North Country Cheviot Sheep Society
Cheviot Crosses flourish off grass
Sheep which don't just survive, but flourish off grass is what Brain & Fiona Ridland found with Cheviot Crosses
Since Brian and Fiona moved south from their native Shetland in 2008, with their son Campbell, who was 5 at the time, they have established themselves on the rugged island of Orkney as being innovators and leaders within the agricultural scene on the island and further afield.
They run two farms on Orkney with Aikerness around 400 acres, which has within its fences the Broch of Gurness, an iron age village. In 2022, after managing it for five years they had the chance to purchase the Hall of Clestrian, an 1800-acre farm, which has quite a bit of hill ground as well as some sound inbye too, which runs down to the sea, with excellent veiws of Hoy just over the water. Clestrian also came with its own backstory, famous for being the birthplace of Victorian explorer John Rae, who helped discover the North West Passage and find the fate of the Franklin expedition. They run the farm together, with a full time worker and their son Campbell helping too when he is not working in the oil industry, which is a big employer on the Islands. As well as the North Country Cheviot flock they also run a suckler herd of Luing and Sim-Luing cattle.
Core to the business on the farm is the hardy North Country Cheviot Hill type, which forms the backbone of the flock, with around 150 ewes running pure. The land suits the sheep well, especially the high, exposed hill ground. As well as running the Hill North Country Cheviots they run a cheviot tup over Shetland ewes to produce a “Shetland Cheviot” and now run between 750 and 800 of these hardy sheep, which are well adapted to the environment, not quite as big as a traditional North Country Cheviot Hill sheep and a bit lower set, but very well built, with nice sharp white heads. They purchase gimmers and ewe lambs from back in Shetland every year, looking for strong well-built sheep, good on their feet, which will work well with the North Country Cheviot Hill tup. They were used to working with the Shetland sheep before they moved down, and were quick to spot the potential a cross would provide.
They find that the Shetland Cheviot is a great ewe, crossing them with the Texel and Suffolk rams, lambing in two batches, with the first batch in mid-April to the Suffolk tups and then the second batch in early May to the Texel. They lamb them inside, mainly to protect the young lambs from attacks by Ravens and Greater Black Backed Gulls, which are proving to be quite a problem on the island. The ewes are great mothers and milk well, which help the lambs grow quickly. The first lambs are sold fat by the 20th of August, straight off grass, selling them deadweight direct to the abbatoir, but the main of the lambs are sold store, with 80% of them going on the first Monday of September. “We sell them privately to a unit in Aberdeenshire” Brian explains. “We bring them in and weigh the lambs and anything between 32 and 40kgs goes, and we keep the rest to fatten. These lambs are straight off the grass and have had no extra creep which is a testament to the quality of the ewe. The same buyer keeps coming back, so they must be hitting the mark at the business end for him too”
The ewes last well too, getting plenty of crops of lambs out of the ewes and when selling as draft or cull ewes they still commend a good price too, which is another advantage over other breeds of ewes which don’t retain their value the same.
Brian and Fiona firmly believe that sheep such as the Shetland Cheviots are vitally important moving forward into the unknown as direct payments come off, “Sheep that dont just survive, but flourish just off grass, are vitally important in making sure that modern flocks can meet the new challenges coming up head on” he notes. That is what all sheep breeders looking for moving forward too, maximum returns off minimum inputs, which is what the North Country Cheviot, and in this case, more specifically, the Shetland Cheviot is achieving, underling the versatility of the North Country Cheviot Hill type as the ideal breed.
Contact Details
For all North Country Cheviot Sheep Society enquiries please contact our secretary:
Corinna Cowin
Mobile: 07834817710
E-mail: secretary@nc-cheviot.co.uk
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