North Country Cheviot Sheep Society
Why crossing with a Park NCC is working at Hallhill
Criss-crossing North Country Cheviot Park-type and Texel genetics is proving a winning formula for the Barr family from Hallhill, producing the best of home-bred replacements and prime lambs with tremendous shape and carcase.
Situated on the outskirts of Collessie, near Cupar, in Fife, Willie Barr farms along with his mother Margaret, sister Janet, wife Deirdra and their two sons John and Liam, who are both showing a great interest in sheep breeding.
The farm has been in the family since 1943 and is home to 630 acres of which 200 acres is grown in an arable rotation to include winter wheat, winter barley and spring barley, while the remainder is permanent and rotational grassland.
Each year, the family buys in 250 cattle which are sourced through Lanark and St Boswells at 8-12 months of age, before being finished and sold to ABP, Perth.
Two thirds of the cattle are bought in the autumn, with the remaining purchased in the spring. Willie buys in Aberdeen-Angus and continentals, with Angus cattle finished at 360kg-380kg and continentals at 400kg.
It’s the sheep enterprise which has become the main focus at Hallhill, running a closed flock of 650 North Country Cheviot cross Texel breeding ewes, as well as 270 ewe hoggs which are kept on to lamb as gimmers, with surplus sold through Lanark Market in September.
Last year, they reached a top of £242 per head, with a pen of more Cheviot types reaching highs of £236 per head.
Both pens were purchased by well-known sheep breeders Jim and Duncan Warnock, Gartfinnon.
The family previously ran a flock of almost pure Texel ewes but found themselves getting into difficulties with throat problems and ewes being too fat at lambing time.
“We introduced North Country Cheviot Park-type tups to our breeding programme six years ago and we’ve never looked back,” said Willie.
“I think the North Country Cheviot breed is the most underestimated one out there. It’s a terrific breed and is full of character, shape and carcase, with a leg in each corner. The breed clicks extremely well with the Texel too, producing vigorous lambs at birth.”
The commercial flock includes 400 North Country Cheviot Park-type cross Texel ewes which are tupped to the Texel twice round, with the result of that cross producing 250 ewes which go back to the North Country Cheviot Park-type tups.
Willie tends to buy stock tups from the same flocks at Kelso Ram Sales each year, with Park-type tups sourced from Roderick Runciman’s Allanshaws flock and Texels from Alan Smith, Crumhaughhill and James Anderson, Headshaw.
“I usually have to buy in two of each breed every year but the good ones are getting harder to buy as I had to go to £3500 for an Allanshaws tup last year,” said Willie.
“We’ve started breeding our own Texels however, with the hopes of keeping a few pure to breed home-bred tups. The idea is to keep the carcase the same but have them finer boned and headed to make for an easier lambing.”
With that in mind, the family pulled out 30 three-quarter Texel females and tupped them to the Texel. The ewe lambs from this crossing have been kept for breeding, as have six tup lambs which are looking promising with next to no feeding and zero feet problems.
The ewes usually produce scanning percentages of 200% to 205% but Willie did add that they tend to produce too many triplets and not enough singles, with this year’s 665 ewes scanned producing 140 sets of triplets.
“We don’t flush the ewes prior to tupping – they receive mineral blocks all year round and are changed onto Megastart Ewe and Lamb tups after the new year,” he said.
“All ewes receive Heptovac prior to lambing and are vaccinated against Toxo and Enzo, as well as jagged for Dectomax once housed inside.
“No ewe runs with triplet lambs here – we aim to adopt a lamb onto a single bearing ewe and if this isn’t successful, the third lamb goes into the pet pen and is put onto the automatic milk feeder.
“It’s a real team effort at lambing time, with four girls brought in over the lambing period to work shifts in the shed.”
Lambing takes place inside from March 17 onwards and ewes are fed East Coast Viners 18% Excel rolls in groups, with triplet bearing ewes fed 7-8 weeks prior to lambing, twins six weeks before and singles just a month before to ensure they have sufficient amounts of milk.
Treacle is also fed to the ewes pre-lambing which Willie says is proving successful as virtually no twin lamb cases occur, with ewe condition kept at a consistent level each year due to both breed’s carcase quality.
“I like to keep the flock young and fresh when we’re using home-bred replacements so most of the ewes are away as four or five-crop ewes,” said Willie. “The ewes are still worth a great price at the end of their life though, regularly averaging £140 per head.”
All wether lambs and any females not suitable for breeding are finished on grass, with creep introduced just a month prior to them being sold through the prime ring at Lanark. The first of the lambs are usually sold at the end of July at 46kg-48kg, averaging just over £120 head last year, with the last ones away by the time the new year comes. Willie did add that there is always the bonus of a butcher buying the slightly heavier lambs weighing 51kg.
“You’ve got to have character in your prime lambs when you’re selling them through the live ring so you can catch the buyer’s eye and that’s certainly something the Cheviot can do – the head and lugs are always up,” he commented. Looking ahead, Willie has great belief in the North Country Cheviot and its ability as both a maternal and terminal sire in the sheep industry.
“Northies are very versatile and the system we follow here shows that they have a strong commercial worth in the sheep industry,” he concluded. “The females are great mothers and produce top-quality lambs with that extra bit of spark."
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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