End of a load of government bull

For more than 100 years, the state has maintained a mighty herd of top-quality bulls in the Highlands. But that tradition, and the service the bulls provide to crofting communities, will come to an end in the next few months.

Richard Lochhead, the rural affairs secretary, has decided it is not the Scottish Government's job to run a "bulls-for-hire" scheme, and these public-sector bulls will be sold off, presumably to raise much-needed cash for extra police officers, new school books or hospital equipment.

There are 119 bulls still there now, on two farms in Inverness-shire. They are hired out to crofters, who use them to service cows in the summer, returning to their farms for the winter.

Without the government bulls, the crofters would have to buy their own animals, which, they say, would be of inferior quality, and this would also reduce the variation in the gene pool.

Crofters usually form small groups to hire bulls. It costs 500, plus travel expenses, for each bull hire, which works out at an average of 1,100 per hire. Each bull serves an average of 27 cows.

Some 430 crofters made 120 hires of bulls last year, too few, ministers claim, to continue the scheme because of the cost of maintaining, housing, feeding and looking after the bull herd.

According to the Scottish Government, it costs 3,000 per hire to maintain the bulls – a loss of between 1,900 and 2,500 per bull hire. No-one was willing to say exactly what the government's losses are on the scheme, but, with just 120 bull hires last year, the subsidy to the crofters was about 250,000: more than the Scottish Government says it can afford.

There is a suspicion among crofters that what the Scottish Government really wants to do is sell off the two Inverness-shire farms, Knocknagael and Balrobert, and raise even more money, possibly as much as 1 million.

Ministers have not confirmed their intentions for the farms, but a spokeswoman did admit the issue was partly about cost and also partly because of European state aid rules.

She said: "The government proposes to close the central, state-owned stud facility in Inverness by summer 2009.

"Crofting groups who have taken advantage of the bull-hire scheme in the last three years will be offered the opportunity to buy a bull in the spring of 2009."

Jamie McGrigor, a Conservative MSP for the Highlands and Islands, has tabled a parliamentary motion condemning the move. He said: "The government says it is committed to crofting and keeping crofting going. They know the bull-hire scheme is one of the only ways that crofters have of keeping high-quality stock. This is just selling off the crofting family silver."

Norman Leask, of the Scottish Crofting Foundation, said the problem for crofters was not just the expense of buying their own bulls, but in having the facilities to winter the animals.

Mr Leask added that the health standards of the animals were always high from the Scottish Government bull stud, which ensured high quality and healthy calves.

BACKGROUND

THE first scheme to help crofters improve their stock started in the late 19th century.

Records from that time are hazy but some sort of centralised bull hire scheme operated from at least 1897.

The Crofters Commission, a government-run body, took over the official bull hire scheme in 1996. There was also a ram hire scheme, but that was stopped in 2004.

Crofters can choose from a range of bull breeds, including Aberdeen Angus; Charolais; Highland; Limousin; Luing; Saler; Shorthorn and Simmental.