Blizzards a double blow for hard-pressed sheep

The sheep industry is beginning to count the cost of the recent snowstorms on the sector – in terms of both direct losses due to some of the worst snow-drifts for years and the enforced use of feedstocks destined for use at lambing time.

With stores of forage and other feeds already at low levels before the snowfall due to last year’s wet summer, the National Sheep Association’s Scottish chairman, John Fyall, yesterday said that maintaining the plane of nutrition required in the run up to lambing would be extremely challenging for many producers.

He said that the industry had been widely hit by the snowstorms – and that in many areas those with lowground flocks had been hit just as badly as hill flocks.

He said: “While those in the hills have been struggling to find animals in snow drifts and to get feed out, many of the lowground flocks in places like Fife and Easter Ross who are already into lambing have been hard hit as well. And while a Blackface or a Cheviot might survive a few days in a drift, lowground breeds often aren’t as hardy.”

He said that even where animals had been housed to get them out of the snow,

0 Some breeds better adapted to deal with bad weather the fact that ewes and lambs couldn’t be returned to pasture after lambing had represented an additional stress for both flocks and flockmasters.

Fyall said that while the industry had been in constant contact with the government over the situation, there was a need for practical ideas to come from the industry on how the sector could best weather the storm and what might be required to get it back on its feet in time for the main lambing season.

There was, however, some relief for the sector yesterday with the news that the Scottish Government was set to deliver the loan scheme for less favoured areas support scheme(lfass)payments, which had been promised at NFU Scotland’s annual conference last month.

Around 11,000 hill farmers and crofters are likely to receive letters offering a loan equivalent to 90 per cent of last year’s scheme payment – and those who respond quickly can expect to receive payment at the beginning of April.

The news was welcomed by NFU Scotland LFA chairman Robert Macdonald who said: “The Scottish Government’s announcement of the loan offer last month was welcomed by the union as the LFASS payments are a vital source of funding for the most vulnerable farmers and crofters in Scotland.

“This early LFASS payment loan is an excellent opportunity for those with hill ground to get muchneeded funding as early as possible and I would encourage anyone who receives a loan letter to fill out the form sooner rather than later.”

He added that the union hoped for a similar announcement on funds for the Scottish suckler beef support and upland sheep support schemes.