Farming
By Neale McQuistin
The latest 2021 figures released by the Scottish Government predict a good year for cereal production. Total cereal production is expected to be around 3.1 million tonnes. On the whole, the total area of cereals grown in Scotland is very like the 2020 estimates. Yet winter-planted crop areas have recovered following the impacts of poor weather in the previous year.
The reports, published by Scotland’s chief statistician, include first estimates from the June agricultural census. It shows that potato areas remained steady over the past year, at 28,400 hectares, and vegetable areas increased by five per cent to 22,100 hectares. Strawberries make up more than half the total soft fruit area, which remained steady in 2021 at 2,200 hectares.
Livestock estimates show the ongoing falling trend in cattle numbers has halted, remaining steady with last year’s total cattle at 1,720,000 with a half per cent increase from last year keeping numbers close to the 60-year low. Dairy numbers have been mostly stable over the last 10 years and increased very slightly in 2021. Beef cattle have fallen 13% over the last decade but their numbers were relatively stable in 2021 compared with last year.
Market round-up
Messrs Craig Wilson Ltd sold 1556 prime and cast sheep at its weekly sale at Newton Stewart yesterday.
The 1101 prime lambs sold to £124 for Texels and for Suffolks. However, Beltex led per kilo at 261p. The overall average was 229p/kg (-6p).
Best quality cast sheep were still easy to sell, but anything lacking power was less money on the week. Top price was for a Charolias ewe at £130, while tups made up to £100 for a Texel. Mule ewes peaked at £85 with Blackfaces selling to £71.
Caledonian Marts Ltd sold 1780 store lambs and feeding ewes at Stirling yesterday.
Again, all classes were sharper on the week with longer-keep lambs in more demand. Top price of the day was for a pen of Texel cross lambs at £96. Feeding ewes sold to £75.
C&D Auctions held its weekly sale of primestock in Dumfries yesterday.
Prime cattle sold to 276p/kg for a Limousin cross heifer, while OTMs were easier on the week. Cast beef cows sold to £1346 and 204p/kg for a Simental, while dairy types peaked at £976 or 137p for a Norwegian Red.
There were also1073 prime lambs that sold to a top of £121 for a heavyweight Texel or to 255p/kg for mid-weights. The bulk of the lambs (478) weighed 39kg to 40kg and averaged 241p (-3p).
The 222 heavy cast ewes at the sale sold to £135 and averaged £74, while 155 light ewes peaked at £78 to average £44.
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