Iain Green is busy preparing for Royal Highland Show
After returning home from a five-day trip away, including a visit to Beef Expo, I could not believe the huge difference in the growth of both grass and cereals. The heat was a welcome break for the stock and crops after such a long period of cold and wet weather.
Our pedigree Simmental show team has been in training for Scotland’s agricultural shop window – the Royal Highland Show. It takes a lot of time and work to prepare livestock for any show, but I do believe it is worthwhile and a great way to advertise.
Our local abattoir organised an evening for local butchers and farmers recently. The guests were given a tour of the abattoir and viewed a selection of carcasses. This was followed by a very useful discussion on the problems faced by the industry and some of the benefits. One of the most interesting topics of discussion was the fact that some of the butchers would like a little more fat cover on their finished pigs.
It is disappointing to see that new crop lamb prices have fallen back from the high of last year’s trade. I have wormed our first lambs and moved them onto clean pasture before clipping; hopefully this will help to get them away quicker this year. I never did get to the bottom of last year’s problem of the lambs taking so long to finish – despite blood tests and dung samples being taken we could not come up with anything.
Iain Green farms 1,110ha (2,740 acres) as a family partnership. Stock includes 130 pedigree Simmentals, 330 Simmental-crosses, plus followers, 500 Highland Mule ewes and 340 sows. The partnership also runs a large haulage business.
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