Stock Disposal

This is an old version of the page

This is an old version of the page

Date published: 30 March, 2015

Date superseded: 5 January, 2015

The aim of this option is to benefit the condition of moorland habitats by reducing grazing or trampling pressure.

Sheep are selective grazers and can influence the types of plants present on moorland, particularly when grazing pressure is high.

Removing some of the sheep will help ensure that heather and other valuable moorland plants flourish and continue to support a wide range of birds and wildlife, and that vulnerable soils are protected.

Land that is rough grazing is eligible.

You should not include areas of land covering rocks, scree, water, dense bracken etc. We will check this using the same approach we use to check land for the Basic Payment Scheme.

Assessing your land eligibility

You must combine this option with the Moorland Management option.

Additionally, you must identify on a 1:10,000 map the area of moorland which will benefit from stock reduction.

You can check if this option is available on your holding here.

You must detail in your moorland management plan the number of ewes and gimmers that you propose to dispose of. The plan must take into account the need to avoid undergrazing and overgrazing.

The plan must also detail the total number of ewes and gimmers recorded on both the holding and the business as of 1 January for the year of application, plus the previous two years.

If you are applying for continuation of stock disposal under a previous Scottish Natural Heritage or Scottish Government agri-environment scheme you must demonstrate as part of your plan, that stock disposal is still required to benefit the habitat.

You must manage the same location and extent each year for the duration of your contract.

  • you must remove the agreed number of sheep from the area subject to payment and your IACS business before 1 March in the first year of your undertaking
  • you must maintain the reduced number from both the area subject to payment and IACS business for the period of the contract

You can claim £24.83 per hectare per year.

For the purposes of payment, it is assumed that each ewe or gimmer that you remove will benefit 0.8 hectares of moorland.

A supplement of £8.08 per hectare per year will be available where the stock disposal will affect your ability to claim Scottish Upland Sheep Support.

Applications for stock disposal and Scottish Upland Sheep Support supplement should be restricted to the number of ewes or gimmers (rounded down to the nearest whole number) within a stocking rate of one ewe or gimmer per 0.8 hectares of usable area in each field parcel.

It is proposed that Scottish Upland Sheep Support will be payable on ewe hoggs born on Scottish holdings which have 80 per cent or more of their agricultural land in Scotland’s Basic Payment Region Three and less than 200 hectares of agricultural land in Scotland’s Basic Payment Region One.

The supplement will only be payable on the proportion of stock disposal which takes you below one ewe hogg for every four hectares of Region Three land. Further details and a calculator are provided in the supporting guidance.

The inspectors will check:

  • you have managed the same location and extent each year for the duration of your contract
  • you have removed the agreed number of sheep and maintained the reduced number from both the area subject to payment and IACS business for the period of the contract. There may be a records check