Royal Highland Show: Farmers ride optimistic wave as prices take an upward turn

Published on Monday 20 June 2011 13:58

Although not one of Scotland's 20,000 or so farmers would want to admit it, there is a certain spring in their step as food production rises in the global political ladder of importance.

In the past two years, grain prices have doubled. In the same period, beef and lamb prices have risen to record levels. The pessimists will quickly point to a similar increase in the main costs of fuel, feed and fertilisers, but generally there is an air of optimism in agriculture.

This feel-good factor quickly spreads, and machinery manufacturers and dealers are approaching this year's Highland show with an expectation it will produce a large number of sales.

Les Davidson, of Kverneland UK and the representative of the Agricultural Engineers Association on the board of the Highland Society, says: "We are certainly looking forward to the show with optimism. Things have turned round since last year in the machinery trade, mainly due to the economic health of the arable sector where prices have soared."

Always an integral part of the show, the organisers have this year made a concerted effort to promote the event to key markets across the UK and beyond.

Although the depressed state of sterling is not good news for anyone holidaying abroad, the opposite is true for machinery dealers, with home manufacturers benefiting while importers are dealing with higher prices.

In the livestock lines, if there are problems with success, then the Highland Show is currently grappling with one of those: that is it is so popular that the livestock pens are full to bursting.

As it is there are 1,700 sheep entries, similar to the cattle, and exhibitors are coming from all over Scotland, England and Wales to compete. The imported Dutch breeds of Texel and Beltex are now the most numerous of the 24 breeds in competition, with no fewer than 240 Texels to be judged and 204 Beltex.

Almost 1,000 of the top cattle in the country will attend this year's event and they bring with them some of the best breeding lines in the pedigree world.

Most cattle entries still come from the native black Aberdeen Angus and the popular hairy Highlanders which have made a big resurgence of late, but this year entries from Limousin, Charolais and Simmental breeders - all brought over from the continent in the 1960s and 70s - now push them hard.

The world of the working heavy horse may be long gone, but breed enthusiasts keep them to the fore and there are over 300 Clydesdales, Highland Ponies and Shetlands to be judged.

The added incentive for these breeds this year is that the overall champion will take away the prestigious Queen's Cup awarded by Her Majesty in 1960 to mark her presidency of the Highland Society.

The show also has a large entry for light-legged horses with some 1,500 put forward, the greater part coming from the Mountain and Moorland Ridden section with some 170 entries.There are also more than 500 entries in the poultry section, and visitors to the poultry tent are often amazed at the range of different breeds of hens, ducks and geese that are kept by enthusiasts. This year, the organisers expect there to be more interest than usual as more and more people are keeping a "few hens" to get their own freshly laid eggs.

Not all the sheep at the show will come under the judge's eye as several hundred are brought along specially to take part in the shearing competition.

This year, competitors from Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and France will take part in their own version of the Six Nations championship. The competition gets going in the MacRobert Theatre at the North Gate on Sunday at 11:15am.