ONE of the main topics of conversation at the Royal Highland Show today will be the EU referendum.
Scottish farmers' attitudes towards leaving the EU have hardened in recent weeks, according to The Scottish Farmer's final poll on voting intentions before the EU membership referendum.
Large numbers of votes were cast through phone, text and website portals - and all have shown a remarkably consistent result of 85 per cent wanting to leave the EU, with only 15 per cent voting to remain, as compared to the first The Scottish Farmer poll, published in its May 28 edition, which had 69 per cent wanting to leave the EU.
With EU subsidies playing such a major part in supporting farm businesses, many will be surprised that farmers are shunning their main paymaster. The sad reality is that farmers are fed up with the bureaucracy and red tape that emanates from Brussels and simply want to get on with farming instead of worrying about the increasing number of spot checks by officials. Failure to comply with the regulations, or keep the required records perfectly invariably leads to hefty penalties that can range from a few thousand pounds to tens of thousands. The biggest frustration and worry for most Scottish farmers was the failure of the new IT system to deliver the subsidies on time, with many waiting at least five months longer to be paid. Scotland wasn't unique in that respect as many other EU countries also had problems installing the new IT systems demanded by Brussels.
Market round-up
United Auctions sold 120 store heifers at Stirling yesterday to a top of 246p per kg and an average of 207.1p (-16.4p on the week), while 142 store, beef-bred bullocks peaked at 264.1p and levelled at 209.8p (-12.9p). Sixty-two store, B&W bullocks sold to 162.7p and averaged 133.3p (-15.6p).
In the rough ring 101 beef cows averaged 124.9p and 50 dairy cows levelled at 92.6p.
C&D Auction Marts Ltd sold 5 prime heifers in Dumfries yesterday to a top of 213p and an average of 200.4p.
There were 72 OTM cattle presented in the rough ring when beef cows averaged 124p and dairy cows levelled at 96p.
The firm also sold 426 prime lambs to a top of £89.50 per head and 212p per kg to average 197p (+3.7p).
The 276 cast sheep forward saw heavy ewes sell to £122 for Texels and average £83.37, while light ewes peaked at £76 for Blackfaces and levelled at £46.94.
Messrs Craig Wilson Ltd sold 647 prime lambs in Newton Stewart yesterday to a top of £93.50 and 204.9p to average 190.1p (+16.8p).
A small show of 88 cast sheep was topped by Texel cross ewes at £83.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here