Make security of flocks a priority

There’s a long list of topics I could comment on as the country edges ever closer to crashing out of Europe with no deal and no clear action plan. The implications of this makes my blood run cold and fearful for the possible consequences for Scottish Agriculture.

There are much cleverer folk in the world than me, so I’ll leave them to make the political commentary and try to make sense of where we’re heading on October 31.

Instead I’m probably taking a step back in time in throwing open the discussion on good old sheep rustling.

Many hill sheep producers experience unexplained losses.

It’s no surprise that we accept a level of unexplained death when there’s drains, bogs and steep rock faces in the areas that sheep graze.

Add in extreme weather such as the Beast from the East, and it’s easy to see why you would accept an element of loss, but we need to drill down on the actual numbers and facts.

The flock health of hill sheep has improved greatly with the use of scanning, vaccines, better nutritional understanding, alongside testing for internal parasites and an awareness of resistance issues with fluke and worm treatments.

Trace element boluses now give a steady long term supply of the essential levels of copper, cobalt and selenium.

Our armour for tick control has been bolstered by new groups of insecticides rather than applying Stockholm Tar under the legs of lambs returning to the hill.

Last autumn I attended a meeting of local crofters and farmers, some of

I’d heard rumours of neighbours’ losses but it was hellish to actually hear them quantify the numbers

whom had experienced eye-watering losses over the past number of years.

It had been organised by our local police officer and two members of Police Scotland’s national rural crime unit.

I’d heard rumours of neighbours’ losses but it was hellish to actually hear them quantify the numbers.

It was a positive meeting as the Police Scotland team came armed with advice on how to protect ourselves from possible thefts, making your flock and farm less attractive to criminals:

1. There’s the good old fashioned lug bitting and forking which we’ve continued to use to identify ewes to our hill.

2. Sheep marking fluid with unique coding to your flock which can be checked under a microscope – and prominent signs highlighting the fact that you’re using it.

3. Electronic stomach boluses and a single black tag rather than the current EID tags which can be easily removed. You can administer the boluses yourself and, although slightly more expensive, they have a 99% retention rate.

We’ve bought the stomach boluses EIDs to use on this year’s tup lambs as they enter into our flock and plan to roll it out gradually.

You wouldn’t leave bundles of cash lying around at the roadside unprotected, or your quad with the key in the ignition and that’s the mindset change we’ve taken to protecting our flock.

The good news is that after last year’s meeting with the national rural crime unit our neighbours’ black loss has reduced to zero.

That for me is testament that it pays not to make yourself an easy target for the unscrupulous opportunist thieves.

Marking a sheep’s ears is a good old fashioned way of identifying your flock.