Polaris appoint a new dealer in Shetland
Shetland, a subarctic archipelago of
who was brought up in agriculture,
Scotland, comprises about a hundred
sees the Polaris products sitting well
islands of which sixteen are inhabited. with his experience. “I’m impressed
will fit local requirements. He adds:
“Richard Coleby, the Polaris District
Manager, looks after us very well and
met with our appointment. We’re proud
to get the chance to promote Polaris in
Shetland.” Polaris Britain Ltd. 0800
It’s almost an understatement to say
the terrain is challenging and although
the aspects are not as extreme as the
Highlands it is very much ATV country.
So it’s with good reason that Polaris
with the R&D at Polaris, always
moving forward,
and the range is
exceptional. ATVs
of 300cc to 400cc
we see the challenges ahead being fully 915 6720 www.polaris-britain.com
are pleased to announce an exciting
new development for Shetland with
the appointment of Bixter Garage as
Polaris Dealer for the area. Bixter
Garage started servicing the local
suit the island
and the customer
base. The new
Sportsman ETX
for example is
community in 1983, specialising in
4x4 authorised repairs, and today
also supplies ATVs and off-road
trailers for sheep handling. Bixter’s
Martin Nicolson is supplying many
ideally suited to
our farms, which
don’t have huge
acreages. It sits
well with what’s
of the 22,500 population engaged in
farming the island’s 300,000 sheep
going on here
at the moment.”
and 5.500 cattle. Many people are also Martin also cites
involved in Scotland’s oil and fishing the Ranger ETX
industries. Bixter has three full-time
and Ranger Diesel
and two part-time staff and Martin,
as machines that
First Milk unveils A and B formula Fantastic four earn Futures opportunity
with Cogent
prices for April
FIRST Milk has unveiled its
farmgate prices for April - the first
under the new A and B pricing
formula.
The co-operative said the A price
will be set at 20.87ppl for the
manufacturing pool and 20.5ppl
for the balancing pool (formerly
classified as the liquid pool).
The range for the B price will 1618ppl and will be fixed after the
month-end.
The latest price announcement
represents a cut in milk cheques
for First Milk farmers from the last
reductions in January.
First Milk chairman Sir Jim Paice
said: “There continues to be
marked volatility in global dairy
prices. Nevertheless, the recent
movement of market indicators
means that we are cautiously
optimistic that the trend for future
dairy prices is, at long last, a more
positive one.
“However, there remain a number
of uncertainties. For example,
although the latest few Global
Dairy Trade auction figures have
been encouraging, as yet, they
have not fed through to milk prices
and many buyers are awaiting the
outcome of the forthcoming spring
flush.
“As a board we will continue to
monitor market indicators closely
and build these into our decisionmaking on milk price.”
Back in January, First Milk
embarked on an urgent cash raising
exercise to plug a huge financial
black hole as it battled falling
returns from commodity markets
for its milk.
With about 19 per cent of the milk
it handles going through Westbury,
company chiefs hope the A and B
formula will allow the milk price
to more closely reflect the realities
of the market.
But at last week’s NFU conference
in Birmingham, some delegates
expressed concern about the role
of A and B formulas and whether
farmers would get a fair deal from
dairies bringing them in.
Their suggested matings will be
presented to Cogent’s Genetics
Committee, with the highest
scoring candidate receiving an elite
embryo package and the chance
for their resulting bull to enter the
Cogent stud under their own prefix.
Four young cattle breeding
enthusiasts from all over the UK In addition, the overall winner and
runner-up will be taken on an allhave seen off the competition
inclusive trip to Holland to attend
to become finalists in Cogent’s
the Tulip Sale and HHH show
Futures Programme 2015.
to gain an insight into the latest
The Futures Programme offers
participants an insight into the life breeding strategies.
Cogent’s Catherine Jackson said:
of a Sire Analyst. As p