Farmers and crofters in the Highlands will now have to wait to find out whether the Inverness veterinary disease surveillance centre will close later this year.
A consultation into controversial plans to close the site, which is run by SRUC on behalf of the Scottish Government, closed yesterday.
The rural college failed to confirm when a decision would be made on the future of the centre and said time-scales were dependent on discussions with the college’s strategic management board and government.
The plans, which emerged last month, could result in farmers from the Highlands and Islands having to take animal carcases for post-mortem to centres in either Thurso, Perth or Aberdeenshire.
Another option proposed in the consultation is training vets to carry out the post-mortems or starting up a collection service for carcases.
SRUC’s head of veterinary services, Brian Hosie, last night said: “The feedback gathered from around Scotland will be extremely important in shaping final decisions about the future of Scotland’s veterinary disease surveillance system and we thank all those who have so far taken part in the consultation.”
Last week farmers and vets in the area held a crisis meeting over the plans.
NFU Scotland’s regional chairman for the Highlands, Jim Whiteford, said closing the facility would be short-sighted and leave a huge area of Scotland without any veterinary lab facilities.
He called for the centre to be retained, but relocated along with other aspects of the SRUC business to the University of the Highlands campus.
Politicians, including SNP MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Rob Gibson, have also backed calls to save the centre.
Mr Gibson, who chairs Holyrood’s rural affairs committee, has since arranged for SRUC to give evidence to politicians in September to explain its proposals.