The Role of Livestock Products in the Economic

The James Hutton Institute

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The Role of Livestock Products in the Economic Development of a Remote Island Community

Andrew Harmsworth
Agricultural Development Officer, Shetland Islands Council

Shetland is an island group within the UK consisting of 15 inhabited islands and 90+ others, approx 120 km in length and with a total land area of 1,500km² . It has a population of 23,000 (one town Lerwick 8,000) and is equidistant (approx 338 kms) from its main UK port, Aberdeen, Bergen in Norway and the Faroe Islands. The total length of the Shetland coastline is approx 1,450 km.

Lying between latitudes 60º and 61º North and directly in the path of the Atlantic weather systems, Shetland's climate is second to none in the British Islesfor severity. Because of the shape of the land mass no place is more than 5.5 km from the sea and this gives rise to a hyper-oceanic climate. This combined with a small percentage of arable land 8%, only 13% permanent pasture and 79% rough hill grazing dictates that Shetland agricultural industry is based on livestock rearing and ancillary cropping.

An agricultural community in such an isolated situation needs to work together in harmony and to make every reasonable effort to develop marketing advantages bearing in mind that the very remoteness and small size means that only quality and uniqueness of product will attract add-on value. The remoteness also has an advantage (sometimes overlooked) in that fresh produce imported to Shetland has lost its initial attraction by the time it reaches our shops whereas the home produced equivalent is not only fresher but has been produced in known and natural way.

There are approximately 1,600 separate agricultural businesses in Shetland and 100 Common Grazings where each Crofter has the right either to apportion land for their own use or to graze a given number of sheep. Essentially crofting is a part-time occupation although there are over 100 units in Shetland which employ one person full-time. Sheep husbandry is the predominant enterprise with a breeding flock of approximately 190,000 ewes producing 120,000 lambs exported to the Scottish Mainland for finishing and approximately 15,000 lambs ready for slaughter either in Shetland or exported to the Scottish Mainland. This is in keeping with the structure of the British sheep industry where upland farmers produce store lambs for finishing by lowland farmers and ewe lambs and gimmers for breeding. The beef industry consists of 2,500 breeding suckler cows with approximately 2,000 calves exported for finishing and the islands are self-sufficient in milk with 2.8 m litres produced purely for the liquid market. Other enterprises include vegetable production, egg production, horticultural production, Shetland ponies, wool and Shetland Knitwear.

Expressed as a percentage of G.D.P. Agricultural Livestock products contribute 5% and of G.D.P. (excluding oil production and services) 11%.

Although the Shetland GDP appears low it should be noted that the total working population at 11,116 gives a GDP per worker of £31,162.

With almost 12% of the total population having a direct link with agriculture there is a strong sense of co-operation not only between individual producers but between supporting agencies such as the Shetland Islands Council (SIC) Scottish Agricultural College (the advisory body), SOAEFD (Government Department) and Shetland Enterprise (local development agency). The producers are represented by 2 unions and an agricultural association and these organisations together with other sections of the industry maintain contact through regular meetings of the Agricultural Advisory Panel administered by SIC and designed to consider present and future policies and opportunities.

One of the most obvious of Shetland's features is its isolation and although this brings with it the disadvantages of distance from main markets and freight costs on imports and exports it does also confer a "cordon sanitaire" so that livestock and crops are relatively disease free. This is an area which has been researched and is currently being developed by the Agricultural industry and although the majority of the impetus so far has been led by the SIC's Development Department and other agencies the industry, through the Unions and Association, have taken up the initiative and are in the process of setting up a Livestock Health Trust to oversee and develop the initiative further.

a An isolated agricultural community which has historically been clear of many of the sheep and cattle diseases affecting the E.U.

b One port of entry for livestock allowing monitoring of all imported livestock (this mainly consists of tups (rams) and replacement dairy and beef heifers).

c A highly motivated agricultural community who are prepared to co-operate and to contribute financially to disease control programmes.

d A local authority and other development agencies who are active in promoting and supporting health initiatives.

e Local (private) veterinary firms who work alongside SAC veterinary services to provide an efficient, minimum cost testing and surveillance service, including checking all imported sheep, goats and cattle.

f Regular dialogue between all participating agencies and producers. (This takes place at the Agricultural Advisory Panel and a meeting of officials and advisers known as the Technical Team meeting).

g Effective marketing and publicity so that potential purchasers of Shetland Livestock are made aware of the high-health status associated with the islands. In the near future Health Certificates are likely to be produced by the Livestock Health Trust.

h Accurate and comprehensive record keeping to maintain veterinary records. This has already proven invaluable in deciding future strategy.

i Great care exercised in importing livestock and home-rearing of replacement breeding stock encouraged.

