Beef industry representatives have written jointly to Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy, Fergus Ewing, raising concerns about the prospects for the Scottish suckler beef herd.
With cattle numbers falling over the past decade, NFU Scotland, the Scottish Beef Association (SBA) and the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW) met in Stirling to discuss the issue.
The number of finished cattle passing through Scottish abattoirs has declined from more than 520,000 cattle in 2005 to under 400,000 in 2017, as part of a longer term trend. The major factor in this reduction has been the challenge of the ongoing viability of beef production.