The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Colin prepares to take helm at Orkney NFUS
Abeef and sheep farmer has recently been appointed as the new chairman of NFU Scotland’s (NFUS) Orkney region as Steven Sandison steps down from the post.
Colin Flett, from Appietown, Rendall, was appointed to the chairman’s role at the region’s AGM last week, with Stevie Hay, from Birsay, appointed vice-chairman.
Mr Flett farms in partnership with his father in the north-west of the island, running a 120-cow suckler herd and 560 breeding ewes.
The herd includes mainly Limousin cross AberdeenAngus cows bulled to the Charolais, Limousin and Aberdeen-Angus, and the sheep flock is made up of Texel cross and Shetland cross Cheviot ewes.
Most of the calves are sold as weaned calves at United Auctions’ Huntly Mart, with the remainder sold the following spring and autumn at Orkney Auction Mart.
Lambs are sold store at
Kirkwall or Huntly from the end of August onwards.
Around 20 acres of spring barley and four acres of turnips is grown on the farm.
Mr Flett also does contract shearing and works in the auction mart.
“It’s an honour to take on the role as NFUS chairman for Orkney, and I would like to thank Steven Sandison for all the hard work he has put in during his time at the helm,” said Mr Flett.
“The union has an important role to play in standing up for our industry and giving advice to farmers. I’ve always been under the impression that if something is worthwhile then you have to put something into it yourself.”
Mr Flett admitted that he had taken over the reins during an extremely challenging time for Scottish agriculture but said he was determined to do his best for the industry, particularly on mainland Orkney and its outer isles.
“It’s a fragile situation on Orkney as we are faced with ever-increasing input costs and a lack of certainty about the future policy,” he said.
“Orcadian farmers are very limited to what they can do with the land because of the short growing season, so beef production is at the forefront and sheep are becoming just as important.
“I will be doing my best to make sure our voice is heard surrounding the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) and the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (SSBSS) which Orcadian farmers rely so much on.”
Mr Flett has said he will do everything he can to improve the Greylag geese situation on the island, with hopes to secure funding to reduce the number of non-native residents from 30,000 to 5,000.
He also pressed on the concerns surrounding the Scottish Government’s decision to look into the arrangements of shipping livestock from the island to mainland Scotland.