Any unspent sheep cull aid should go to pig farmers

THERE was a clear sense of relief at Wednesday's announcement by Richard Lochhead, the Cabinet secretary for rural affairs, that Scotland's livestock industry was to receive an emergency aid package of £25 million to ameliorate the consequences of a handful of cases of foot-and-mouth disease in England.

However, NFU Scotland made it clear that much more must to be done to restore farmers' cash flow.

Jim McLaren, president of NFUS, said yesterday: I passionately believe that there is a great future for our red meat industry, but we need some short-term funding to see us through this crisis."