QMS Cattle and Sheep Assurance Scheme

The Quality Meat Scotland, Cattle & Sheep assurance scheme is the longest established scheme of its kind in the world and is now in its 28th year.

In order for cattle and sheep to be eligible to be marketed under premium brands including Scotch Beef PGI and Scotch Lamb PGI, they must have been born, reared and slaughtered in Scotland and spent their entire life on QMS Scotch Assured holdings.

Crofting groups can apply to the scheme to have a group membership, rather than each Crofter having their own individual membership. Crofter applicants are those who are registered crofters or are eligible to apply for crofting grants. Please note that individual crofters with more than 110 livestock units are not eligible to apply for group membership.

A Crofting group can consist of between 2 and 10 members. The group members nominate someone to be the group clerk and that person will be the main contact for arranging assessments, invoicing and chasing up corrective action for their group members.

In terms of the Crofting group being assessed, all group members need to be assessed in the one visit. A Crofting group is required to comply with the same scheme standards as those with an individual membership. If one group member has a non-compliance raised against them, they have 30 days to carry out corrective action and if they don’t, the whole group will be withdrawn.

Membership of a Crofting group may be financially more attractive for folk to join but this depends on the numbers of stock each member sells, be it store stock or finished stock.

To find out further information about the QMS Cattle & Sheep scheme, please telephone 0131 335 6602 or click here.

To apply for a Crofting group membership, an application form can be found here.