A new seller’s guide to help farmers maximise the financial returns from beef and sheep production has been published by EBLEX and the National Farmers Union (NFU).

The two organisations have produced ‘A Farmer’s Guide to Selling Finished Beef and Sheep’ as a quick and simple checklist for farmers to follow to help fulfil their business potential.

Issues covered include understanding marketing requirements, assessing stock against market needs, monitoring prices, booking in stock with abattoirs, checking documentation is correct and ensuring stock is fit for intended purpose with correct identification in place.

Liz Ford, EBLEX regional project manager, said: “Potential obstacles to better returns can include a lack of understanding of the marketing process as well as a number of administrative and practical issues that have to be overcome. Our guide will act as an essential quick reference for producers selling prime or cull stock to identify areas that need to be addressed to help maximise financial returns to their business.”

Alistair Mackintosh, NFU livestock chairman, said: “Although we have started to see prices going in the right direction over the last few months, as farmers we still need to be ruthlessly focused on maximising our returns from the marketplace. To do this it’s important to have a clear understanding of what the market wants and the steps that can be taken to achieve this when selling finished stock.

“The NFU is pleased to work with EBLEX on this Farmers Guide to Selling Finished Beef and Sheep which contains practical recommendations that producers can use to assist their businesses.”

The guide can be downloaded from www.eblex.org.uk Better returns programme literature section or request a hard copy by emailing admin@eblex.org.uk