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Farming Minister George Eustice has today proposed new measures to improve fairness and transparency for livestock producers with a consultation on sheep carcase classifications.

The measures will help protect the interests of farmers and small producers, while also ensuring consistency across all abattoirs in England.

Under the new proposals, which form part of the government’s response to the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) in February, assessors will be provided with a standard grid to classify carcasses and help determine how much a producer should be paid. It will also see producers receive the results of the classification process, which will help farmers plan for the future, react to changes to the market and improve their productivity.

Farming Minister George Eustice, who is today attending the Royal Bath and West Show, said:

"The quality of our lamb is the envy of the world. This consultation is an important step in improving fairness for sheep farmers and ensuring they get a fair deal for their excellent produce".

The consultation, which will run for 12 weeks, will affect abattoirs slaughtering more than 1,000 sheep a week in England. Wales is also running a parallel consultation which opens on Thursday 31 May.