The following livestock health initiatives are described in brief to illustrate the type of work carried out or in the process of being carried out in Shetland.

a two year testing programme was carried out whereby 17,000 ewes were tested with no reactors showing up. Consequently Shetland was declared free of EAE and this has since had a beneficial effect on market prices for breeding sheep, especially the Cheviot x Shetland which is a Shetland speciality and is recognised as being a 1st rate breeding ewe. In order to demonstrate continuing freedom from EAE an on-going monitoring programme is in place whereby a fifth of the flock are tested annually (imported sheep are also tested).

This is unknown in Shetland although a major problem in other areas of the E.U. Imported sheep are injected on arrival at Lerwick and again 7 days later after being isolated on their croft or farm. An outbreak occurred in 1993 through imported rams and this was fortunately contained and eradicated through the concerted efforts of the SIC, producers and the veterinary service. The potential damage of such an outbreak spreading to the Common Grazings would have been very serious.

This disease has been present within the E.U. for many years but in Shetland with the advantage of a virtually closed flock the opportunity arose to launch an eradication programme. Accordingly 12 years ago a voluntary monitoring programme was initiated which recorded closed flocks and culled any ewe diagnosed as having Scrapie together with her female offspring. At present this programme involves 75 flocks and 8,570 breeding ewes.

In 1994 a breakthrough occurred when a test was developed which enabled sheep to be tested for Scrapie susceptibility and although this was initially expensive it meant that tups(which obviously influence more lambs genetically than the ewe) could be tested and culled if proven susceptible. This test combined extremely well with the detailed records kept under the scrapie programme involving the ewes and the hard work of the last 12 years is now bearing fruit in a dramatically increased measure.

A full effort has been directed towards the testing and electronic tagging of tups and over the last 3 years over 3,000 tups have been tested with the majority of funding coming from producers and a smaller contribution from SIC and other agencies. By this winter it is expected that all of Shetland's 5,200 (estimated) tups will have been tested and already results are indicating a dramatic fall in Scrapie susceptibility and incidence so that real hope exists for eradication by the year 2000.

This sheep disease is unknown in Shetland but could be brought in unwittingly unless present monitoring continues on imported sheep. Blood samples taken from EAE tested sheep are currently held in frozen storage and it is hoped to test these at a later date with the aim of proving that Shetland is clear of Maedi-Visna

In 1993 cases of BVD occurred in Shetland brought in via imported cattle and a potentially damaging situation developed because with no BVD history Shetland bred cattle had no immunity. A 3 year programme of testing began in 1994 and BVD has now been eliminated in Shetland and testing of imported cattle continues at present to maintain this situation.

1 A valuable contribution to income has been the sale of Shetland x Cheviot female breeding sheep which are good mothers, hardy and disease-free. These are sold to breeders on the British mainland and are guaranteed to be E.A.E. accredited. At a time when breeding sheep prices have not increased by any significant amount these accredited gimmers have sold at premium rates:-

2 A sheep breeder on the Scottish mainland lost his flock's EAE accredited status due, not to an outbreak of disease but to a single doubtful test result. At Sale time he found that each breeding gimmer sold at £16 less than those belonging to his neighbour whose flock carried accreditation (£49 compared to £65). Later in the season when he sold his cast ewes he received £12 less for each ewe compared to those sold by his accredited neighbour (£33 compared to £45)

NB Comparison has to be made to the Scottish mainland because all sheep in Shetland are monitored as EAE free and should therefore all benefit from enhanced returns.

In the time available it is not possible to do more that highlight other livestock related initiatives some of which are shown below:-

53% of the breeding flock in Shetland (approx 190,000 ewes) is of the pure Shetland breed and this represents over 100,000 ewes. Total wool production is in the order of 350,000 kilos p.a.

