Hill sheep breeds

[Andy84]

Just to create a bit of debate What type of ewes does everyone think are best suited to hill (Heather/grass/peat ground) nowadays. Swale (hardy/good mother’s but cheap lambs), Blackie (are they bred too soft for a proper hill sheep nowadays), or Cheviot (most value but do they do on wet ground)

 

[Spartacus]

Last year we got a blackie tup to put onto some of our swale ewes, looking to get a bit more body into the flock, neighbour has cheviot and I do like the look of them.

I actually have had the idea of trying some hebridean sheep to see how they get on, friends that have them describe them as ultimate easycare sheep and will eat anything including thistles. Might do a but of tidying up on fields that have been in stewardship for a while.

 

[MDL POWERUP]

Don't know much about hills but I have cheviots that basically live in a swamp. Treat the same as commercials and never have fluke bother with them but do with commercials. I don't know why because I didn't think you could get fluke resistance but these seems to have it. Maybe different grazing habits.

 

[AftonShepherd]

Don't know much about hills but I have cheviots that basically live in a swamp. Treat the same as commercials and never have fluke bother with them but do with commercials. I don't know why because I didn't think you could get fluke resistance but these seems to have it. Maybe different grazing habits.

I could do with a few acres of swamp like that ?

 

[cheviot53]

Don't know how wet you are but Hill northies are all the way up the west coast of Scotland and across the far north where we have meter's of rain per year and don't know how high you are but iv'e had Northies at 2,500 ft happily

 

[MDL POWERUP]

I could do with a few acres of swamp like that ?

That's before the rain came... The whole field floods over in between two big becks. Good in the summer but horrid in the winter.

 

[west coast angus]

Just to create a bit of debate What type of ewes does everyone think are best suited to hill (Heather/grass/peat ground) nowadays. Swale (hardy/good mother’s but cheap lambs), Blackie (are they bred too soft for a proper hill sheep nowadays), or Cheviot (most value but do they do on wet ground)

Hill cheviots will handle the wet no bother!! We average 120 inches of rain a year, and they do great, just keep the skins tight.

 

[Y Fan Wen]

Cheviot became quite popular on Welsh Mountain in the late 60s and early 70s so some flocks became quite cheviot like. When the climate started to deteriorate in the late 70s and 80s we realised that we had to move back to pure WM as quickly as possible. The mortality in the softer cheviot type was too great because of the absence of kemp in the fleece..

 

[Top Tip.]

Cheviot became quite popular on Welsh Mountain in the late 60s and early 70s so some flocks became quite cheviot like. When the climate started to deteriorate in the late 70s and 80s we realised that we had to move back to pure WM as quickly as possible. The mortality in the softer cheviot type was too great because of the absence of kemp in the fleece..

At a guess I think that was probably more to do with the type of Cheviot that they were crossed with. If they had been crossed with the Lairg type I can’t imagine there would be a problem as they would be hardier than the Welsh Mountain.

 

[Fendt516profi]

Shetland

 

[Zero Homes]

I would go with the hardy Dolgellau type welsh mountain.. or Nelson on better ground or lower stocking rate..

 

[Top Tip.]

Shetland

Great breed but pure bred the lambs are too small,you have to cross them to get the best out of them.

 

[rhywun]

There are plenty of Cheviots in certain areas in Wales, but they don't seem to do so well on the harder hills. In the north, the Welsh Mountain has it on the harder hills, and in the South on the coal fields, the South Wales/Nelson have it. The cheviots just can't hack it in these areas for some reason, a reason I can't really understand myself.

 

[Top Tip.]

There are plenty of Cheviots in certain areas in Wales, but they don't seem to do so well on the harder hills. In the north, the Welsh Mountain has it on the harder hills, and in the South on the coal fields, the South Wales/Nelson have it. The cheviots just can't hack it in these areas for some reason, a reason I can't really understand myself.

I would surmise again that it is the type of Cheviot being used it does frustrate me when folk go and buy a Cheviot tup to put on hill ewes and they go and buy what I would call a park type and then when the resulting females don’t perform the Cheviot breed gets the blame,one of the strengths of the Cheviot breed is the diversity within it but it is also one of the weaknesses because if you put the wrong type ie park type on hill ground it is a recipe for disaster.

