Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Sheep producers should show pride in industry

Consumers should be encouraged to think of lambs as a wild product skipping around in fields, according to event chairman John Fyall.
Consumers should be encouraged to think of lambs as a wild product skipping around in fields, according to event chairman John Fyall.

Extensive sheep producers should be prepared to stand up and boast about their natural production credentials, even if that reflects negatively on the more intensive red meat sectors.

That was one of the messages at a National Sheep Association (NSA) meeting in Forfar attended by farmers who wanted to know how to counter the growing onslaught on their industry from veganism, animal welfare activism and criticism of their impact on climate change and the environment.

Panellists included representatives from Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), British Wool and NSA, and all speakers advised producers to engage with the public and focus on telling a positive story about red meat production.

However the James Hutton Institute’s (JHI) Glensaugh Farm manager, Donald Barrie, pointed out lamb production systems had a unique advantage over other meat production because they were “produced during the grass-growing season, reared on grass and go to market leaving enough grass to get ewes back into condition before winter”.

“Is that an advantage we’re prepared to talk about publicly, given that if we talk about that it makes other parts of the red meat sector look slightly less rosy in terms of where they sit in the climate change and technical efficiency scale?” he asked.

The event’s chairman, John Fyall, said the comparison between red meat products was “a difficulty” for the wider industry.

“Some of our messages, if we push them too hard, could be detrimental,” he agreed.

However he added consumers should be encouraged to think of lamb as a wild product skipping around in fields, which could lead them to choose it over an animal that spends “a few weeks intensively fed”.

Farmers attending the meeting were given a leaflet with 10 key messages to promote the industry, all of which were backed up with references to scientific research.

nnicolson@thecourier.co.uk