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.

No changes to rules on ewe hogg scheme cash

Farmers and crofters have been urged to "crack on" with applications when the window opens on September 1
Farmers and crofters have been urged to "crack on" with applications when the window opens on September 1

Two years of repeated appeals for changes to the rules of Scotland’s £6 million ewe hogg scheme have fallen on deaf ears in the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme (SUSSS) is designed to help hill farmers by giving them payments coupled to the number of ewe hoggs they keep as breeding replacements for their flocks.

The scheme opens for applications tomorrow, but Government has clearly not listened to appeals from farm lobby groups for changes which would result in a fairer distribution of money.

Both the farmers’ and crofters’ unions have argued that the scheme causes difficulties for those most reliant on these payments as a major part of their direct support payments. 

NFU Scotland (NFUS) recommendations would have seen budget-neutral  changes to application periods, retention periods and targeting of payments.

Union vice-president, Aberfeldy hill farmer Martin Kennedy said NFUS had unanimous backing from its membership to pursue changes which would target this pot of funding more effectively.

“While disappointed at the response, correspondence with Scottish Government hints at the possibility of scheme changes next year and we will continue to pursue scheme improvements on behalf of applicants,” he said.

“With no immediate changes to scheme rules, we urge our hill farmers and crofters to crack on with applications when the window opens on September 1.

“Given the very wet season, and clear indications that many of our hill farmers are well behind in their workload, we remind them of the need to meet the short application window and that retention period requirements to March 31, 2018 are unchanged.”

Applications will close on 16 October.

nnicolson@thecourier.co.uk