There’s no greater way to market Scottish lamb than give people a chance to cook and taste it for themselves, says Neil Wilson, Executive Director of the Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers in Scotland (IAAS) as the livestock marts open the Lamb Bank for 2024.
Since its inception in 2020, the Lamb Bank has delivered over 2.75 tonnes of lamb to secondary schools across Scotland as part of the wider Lamb for St Andrew’s Day initiative to promote the merits of Scottish lamb to UK consumers.
The Lamb Bank is a charitable initiative calling on sheep farmers and others in the industry to donate a lamb, or the value of a lamb or any sheep, which IAAS then arranges to be butchered, packaged and delivered to schools.
The 22,000+ portions of lamb delivered each year are accompanied in the classroom, Home Economics classes and canteens by Quality Meat Scotland’s educational resources. These include dedicated recipes and interactive activities to demonstrate the great taste, versatility of cooking and the environmental credentials of lamb produced in Scotland.
“Every year the Lamb Bank has gained momentum, and we are extremely grateful to all those who donate and spread the word,” says Mr Wilson. “It makes a huge difference to what we can achieve, and the response we get from teachers and school pupils shows the power of a really tangible, hands-on project like this.”
To date, the marts have made a significant donation themselves towards the initiative in addition to the donations from industry:
“Again this year, we are asking more farmers and others in the supply chain to generously donate for the overall benefit of the sector. The greater the number of young people we can reach, the more we can encourage them to choose lamb from butchers’ chillers and shop shelves, to inspire their families to do the same, and to consider working in the industry, whether as butchers, farmers, auctioneers or chefs.”
Last year, the Lamb Bank achieved widespread social media activity and some fun at the marts. The Ingram family at Logie Durno Sheep sprayed a blue saltire on a sale lamb which was sold by auctioneer Colin Slessor at ANM for an excellent sum of £200, all of which the Ingrams donated to the Lamb Bank. The Sheep Game’s Cammy Wilson has cooked lamb outdoors to raise its profile.
Nicola Wordie, an excellent and articulate advocate for sheep farming in Scotland with a strong following through her Livestock_farmher channel on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube has proactively supported the Lamb Bank from the first year:
“Since this campaign started, we have supported it as it allows children to try and taste Scottish lamb, learn about the qualities of red meat and how important local food chains are. I would encourage other farmers to support where they can, and to have fun getting creative on social media as well, posting and resharing as much as possible to spread the word and widen the support.”
The Lamb for St Andrew’s Day campaign has been recognised for positively impacting the mart prime lamb price, which has tracked upwards throughout the month of November over the last four years.
“This clearly demonstrates the impact of a whole industry getting behind a focused campaign and how it can help us all promote our product and support prices at a critical time of the year,” adds Mr Wilson.
You do not need to be a mart customer to donate to the Lamb Bank. Donations can be made to the value of store, prime and breeding lambs, cull and breeding ewes and tups to the Lamb Bank via any Scottish auction market, by donating online at www.ko-fi.com/iaaslambbank or by getting in touch directly with the Institute. IAAS will handle all the logistics after this.
For more information, please contact neil@iaas.co.uk.