51AVÊÓÆµ

Co-operative buyout Forfar auction market's last chance

A Co-operative buyout is Forfar Market users’ only hope of being able to continue trading at the site.

Ewan Pate
clock • 2 min read
Co-operative buyout Forfar auction market's last chance

A Co-operative buyout is Forfar Market usersÂ’ only hope of being able to continue trading at the site.

Speaking toÌýFarmers GuardianÌýon Wednesday (April 12) at the marketÂ’s first weekly sale since the closure was announced, the overwhelming emotion was one of sadness.

Ìý

Vendors and buyers are clearly not looking forward to a future without a local market.

Ìý

Graeme Mather, of Shandford, Brechin, said the family partnership sells 95 per cent of its cattle and sheep through the market, amounting to more than 300Ìýprime cattle and 2,000 prime sheep.

Ìý

He said: “My biggest fear is that that those with fewer than 200 ewes orÌýfinishing 30 or 40 cattle will stop keeping stock altogether. We use tractor towed livestock trailers and we can be here in 25 minutes. Our carbon footprint will soar if we have to go elsewhere.

Ìý

“I also worry that if a local market is not available we will be left at the mercy of the supermarkets. I think a co-operative buyout here might be the way forward. It is certainly worth exploring.”

Ìý

David Peters, of West Bog, Kirriemuir, was uncertain if enough farmers would be willing to invest.

Ìý

He consigns top quality cattle to Forfar 52 weeks a year and often tops the markets.

“I am not sure what I will do but I will probably keep fewer cattle. There are not so many butchers now and that is part of the problem.”

Ìý

Drew Wilson, who, with his wife Margaret, finishes a large number of a cattle at Greenhead, near Forfar, said: “During the year we buy around 300 stores here. If we buy them from further afield it will put £15 to £20 on the transport cost.Ìý

Ìý

Dundee butcher George Jarron buys at Forfar every week for his familyÂ’s threeÌýScott Brothers shops.

Ìý

“We want to support local farmers and but 15 to 20 sheep and a few cattle every week as well as buying direct.

Ìý

We would support a co-operative if one was set up. A few years ago we were behind proposal to build an abattoir next to the market but for a number of reasons it did not go ahead.”

WATER ABSTRACTION LICENCES FOR SALE

£±Ê°¿´¡

Outdoor Beef Finishing Coral System, available

£±Ê°¿´¡

More on 51AVÊÓÆµLife

Clarkson's 51AVÊÓÆµstar 'Cheerful Charlie' joins fight to find cure for MND

Clarkson's 51AVÊÓÆµstar 'Cheerful Charlie' joins fight to find cure for MND

Charlie Ireland helped to raise over £20,000 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association in 2023 following the death of his father from the life-shortening condition

clock 01 July 2025 • 2 min read
Farmers Guardian releases regenerative farming special

Farmers Guardian releases regenerative farming special

Today (June 27) Farmers Guardian has launched its first regenerative farming edition, looking at different farming practices across the country and what impact these methods are having on farm businesses

clock 27 June 2025 • 1 min read
Regen special: Revisiting past practices allows mixed farm to be financially resilient while boosting biodiversity

Regen special: Revisiting past practices allows mixed farm to be financially resilient while boosting biodiversity

One Cornish farmer is returning to past practices, but with a science-based view, on his family farm

Ruth Wills
clock 26 June 2025 • 9 min read