Farmers hit by extreme weather urged to apply to £6m scheme

DETAILS of a £6 million scheme offering financial help to farmers hit by extreme weather were announced yesterday by the Scottish Government.

The application form and detailed guidance will be available on the Scottish Government website from Monday, June 3.

Farmers will have over a month to submit their application before the closing deadline on Friday, July 5. Anyone who does not have access to the website can contact their area office who will post a copy. Applications will be accepted from producers who:

Have lost 10% or more of breeding ewes/goats put to the ram/goat.

have over 20% fewer lambs/ kids reared this year from equivalent breeding stock numbers.

Have re-sown 20% of an arable crop.

Have lost 5% or more of other breeding livestock.

have more than 10% fewer calves/other livestock reared this year from equivalent breeding stock numbers.

The group will meet at the end of July to review the applications and finalise the level of support available for individual producers with agreement that priority will be given to those affected by the snow at the end of March. Support payments will be processed from August 1. The UK Government has continually refused to stop levy income paid by Scottish livestock producers being spent in England due to a flaw in the current arrangements.

Following another “frustrating” conversation with Defra (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) ministers this week, Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said it was unacceptable that they were refusing to tackle this long-standing problem.

The red meat levy is currently allocated to the promotional bodies on the basis of where an animal is slaughtered, not where it is raised. With so many Scottish lambs and pigs now going to English abattoirs, this results in £1.4 million in lost levy annually for QMS (Quality Meat Scotland).

Mr Lochhead said: “It was made perfectly clear to me this week that Scotland should not expect any action from the UK to sort this out in the foreseeable future.” Messrs Craig Wilson Ltd sold nine prime heifers at Ayr on Tuesday to a top of 256p per kg and an average of 242p, while seven prime, beefbred bullocks peaked at 251p and levelled at 236.3p. Seven prime, B&W bullocks sold to 174p and averaged 170p, while 12 prime bulls peaked at 245p and levelled at 217p.

In the rough ring, 64 beef cows averaged 145.3p and 124 dairy cows levelled at 119.3p. Eight OTM cattle averaged 203.2p and 10 bulls levelled at 167p.

The firm also sold 14 dairy cattle to a top of £2020 for a Friesian heifer and an average of £1612.14 (+£78.14 on the week).