Wool from the pure Shetland breed is among the finest in the world with fibre diameter ranging from 10-20 microns at the neck to 20-25 microns at the middle. Eleven main natural colours are recognised and in addition 30 different markings are found each with their own names in the Shetland dialect. In 1982 a spinning mill was established at Sandness and this uses only wool of grade 1 and 2 (the finest) to produce wool which is pure Shetland grown in Shetland. The remainder of the clip is sold outwith Shetland through the 2 local woolbrokers with the price commensurate with that sold through the British Wool Marketing Board.

Apart from a limited niche market for home-spinners, pure Shetland coloured wool attracts a much lower price than white and the result is a steady reduction in coloured sheep numbers. This is not desirable and it is to be hoped that the Hyland Report of March 1996 would be implemented by the European Commission to safeguard the future of wool from traditional breeds in less favoured areas. It would be advantageous to mount a marketing initiative for pure Shetland wool but because the E.U. does not recognise wool as an agricultural product it would be very difficult to develop a market. It can only be said that to the crofter it is certainly an agricultural product but one which is grossly undervalued and which receives no support at present.

In 1996/97 the turnover of Shetland Knitwear has increased to £5m p.a. from £3m in 1993-95. Individual firms in conjunction with the Shetland Knitwear Trades Association (SKTA) have had considerable success in developing the Japanese market and to a lesser extent the E.U. market (particularly Spain France and Italy). A new market is currently being sought in the USA with the most difficult obstacle to overcome being the large quantity of knitwear marketed as Shetland which has no connection with Shetland and is not subject to quality control. In order to market the "true" product, the SKTA has patented the "Shetland Lady" label which can only be attached to garments which have been knitted in the Shetland Isles.

Of the total knitwear production only 10% is sold in Great Britain and of this only approximately 3% is sold in Shetland. Of the knitwear exported 60% goes to S.E. Asia and Japan, 25% to the EU and 5% to the USA.

The main challenges facing the knitwear industry is the protection of the name "Shetland" and the training of skilled workers for the industry - at present there are approximately 800 workers knitting at home and 120 in knitwear factories.

A recent development has been encouragement by the SIC of sheep producers to use "Green Dip" (synthetic pyrethoid ) for parasite control instead of organo-phosphates and this has clear implications for the quality of the resulting wool.

Shetland has been described as an environmental "ark" and included in that category are several breeds of livestock, ponies, cattle ( a small dual-purpose milk/beef breed), ducks, geese and hens. The SIC has supported a local croft/genetic bank over the last 5 years where these breeds are maintained together with potato varieties, Shetland oats, bere (ancient barley) and other species. Attempts are being made to locate other locally grown varieties of crops in order to maintain a genetic pool.

Shetland is one of the outstanding environmental areas in Europe with large areas of uncultivated hill land combining with the benefits of extensive livestock production which is a feature of crofting. In recognition of this Shetland has been designated an Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA). This voluntary scheme under which the crofter is paid an annual grant for carrying out positive environmental development has already attracted over 250 applicants and will certainly continue to grow. This quality of the environment is closely linked to the promotion of the tourist industry.

A number of small horticultural developments have been established in Shetland over the last 10 years including tomatoes, strawberries, bedding plants, vegetables, cucumbers, culinary herbs, peppers and pot plants. These concentrate on the home market and have been successful in establishing a market for home-grown, healthy and top quality produce.

It is difficult to give a full coverage of the many integrated initiatives which have given rise to a healthy rural economy in Shetland. The main components can be summarised as follows:-

b Exploitation of "natural advantages" e.g. inherently good livestock health, high value environment.

c Diversification. Crofters are usually part-time, investing earnings into agricultural development where tourism and environmental measures are allied with extensive livestock production.

d The recognition and development of the home market where a premium exists for fresh, conservation- grade produce.

e The on-going research and development of marketing opportunities and value-added enterprise within the constraints of national and E.U. policies.

f In my view the most valuable resource available are the Crofters and farmers themselves without whom there would be little in the way of a rural economy or society. Their enthusiasm and willingness to cop-operate with other components of the rural economy is of paramount importance and it is vitally important that they are given every encouragement to maintain their holdings as well as providing assistance for young entrants to the industry.

1991	£59.00	£59.00
1995	£64.88	£72.90
1996	£70.49	£81.02