Green light given for red tape initiative

Brian Pack was charged with the task of delivering an initial scoping report for the initiative, which was published yesterday and met with approval from the Scottish Government.

Speaking at a busy Scotsheep event at Dumfries House, Cumnock, Mr Lochhead said: “Farmers want to be free to farm, not burdened by bureaucracy.

“Brian Pack’s review will look at how to ensure better regulation while reducing red tape and will seek input from farmers and stakeholders using an online system.

“Final recommendations are expected to be delivered by June 2013.”

Mr Pack said he had identified two aspects to the report: what are the regulations and how are they implemented.

He said the first question of “what” will have a bottom-up approach based on a social media-type response through e-mail to a designated website where farmers concerned could air their views. Regulators will also be given a private platform which will feed suggestions to the public website for open discussion.

The “how” aspect will have a top-down approach, whereby evidence of the regulatory framework will be collected and analysed before recommendations given to implement changes.

Mr Pack said: “The key to this report is to get as many people as possible involved. Everybody should have an equal opportunity to influence the outcome. If we can channel the energy of both the regulators and the regulated, I can guarantee that things will change.” The event was opened by HRH Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay, who said he was incredibly proud that Dumfries House Trust was hosting Scotsheep 2012.

He praised retailer Wm Morrison for the part it had played in bringing the farm back to life in the last five years, especially with native breeds such as Shorthorn, Aberdeen Angus and Scotch Mules.

He said: “Sheep farmers have been through some difficult times recently, particularly hill farmers, with constant challenges and changes.

“I pay tribute to the remarkable resilience and unbelievable determination and toughness of sheep and beef farmers who are so important not only to the economy of Scotland but to the social and rural environment.”

The Dumfries House Scotch Mule ewes and Suffolk sired lambs have been subject to trials through Quality Meat Scotland’s Sheep Focus Farm Project for two years.

This project aims to improve producers’ returns by improving the quality and hence the margin from lamb, by using high index sires.

Farm manager Andrew Robinson said: “Lambs are produced on an extensive grass system here but we noticed last year that the high index sired lambs weighed up to one kilogramme heavier and, most importantly, were finished up to one month earlier than the other lambs. This year we are starting to see an even bigger difference.”

Alison Glasgow, of genetic evaluation service Signet, pointed to results from the 2011 crop which showed high index sired lambs to leave an average extra margin of £1.19 per lamb, which taken over a period of four years would bring a benefit of £600 for having a high index ram on the farm.