SHEEP farmers took their battle to save the industry to the Great Yorkshire Show today, warning they are getting dire prices for lamb while many supermarkets are keeping costs at the tills up.

Angry farmers targeted Tesco saying Britain’s biggest retailer currently has more imported lamb on its shelves than home grown British lamb and it is farmers and customers who are paying the price.

There are more than 3.7m sheep in the North East and North Yorkshire accounting for over 30 per cent of the national sheep flock, with thousands employed in the industry.

But it is being battered by the strong pound which has made imports from countries such as New Zealand cheap, and exports difficult.

National Farmers Union President Meurig Raymond said profitability in all sectors of farming is under pressure and there will be few farms this year that will show a profit. But he said sheep farmers are hardest hit.

Mr Raymond said some supermarkets, Morrisons, Aldi and Waitrose were supporting them stocking only British red meat, but others were not.

He said Tesco had made a huge commitment two years ago to stock more British red meat and sheep farmers had invested heavily to get lamb ready early.

“There is more imported lamb on their shelves now than British lamb, he said. "I am calling on them to prove to us they will honour their commitment.

"Farmers are being turned away from abattoirs because they don’t want the lamb, get behind British farmers and deliver on your pledges."

Regional Livestock Chairman Richard Findlay, who farms at Whitby, added: “The fact that we have produced a higher than average number of lambs this year is exacerbating the situation, leaving everyone involved facing very tough times.

“What is particularly galling is that so far the price of lamb in the shops has remained unchanged so shoppers are unable to take advantage of lower prices.

"This means that in the last year the farmer’s share has fallen 14 per cent from 58 per cent to just 44 per cent.

“This is especially worrying for our hill farming sector where incomes are heavily dependent on the lamb trade.”

Mr Findlay said they were getting £20 less for many lambs at market than they were last year.