sheep scab, support the management of the condition, stop reinfection and empower farmers to adopt a prevention mindset by working together as a community. Sheep scab not only impacts animal welfare; it has huge financial implications. It’s estimated that the cost of this disease to UK farmers is £80£200 million per year (Nixon et al., 2020). Sheep scab had been almost eliminated 30 years ago when compulsory dipping was a legal requirement but has re-emerged to what are now endemic levels. While the highly contagious disease in sheep doesn’t pose a risk to humans, it can rip through a flock before any symptoms are displayed. Richard Scofield, Sheep Dipping Expert, and Assessor with over 20 years of industry experience explains: ‘Sadly, scab has returned with a vengeance, but this time we have all the tools to combat it. If we work smartly and collaboratively, we can break the cycle. 'Responsible treatment and testing are our weapons, but
if used incorrectly we’re just battling and not winning the war on scab. 'Dipping, where necessary, should be done sequentially from September to the end of November in relation to how high up the flock grazes, taking place before tupping. And of course, coordinating with neighbouring farms is vital. 'Being open and honest is so important. No, matter the bio-security knowing thy neighbour has never been more important. Bolstering this with testing and when there is a breakout, rapid & targeted treatment, and testing in infected farms in the vicinity until scab has gone.’ Campaign materials are all available to download, including posters, social media posts, and a handy ‘how much dip should I use’, tool, which can be found here: www. breakthesheepscabcycle.co.uk along with dedicated podcast episodes on Lowe Maintenance’s Up Hill and Down Dale podcast linked to Breaking the Sheep Scab Cycle coming soon.
Top breeding boosts profit and productivity in commercial lambs RamCompare’s year six results demonstrate how rams with key breeding traits can optimise flock profitability. In four case studies, flock profitability was enhanced by £1.98 to £5.17 per lamb; with some rams producing lambs that finished several weeks earlier than others. The full results, which report the data collected and analysed from rams with the fastest growth rates, best conformation and most valuable progeny, will be presented in an industry webinar on 19 May, which is free
to attend and open to all. RamCompare uses nominated performance-recorded rams from many breeds on commercial farms across the UK. The project, which is fully supported by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) alongside 16 other partners, has recorded the performance of more than 30,000 lambs, sired by 313 rams over six breeding seasons. For the year six results, a team of 60 natural service rams were used, producing performance data from more than 5,000 lambs.
www.farmingscotlandmagazine.com
crofting
Geese – do the sums By Patrick Krause, Chief Executive, Scottish Crofting Federation
A few weeks ago the Scottish Parliament Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee took evidence on the petition that was lodged by SCF, “Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to address the problems created by increasing populations of wild geese …” In 2013, when the petition was lodged, there were 8,000 greylag geese counted in the entire crofting counties. There are now 8,000 resident birds in Uist alone and the numbers in Lewis and Tiree are similar. These are the areas that the Minister for Environment and Land Reform, Mairi McAllan, referred to when saying, “I understand how serious the impacts can be for crofting communities, and for the unique machair habitat and biodiversity that their traditional form of agriculture supports.” Following the reduction and eventual cessation of any funding to control numbers, the goose population has exploded, as expected. The minister has responded to SCF’s lobby by reinstating only £6,000 to each of the Hebridean schemes. In Uist we need to aim for a population of no more than 3000, reducing from the current 8000. It costs £8 per bird to shoot them so this year
we could see a reduction of 750 birds. The bird numbers increase through natural replacement at about 25% (2000) or more per year. So even with current shooting levels the flock is increasing at 1250 birds per year. Just to halt increasing numbers, we need to shoot 2000 birds minimum this year (£16,000) but we have to reduce them, so let’s say 3000 birds, £24,000. As we reduce the numbers the proportion will reduce so the cost will diminish year by year. Realistically we can get numbers back to acceptable in 3-5 years and to maintain them at 3000 will then cost £6000 per year. This applies to the other Hebridean islands too. If we don’t get past that threshold and the goose numbers go up instead of down, the clearance of crofters to make way for geese will escalate. If this happens all the good associated with crofting, the high biodiversity of the machair and the preservation of heritage crops, will be sacrificed.
www.crofting.org