 

[egbert]

Just to create a bit of debate What type of ewes does everyone think are best suited to hill (Heather/grass/peat ground) nowadays. Swale (hardy/good mother’s but cheap lambs), Blackie (are they bred too soft for a proper hill sheep nowadays), or Cheviot (most value but do they do on wet ground)

Depends on how hard the ground is/how high a rainfall.
Your initial assessment isn't far short of the mark.
If I were to add.... I consider both Swales and SBF suffer dreadfully from pointless fashions, oft fuelled by mule trade.
Having said that, either, when properly hill bred, will knock spots off cheviots on very hard ground
(the best hill Chevs are fine, but there's an awful lot of open coated stuff about as well.)
If the ground will carry cheviots, you've a much more saleable lamb.

Anything horn heided might be a problem getting heads in netting when you have them in. cheviots will run straight through you when you're handling.
Cheviot wool is worth clipping. But Chev lambs far more susectable to strike if conditions permit flies.

You haven't mentioned sheep from beyond Offas Dyke, so perhaps its not your thing (they're not mine either, but they'll rear a crossbred lamb like nothing else....but you gotta breed some replacements sometime)

Herdwicks? Unless the smallholders ruin em, they're the toughest of the lot I hear.

And as said, although many would scoff...if you want something that lives without you having to do much to it...look back in time at Hebs or somesuch.

 

[rhywun]

It's the brecknock hill cheviot that is used in South Wales, originally from the Cnewr Estate. They do well in that location and the surrounding area, on the red soil. Once these sheep are moved on to poorer soil, they don't thrive for some reason.

The further away you go from there, the lesser the influence of the cheviot. Do you know if many of these breeders buy from your area at all?

Brecknock Hill Cheviot Sheep Society

The Brecknock Hill Cheviot has developed from the Scottish Cheviot that was introducted into Brecknockshire during the latter part of the 19th Century.

www.brecknockhillcheviotsociety.co.uk

 

[Al R]

It's the brecknock hill cheviot that is used in South Wales, originally from the Cnewr Estate. They do well in that location and the surrounding area, on the red soil. Once these sheep are moved on to poorer soil, they don't thrive for some reason.

Brecknock Hill Cheviot Sheep Society

The Brecknock Hill Cheviot has developed from the Scottish Cheviot that was introducted into Brecknockshire during the latter part of the 19th Century.

www.brecknockhillcheviotsociety.co.uk

I get the odd brecnock hill Cheviot x nelson type in with my group of nelsons, I think 2 this year.


@Top Tip. the welsh mountains are the same, there’s a massive difference within the welsh mountain breed, i only know a few of the names but wouldn’t know the difference between a preseli welsh, tragaron, Rhayader type. I only use nelsons which are the larger ones usually with a brown/ginger neck/head

 

[Top Tip.]

It's the brecknock hill cheviot that is used in South Wales, originally from the Cnewr Estate. They do well in that location and the surrounding area, on the red soil. Once these sheep are moved on to poorer soil, they don't thrive for some reason.

The further away you go from there, the lesser the influence of the cheviot. Do you know if many of these breeders buy from your area at all?

Brecknock Hill Cheviot Sheep Society

The Brecknock Hill Cheviot has developed from the Scottish Cheviot that was introducted into Brecknockshire during the latter part of the 19th Century.

www.brecknockhillcheviotsociety.co.uk

I stand to be corrected but I think that they are South Country Cheviot which are a different breed again.

 

[Anymulewilldo]

I think it really depends on your hill and how much you are willing to input? Hard hill low input either Swale or Welshie but if bred pure the weathers are smallvalue as are the culls, personally I'd go Welshie, better body than your Swale just smaller.
Hard Hill with inputs or decent hill low input, my alltime favourite horned ewe, the Blackie, wild as hell but the pure lambs have value, the culls have value and you get a good shaped, tight jacketed cross lamb too. The Lanark & Hexham blackies definitly need that extra care but you get a hell of a bodied ewe compared to the SBF.
Decent hill with inputs, got to be the NC cheviot. Value all the way through, breed the cheviot mule, very good fashionable sheep at the moment. Butchers like them, just mental!

 

[Andy84]

Update- sorry I meant wet as in underfoot/big depth of peat