North Country Cheviot Sheep Society
NCC beat all other Hill Breeds hands down
Cheviots beat all other hill breeds is the firm opinion of the Baillies at Sebay Farm, Orkney
Enthusiasm is the best way to describe the feeling for the North Country Cheviot sheep at Sebay, which is based on the picturesque island of Orkney in Tankerness not far from the islands airport, where they run around 650 acres all told, mostly owned but with around 250 rented too.
Balfour Baillie and his brother Hamish farm with their father Jim, who is in his late 70’s now and still milking the farms 40 dairy cattle. They are noted stockmen, not just within the Cheviot circles, but also within the commercial cattle circles too, with Balfour and Jim running around 120 beef cattle, with stock bred by themselves going on to do well on the show circuit around Scotland, after selling them at the Thainstone Spectacular, where they topped at £5000 this year.
The flock was established way back in 1951, running both Hill and Park type Cheviots. Over the years they have established themselves as one of the breeds more noted flocks, turning out great sheep for a long while, even winning the Highland female championship in 1975, which is obviously still a very proud moment for Jim as he remembers it so clearly. More recently they have enjoyed a good trade for their sheep at the Lockerbie tup sales, which they started taking stock to in the last four or five years as they feel it is a bit of a wider market than the traditional Caithness sale, which they used to exclusively sell at. With buyers attending from all over the UK, some the best sheep head to Lockerbie, and last year the Sebay flock enjoyed a good trade, clocking 3500gns twice for their Park tups, which enjoy a reputation for going on and doing well.
They run around 130 Park type ewes, which lamb on the 1st of April, scanning around 200%. They like their Park cheviots for their mothering and milking, fetching lambs up of grass with ease. And with the weather on Orkney being as unpredictable as it is, good mother ewes are vital to help nurture those lambs through the first few weeks. “The lambs are good to go right from the start and a sharp lamb gets a better start in life” Balfour notes.
In 2017 they went out and bought some Hill cheviots off the Auchentoul flock, with the idea of replacing their Scotch mule ewes with the Cheviots. This has worked well, with the best 80 or so picked to run pure to breed their own replacements, with the rest getting tupped with the Texel and Beltex tups. The Hill ewes start lambing on the 1st of May and scan well, this year scanning at 185%. These crossed lambs are all sold fat, making extremely good fat lambs, with plenty of size and shape with good skins, selling well at Kirkwall. All the pure Cheviot tup lambs, which don’t make the grade to keep as shearlings, are kept entire and sold fat via deadweight, where they make good grades and kill out well, finishing mainly off grass. With the demand for North Country Cheviot females increasing year on year they also sell ewe lambs at various breeding sales, selling up to £166 last year at the Caithness sales. They also run 40 Suffolk ewes and 60 Texels as well as 80 cross bred ewes too.
When on the hunt for a new tup to introduce to the flock they are very careful about what they buy, always looking for a tup with bags of character and a great, sharp eye on it, but they have also got to have a good shoulder and good on their legs too. They are adamant that the Cheviot is all about the confirmation and that they, and the breed as a whole, must never lose sight of that fact, as this is what sets the breed apart from many other hill breeds. “If you have the confirmation, you always have a better pay day with your sheep, whether that be the tups, fat lambs or cast ewes” Balfour enthuses, quipping cheerfully “That’s why the Cheviot beats all other hill breeds hands down”
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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