Change to Northies is a change for good at Alston

Nestled high in the Northern Pennines Area of Natural beauty, just a few miles from England’s highest market town, Alston, lies the little hamlet of Leadgate where Oli and Sophie Harrison farm at Aimshaugh Farm, a hard hill farm running from 1000 foot above sea level up to a peak of over 2000 feet at the highest point. Seasons up here in this area are described as “8 months of winter and four months of warmer rain” so obviously the stock up on these hills has to be able cope with all the elements thrown at it if it is to survive.

The farm is mainly owned, with parcels taken in for extra grazing, and has been in the family for 5 or 6 generations, so Oli is fairly well hefted to his patch! They farm with Oli’s parents, Stephen & Kate, but around 10 years ago Oli took a more active role on the direction and management of the farms 1600 acres, which saw a subtle change in direction. “We didn’t make wholesale changes straight away” said Oli, “But we did look as to how we could up our income and lessen the workload somewhat and make it easier to manage” Sophie added, and also noted that Oli’s Dad has always encouraged him and given him a fairly free rein to try new ideas.

Traditionally, like many farms in the area, mule gimmer lambs from Swaledale ewes used to provide the backbone of the farms income, selling them at the annual gimmer lamb sales, but with the Harrisons buying in their draft ewes to breed the mule gimmers they struggled to buy the quality and quantity ewes they needed, and they found running mule ewes saw them producing too many lambs for the type of ground they run. They settled on trying out North Country Cheviots, as they were a hill breed with an improving reputation and used to the type of hill farm up on Alston Moors.

The initial batch, including tups, were bought up at Lairg and now they have built up their stock to around 600 pure ewes, and 600 Cheviot cross ewes which are crossed with Texel X BFL rams to provide an excellent crossing lamb. They retain the best 150 gimmers or so of these to keep and run with the Texel tup, providing a great fat lamb. “We were lucky when we bought our first sheep as they were easier to buy, but demand has gone up now due to the rising success of the Cheviot Mule” they note. When buying tups, they generally go to the society sales at Lockerbie, where there is a good selection of rams on offer. “We like a tup with a good clean skin and a sharp eye on it, we can land a very strong useful ram on not too deep a pocket too, which is always a bonus” he quips.

The North Country Cheviots have proved to be easy to manage too, grazing up on the moors all year, apart from landing down onto the in-bye for lambing and the singles return straight back up, and the twins running on the rough pastures bordering the moor. They like the fact that the ewe’s mother their lambs well and need very little intervention. Oli has noticed that “They are good at making out over the moor too, which sees a more even graze across the whole of the moor” The pure ewes scan between 150-160% with the crossed flock scanning around the 185-190% mark, which is ideal for the type of land they are running on.
One thing they noticed straight away was the feeding costs of the North Country Cheviot ewes was considerably less than previously, which now really helps, especially when the prices of inputs are rising as fast as they are. Most of the lambs and ewes are sold at Longtown, which is just over 50 miles away, and is a noted sales centre for sheep. Lambs are selected as and when they get fat, and those wethers which don’t make the fat are sent away down to Carlisle from October until Christmas where they are sold later either fat or sold store, with the store lamb being worth more than other hill breeds and commanding a premium in the fat ring too as well as the cast ewes worth that much more.

The Texel X females out of the Cheviot mules are sold on as breeding females, in 2021 averaging £115, and again, with very little inputs and certainly a lot less time involved in the pre-sale preparation. “Sometimes we wash their faces if they are dirty, but on the whole it’s just a wipe over their face with a wet cloth in the pens at Longtown before going into the ring” Oli says.

The demand for these gimmer lambs is growing ever stronger as these gimmers are good mothers and produce an excellent fat lamb. It is easy to see, with these virtues that the North Country Cheviots offer, why they fit into the Aimshaugh system so well. “It might not be for everyone, but it suits and benefits the system that we have developed here over the last few years” as they note, and that is hard to argue with at the end of the day.

Away from the Cheviots, they have set up the Hartside herd of Highland cattle, which they feel work well with the Cheviot sheep. The 120 head strong herd of cattle graze up on the moor most of the year and help break up the grass and ground, which in turn the sheep like to graze on, making the best of the two species grazing side by side. They have enjoyed some success with the Highland cattle, taking their first female to the society sale at Oban and coming away with the female champion ticket, much to their surprise and delight. They also run a small flock pure Texel which they sell at the Kelso sales.

Oli & Sophie both agree, they’ve found the Northies have helped them improve their farm business

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