Northie makes its mark at Over Finlarg

Cheviot ewes running on the hill at Over Finlarg

Commercially, they run 50 cross ewes which consist of Mules and Texel crosses to produce faster maturing lambs for the finishing market, with 50 pedigree Texels and crossing-type Bluefaced Leicester ewes breed shearling tups for the commercial markets at UA Stirling and Huntly, Dingwall, and at Caledonian Marts, Stirling.
Some 200 Mule and Texel cross hoggs are lambed every year and sold with lambs at foot in May through UA, Stirling, which this year saw 150 cash in to average £166. 
With the Northies playing the biggest role in the sheep enterprise on both a pure and commercial basis, the passion for them came from Hazel’s late father,  Alan.
“Dad was a big believer of the North Country Cheviot, and made the annual trip to Lairg every year,” said Hazel, who worked at home with her father before moving to Over Finlarg with Robert. 
“It’s been a big learning curve for us since we moved here though. We had a mixed flock of 550 ewes in total and it was hard at the start for both us and the sheep coming to a new home. 
“But, through time and having made massive improvements to the steading and the land, we soon found that the Northie was suited best to the farm due to the hardiness and longevity, especially through harsh winters,” Hazel added.

Hill-type North Country Cheviot ewes and their May-born lambs

Robert, who hails from his family farm near Bathgate, added: “Cheviots come through a winter storm well and can stand heavy snow falls. They’ve adapted well to the farm and always come in fit and ready to work the following spring, having wintered only on neeps. 
“We are very exposed in this area and often suffer snow in April and May, just when lambing kicks off!”
Building up the flock with strong maternal lines has been a main focus for Robert and Hazel though, producing lambs entirely for the finishing market and replacements which are either kept in the flock as pure ewes or crossed with the Bluefaced Leicester to produce the Cheviot Mule. 
Only the top performing ewes with good mothering ability go back with the Cheviot and are tupped with Auldallan sires from Hazel’s brother-in-law and sister, Bob and Kay Adam, Newhouse of Glamis. 
The remaining females go to the traditional Bluefaced Leicester sourced from Hazel’s mother, Mary Fotheringham, Westhall, Forgandenny, to produce the Cheviot Mule, a system that is working well when selling some of the breeding females as gimmers at Longtown in August, or selling privately as ewe lambs, due to the strong demand for young females. 
Last year at Longtown, they sold 130 gimmers to average £182. 
“The Cheviot Mule is an ideal female when it comes to selling. Tupped to any breed, they produce a good quality lamb, so they sell well to people who want to breed good quality prime lambs,” commented Robert. 
“We sell around 160 gimmers at Longtown each year and having sold there for eight years now, we can see it’s a sale which is growing in popularity. 
“Not only that but we have repeat buyers when selling either the gimmers or the ewe lambs, from as far north as Caithness and across the water to Ireland,” Robert added.
When selecting Auldallan sires, tups come from Bob and Kay’s top producing ewes, focusing highly on the females characteristics. 
“They need to have a good carcase, clean hair and tight skins. We try and pick tups which are out of good, productive ewes, with a good mothering instinct,” said Hazel.  

Cheviot Mule gimmers

Prior to tupping, teaser tups are used to create a compact lambing with gimmers tupped on the heather hill to try and reduce twins, whereas ewes are tupped on grass. 
Previously, gimmers were tupped on good quality grass and they found ewes were too fit and produced big twin lambs. Last year’s scanning percentages saw gimmers scan at 120% and ewes at 170%, with a total weaning percentage of 155%.
Females which cause problems at lambing are culled after weaning, which has resulted in an easier lambing flock. Generally, Cheviot ewes are culled after their sixth crop, and more impressively, still sell at £60 to £70. 
The Cheviot is the breed that is proving easy to keep at Over Finlarg, requiring little feed and minimum help at lambing time, weather depending. 
They survive the winter on turnips, with a very small proportion of concentrate before lambing. 
Ewes carrying single lambs are left to lamb themselves, while twin-bearing ewes are only brought inside at night if the weather is poor for ease of management.
“A Cheviot Mule doesn’t have the same skin cover as a pure Cheviot so we find they need that little bit more help in poorer weather,” comments Robert.
“Although Cheviots are renowned for surviving in a harsh climate, that 24 hours of bonding in a pen makes all the difference. 
“It’s certainly easier putting a group of ewes and lambs out to a field together having had that bond in individual pens for a start, rather than trying to lamb a large group all in the same field with ewes pinching lambs”, he adds. 
Having purchased around 150 ewe lambs at Lairg in their first few years of building up the flock, the first of those females were mainly from Joyce Campbell, Armadale, which they both point out can still be seen in the flock today, showing the true longevity characteristic of the Northie. 
More recently, its ewe lambs bought at Lairg from Suisgill which have made their mark on the flock
“We often buy more ewe lambs than we need at Lairg and just kill out the bottom end in the spring,” comments Robert.
“When selecting those replacements, whether it be home-bred lambs or bought in ones, it’s tight skins and a feminine head that we focus on,” he said.
Hazel added: “I often panic when they come home from Lairg and you see how small they are, but they never fail to impress as they always do really well and are in the correct condition come tupping time.”
Now that the flock at Over Finlarg has increased in size and improved in quality,  Robert and Hazel hope to rely solely on home-bred replacements, this year.
Wedder and ewe lambs not suitable for breeding are finished on the farm and sold through Scotbeef.
Cheviot Mule lambs are finished purely on grass, with the first batch away in October and finished through to February. Cheviot lambs finish on neeps and cashed from Christmas onwards, usually achieving R and U grades. 

Farm steading at Over Finlarg

“The Cheviot lambs always keep well throughout the winter and are always within the market specification later in the season. 
“They still remain a marketable lamb post Christmas and give us something to sell in the new year,” said Robert, pointing out that they regularly go through the lambs to ensure they are of the right weight and fat specification to hit the market demands. 
It’s not just the sheep enterprise that keep the team busy though, as their 160 suckler cow herd – predominately made of up Luings and pedigree Limousins, with a small proportion of Charolais and Simmentals – is also a big player in the business. Even more so is the progeny, when in February one of their Luing bulls sold for 17,000gns at Castle Douglas, while three black Limousins owned in partnership with mum, Mary, sold for 11,000gns, 8000gns, 6800gns at Stirling. 
On the arable side, nephews Andrew and James Adam lend a helping hand during sowing and harvesting of the 100 acres of cereals grown for home use, while 25 acres is rented out for potatoes and 25 acres of turnips are grown as the main sheep feed.
After a few years of picking the right breed to suit the McNees upland/hill farming system, it appears the Cheviot is proving popular with the younger generation too.
Young Alan’s small flock of park-type Cheviots and Kate’s flock of black Cheviots gifted from Alan’s godparents, Tracy and Davie Nicoll, Balthayock are already featuring in the show ring.