Money put aside to support the sheep sector in the event of the UK losing access to EU markets “won’t fix the gap”, according to NFUS vice-president Charlie Adam. Speaking at the Institute of Auctioneers conference in Edinburgh, Adam challenged senior Scottish Government official George Burgess on the amount of compensation needed if the lamb market crashes in a no-deal Brexit scenario in October.

Burgess confirmed that there was £100-£150m of compensation put aside for the UK sheep sector. However, he added that the measure was “nothing other than a short-term stop gap to alleviate some of the worst features of the problem”.

A market crash could see lamb prices tumble as low as £40/head, which was the case the last time the UK lost access to the EU market. The compensation would equate to roughly £10/lamb or ewe.

The auctioneer conference also heard from former National Sheep Association Scottish chair John Fyall, who highlighted the lack of a premium for Scotch Lamb. He told attendees that Scotch Lamb was paid less in the market place, with this number falling the further north you go. Prices drop the equivalent of 5p/kg for every 100m north of Yorkshire.

“It’s naive to think Scotch Lamb commands a premium,” said the Aberdeenshire sheep and cattle farmer.

There are too many poor-quality lambs coming from some areas of Scotland which receive “good Government payments”, according to Neil McCorkindale. The Oban hill farmer said large payments were not giving any incentive to invest in farms and recommended non-productive areas be planted in trees.