Scottish marts open lamb bank donations for schoolchildren

Auctioneers in Scotland are urging sheep farmers to donate lambs as part of an initiative to provide lamb in schools for St Andrew’s Day.

The initiative is run by the Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers in Scotland (IAAS) and more than 65,000 schoolchildren have eaten lamb through the project during the past three years.

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Farmers can donate the value of ewes or lambs at any livestock market in Scotland and this is then passed on to the Lamb Bank campaign.

The lamb is then provided to schools and used in cookery lessons, with recipes provided by Quality Meat Scotland.

IAAS executive director Neil Wilson said the Lamb Bank has been running for the past couple of years and has been very successful in allowing farmers to get involved without needing to be concerned with the logistics of providing a physical lamb or ewe.

Mr Wilson said: “This is a brilliant way of getting our future consumers to taste and savour Scotch Lamb and it also helps them learn about the qualities of red meat and the importance of local food chains.”

Royal Highland Show fibreglass sheep donated for charity

The Royal Highland & Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) has launched a raffle for the fibreglass sheep sculptures that were displayed at this year’s Royal Highland Show.

Five hundred tickets at £25 a ticket have been made available for each of the 38 sheep sculptures, with the funds raised donated to the society’s bicentennial fund.

© Ian Georgeson

One of the sculptures named “Doddie’s Sheep”, which was painted in memory of Scottish rugby international Doddie Weir, will also raise money for the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.

RHASS chairman Jim Warnock said he was delighted that the flock raised awareness of important issues in the farm sector and they would continue to do good by being raffled off to raise funds for the charities.