IN BRIEF
IN BRIEF
• SCOTLANDS biggest farmer-owned meat and livestock marketing business, the ANM Group, has bought Dornoch abattoir in Sutherland to develop a lamb slaughtering business.
The slaughterhouse was modernised in the early 1990s but has been mothballed since the beef export ban was imposed on the UK in March 1996.
ANM has not been involved in large-scale lamb processing since it closed its Edinburgh abattoir in May 1998. It hopes to have the Dornoch plant, bought for an undisclosed sum, open early in the new year following the installation of a new lamb slaughter line.
"The challenge of running a profitable lamb slaughtering and processing facility will not be an easy one," said ANM chief executive Brian Pack. "But we believe the sheep industry is a fundamental activity for the future of Scottish agriculture."
Although Dornoch is a long way from the market for lamb, it is in the heart of lamb country, Mr Pack said. The aim, with support from Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Scottish Executive, is to develop the "Highland Lamb" brand.