With the ongoing success of the Lamb for St Andrew’s Day campaign run by the Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers in Scotland (IAAS), auctioneers are once again calling on farmers to support the project that has seen over 65,000 school children cook and eat Scotch Lamb over the past three years.
This can be done by donating the value of store, prime and breeding lambs, cull and breeding ewes and tups to the Lamb Bank and can be done via any Scottish auction market or by getting in touch directly with the Institute.
“The Lamb Bank, which is now open for the season, has been running for the last couple of years and has been very successful in allowing farmers to get involved in the campaign without needing to be concerned with the logistics of providing a physical lamb or ewe,” explains Neil Wilson, Executive Director of IAAS.
“When selling through the ring, just let your local auctioneer know what number of sheep you want to donate and they will simply deduct the value and send it to the Lamb Bank.”
Alternatively, farmers can get in touch with the Institute to make a direct donation.
Lamb Bank funds are then used to purchase Scotch Lamb for participating Home Economics classes across the country where children will cook recipes specially developed by Quality Meat Scotland.
“This is a brilliant way of getting our future consumers to taste and savour Scotch Lamb and it also helps them learn about the qualities of red meat and the importance of local food chains,” says Mr Wilson.
“Feedback from schools and children from past campaigns has been entirely positive. This demonstrates the importance of direct contact with consumers and how campaigns like this can have a really important impact.”
The Lamb for St Andrew’s Day campaign has also been credited with supporting and improving the prime lamb price throughout the month of November with the price tracking upwards during the month.
For more information on how to donate or get involved, contact neil@iaas.co.uk
