Hauliers help shelter sheep

IN ANOTHER example of co-operation to combat the effects of the recent bad weather, lorries are being used to shelter sheep by hill farmers.

With rain and snow continuing to hammer the country, NFU Scotland said it was receiving reports of farmers turning to local hauliers to find a dry place to shelter and lamb.

The union suggested any struggling producers should contact local hauliers to see if old livestock wagons or curtain-sided trailers were available.

The chairman of the union's less favoured areas committee is sheep farmer Sandy Tulloch, whose own livestock farm is in one of the worst affected areas at Lumphanan.

He said: "It may be worth any sheep farmer, for the price of a phone call, contacting their local haulier to see if they could help them get their stock out of the weather and get their ewes and lambs on their feet."