Dingwall Tup Sale.

Old Tip

Member
Location
Cumbria
Nearly home will take some more photos tomorrow, Heatherlea shearling from @ochayeman
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Hi, new here, and apologies, if a little off topic, but how hardy are these cheviots, they look very good sheep, but a bit different to most hill breeds? If it's as hardy as the rest, surely this is the sheep to get?
 

Old Tip

Member
Location
Cumbria
Hi, new here, and apologies, if a little off topic, but how hardy are these cheviots, they look very good sheep, but a bit different to most hill breeds? If it's as hardy as the rest, surely this is the sheep to get?
I will throw my head on the block and say unless your on reall hard ground you can’t beat a Lairg type Cheviot, I’ve had blackies and Swales in the past and all have been replaced. Lots of folk say they need to have dry hills but we get a lot more rain than most and they do fine. I do pick the tips with good tight wool but with a bit of length and a good undercoat. You won’t get as many lambs as with a swale or as bonny a heads as a blackie but the Sheep and lambs will be worth more in a commercial market and the wool actually pays you a profit.
The other good thing about the Cheviot is he has really strong genes, first cross on anything he leaves his stamp and at second cross they look like a pure bred. Our two horned friends when crossed with other breeds look like mungrels for a long time.

What do you say @Top Tip. and @west coast angus
 

Top Tip.

Member
Location
highland
I will throw my head on the block and say unless your on reall hard ground you can’t beat a Lairg type Cheviot, I’ve had blackies and Swales in the past and all have been replaced. Lots of folk say they need to have dry hills but we get a lot more rain than most and they do fine. I do pick the tips with good tight wool but with a bit of length and a good undercoat. You won’t get as many lambs as with a swale or as bonny a heads as a blackie but the Sheep and lambs will be worth more in a commercial market and the wool actually pays you a profit.
The other good thing about the Cheviot is he has really strong genes, first cross on anything he leaves his stamp and at second cross they look like a pure bred. Our two horned friends when crossed with other breeds look like mungrels for a long time.

What do you say @Top Tip. and @west coast angus
I agree totally with what you are saying they are a hill breed that are full of commercial attributes,they will produce a very saleable lamb of the hardest grazing. I too have had Blackface and Swaledale ewes but found that the Cheviot would produce a store lamb worth a tenner more and when they came to draft they were worth at least double,my experience with lambing % was that it increased as we went to pure cheviot,that was on a farm with over a 100 inches of rainfall per annum. As @Old Tip said keep the skin tight and plenty length in them and they are great sheep.
 
That's a serious amount of rain, do you lamb all outside? Are the lambs as tough when cold and wet? Is the ground rushes type?
There must be some drawbacks to these sheep?
 

Top Tip.

Member
Location
highland
That's a serious amount of rain, do you lamb all outside? Are the lambs as tough when cold and wet? Is the ground rushes type?
There must be some drawbacks to these sheep?
Ground would be similar to Old Tips ,lambed outside,the lambs are very hardy when born. I am no longer on that farm but i still have all cheviot ewes. Some people will say you won’t get as many lambs as blackies but I don’t agree if you handle them right you will get just as many.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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