Scotland has lost over 8400 beef cows in the last 12 months, according to exclusive figures given to The Scottish Farmer by ScotEID.

The shocking drop maintains a steady decline over recent years as the cost of farming outpaces the reward from the market. This pattern was repeated in England, as Defra announced a 2% drop in cattle numbers to 5m, which is the lowest on record.

The sharpest Scottish falls are in renowned beef-producing areas such as Aberdeenshire, Ayrshire, Dumfries, Perthshire, Orkney, and Lanarkshire, which have lost nearly 15,000 beef cows since 2021.

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Last year alone, 1200 cows disappeared from the north-east of Scotland, and Nairnshire lost 20% of their beef herd.

Whilst Scotland’s flagship beef industry laments the declining numbers of cows, the independent body set up by the UK Government to advise on hitting climate change targets states cutting livestock numbers is a must.

In the Climate Change Committee’s latest report, they state that ‘There has been no progress in reducing agriculture, land use and waste emissions in the last eight years’ and explicitly calls for active measures to drive down livestock numbers, if the herd does not contract itself.

Before going on to criticise the government for backing levy bodies such as AHDB and QMS, investing in ‘proactive marketing campaigns to encourage meat and dairy consumption, despite the evidence showing that a reduction in meat and dairy consumption supports a shift towards low-carbon, sustainable and healthy diets’.

When The Scottish Farmer put these points to Defra a spokesperson said: “This Government is committed to reducing emissions in the farming sector and restoring confidence amongst farmers which is at a record low.

"It’s why we will restore stability and confidence by optimising our schemes and grants, to ensure we protect our food security, assist nature’s recovery and drive down emissions.

“But we will go further to support our farmers by protecting them from being undercut in trade deals, making the supply chain work more fairly, and preventing shock rises in bills by switching on GB Energy.”

Meanwhile the Scottish Government told The Scottish Farmer: “We have no policy to actively reduce livestock numbers and work hard to support our livestock sector. We’ve committed to continue support for Voluntary Coupled Support until at least 2028, and are helping to reduce emissions through measures such as the reform of the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme.

“This encourages farmers and crofters to undertake steps to cut the emissions' intensity of their cattle production systems and make them more financially efficient. We are also providing cattle keepers in Scotland access to the MyHerdStats dashboard, which gives farmers and crofters information on their herd performance, supporting carbon audits and soil analysis and we are looking at a potential pilot scheme on how support payments could encourage the uptake of methane suppressing feed products.

“We are committed to transforming Scottish agriculture and will continue to promote our positive vision for Scottish food production - one in which our world-class producers thrive and contribute to our climate change agenda and respond to the biodiversity crisis by delivering sustainable regenerative agriculture. We have no plans to prohibit meat and dairy promotions.”