Farm News
20 years of success for largest livestock co-op
» FARM STOCK ( SCOTLAND ) LTD , THE farmer owned marketing group and Scotland ’ s largest livestock co-operative , has celebrated its 20th year of operation with the announcement of further expansion into Northern England and a major conference for the red meat sector .
The co-op , which was established in 1996 following the merger of lamb marketing groups in the Borders , now serves more than 1,000 farmers covering the whole of southern and central Scotland and up into Perthshire and Stirlingshire , generating an annual turnover in excess of £ 13million .
Farm Stock Chairman , Ian Watson , commented on the increasing success of the co-op :
“ Our aim , first and foremost is to maximise returns to livestock producers – members and non-members - when they sell stock through us . We do this by working to achieve the very
best price for stock on any given day and by charging a very low commission rate , which averaged just £ 1.32 per lamb during the past year . This is less than 2 % at current lamb prices .
“ Farm Stock Scotland currently encompasses five regional groups , Scott Country Lamb , Lothian Lamb , Galloway Lamb , Ayrshire Lamb and Caledonian Organics .
“ In our 20 years of trading on behalf of these group members , we have worked to ensure the best sale prices for more than three million prime and store lambs and 100,000 cattle .
“ The increasing number of animals traded by us year on year , gives us greater clout with abattoir buyers , which in turn means we can pass on better returns to farmers .
“ We are delighted that we are able to celebrate our anniversary year with an increased push into the north of England
and the establishment of a Borders Counties Primestock group , which , as its name suggests will look to source and advantageously market stock from farms in eastern Dumfries-shire , down into Cumbria and over into Northumberland .”
Farm Stock Scotland Ltd has a total of nine field staff to expertly select stock on-farm , throughout the trading area , backed up by the admin team in the co-op ’ s office near Galashiels . Mr Watson continued : “ Our team is fully focussed on achieving the best possible returns for farmers . This in turn , has led to our increased scrutiny of the wider red meat supply chain . To further this work , and as part of our 20th year celebrations , we are planning a major conference in October at which representatives from all sections of the supply chain will discuss how best to cut inefficiencies and unnecessary costs .”
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Mobile : 07855 462328 | Email : sales @ pennineautos . co . uk www . farmers-mart . co . uk Aug / Sep 2016 15