majority of the progeny finished on farm.
The event, which opens from 9.00am to 5.00pm will see Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity, Fergus Ewing, perform the official opening ceremony at 10.30am.
Usual attractions include a tractor and trailer farm tour during which Mr Stewart will be available at fixed times to answer questions and discuss farm policy alongside SAC senior beef consultant, Gavin Hill.
In excess of 100 trade stands to include the majority of beef breeds, have reserved space, with other features including several practical demonstrations, seminars, farmer focus meetings and competitions.
One of the star attractions will be a new weigh crate which automatically weighs cattle every time they drink water, thereby assisting farmers to identify under-performing cattle and ensure finished cattle meet the desired specification.
Q-box analysis technology in abattoirs has demonstrated huge differences in slaughter weight and age of finished cattle and will also be on show.
The crate has been developed by Innovent Technology of Turriff and is now being producing commercially by Ritchie of Forfar. The technology is being refined by installing cameras in cattle pens to capture three-dimensional images of the cattle to show the composition of the carcase and predict likely conformation, fatness and yield.
Other demonstrations include grassland and silage, female fertility, a new reed bed recently created at Fans, physical herd performance overview and trace element awareness.
The seminar is also set to be a major highlight of the day, featuring a panel of four speakers with a wealth of experience behind them on the beef industry. 

The Scottish Farmer:
This session will be chaired by local beef farmer Rob Livesey with the speakers comprising hill farmer, John Hamilton, Aikengall; commercial Aberdeen-Angus breeder and Nuffield Scholar, Robert Fleming of Castle Sinniness, Glenluce; local farmer’s daughter and red meat technologist with Marks and Spencer’s Anna Playfair-Hannay and Justin McCarthy, a beef and suckler commentator.
In addition, Orkney farmer, Steven Sandison, a former monitor farmer and Nuffield Scholar will be giving a presentation the challenge of improving weaning percentage in beef suckler herds.
Admission to the event is £10, with under 16s going free.