Sheep carcase classification change gets cautious welcome

Scotland’s farmers have given two cheers to Scottish Government plans to introduce mandatory carcase classification for sheep and to make price reporting from abattoirs compulsory.

NFU Scotland’s livestock committee gave qualified support to a move which would introduce these two services – provided there would be no additional costs to the industry and that the data collected should remain the property of the Scottish sheep industry.

The move was first recommended in the Scottish Sheep Sector Review which highlighted the need for a comprehensive review of price and grade reporting protocols aimed at bringing about a better reporting of carcase size, as well as appearance and eating quality.

This would bring the sec-

0 Legislation is proposed to be introduced by 15 July tor in line with regulations already in operation in the beef and pig sectors. It was proposed that enabling legislation would be introduced by 15 July.

The move would require all Scottish slaughterhouses to follow a system which would help ensure producers received consistent feedback on the confirmation and classification of their lambs, and be paid per carcase, in a more transparent manner.

However, Charlie Adam, NFUS livestock chairman, said that discussions at the recent committee meeting had found that producers felt the consultation documents provided by the Scottish Government were “too short on detail” to allow them to come to anoverwhelmingdecision.

He said: “With profits so tight on Scottish farms and crofts we cannot allow for the introduction of any regulation which is not beneficial to the bottom line of farming businesses.”