A total of 211 new businesses will enter the Beef Efficiency Scheme (BES) this year, figures obtained by Farmers Journal Scotland show.

Meanwhile, most of the 2016 participants will have received their payment for the year.

“Payments worth £2.3 million have now been paid to 820 Beef Efficiency Scheme 2016 participants, with further payments being processed in the coming weeks,” a government spokesperson said.

Camera and question

  • Murray Henderson: “I’m in the process of joining the BES. I’m doing it all anyway, noting everything down, because I’m a member of the Aberdeen Angus Society. Apart from the money, I think I’ll get very little out of it. I don’t think tagging should be an issue because I’m running them through the crush every month. But because I’m a young farmer and increasing my herd, I struggled hard to get the government to give me the full amount, so that’s why the contract is still sitting on my desk.”
  • Bob Manson: “It seems like you’re just ticking boxes to get the money. We did carbon footprint audits for Sainsbury’s, we’re going over that again. But they’re not compatible, the computer system for BES is so monotonous it’s unreal. To hear Jim McLaren saying that the extra money that possibly could have gone to producers, because they didn’t get as high a sign up as they thought, has been put into IT is disappointing. The first year of it should have been weight crates and electronic tagging.”
  • David Watson: “I think BES is good. We’ve been EID for seven years now – we’re recording weaning weights and we’re already comparing bull to calf weights and how they’re performing. It has to be a benefit, probably the folk that need to be doing it aren’t participating. Our main driver is the fact that we’re getting £35/calf. I don’t think we’ll get huge gain from the feedback we’ll get, because I think we’re doing most of it already.”