Longevity the key

Add to that the North Country Cheviot's late maturing characteristics and its popularity both as a store and a butchers' lamb and it soon becomes apparent why a growing number of hill sheep farmers have forked out the big bucks for hill-type Cheviot aged rams and draft ewes at Lairg and Dingwall in recent years.

"We sell all our ewes as five-crop and the people who buy them regularly come back as the they get another two to three crops of lambs out of them," said Farquhar Renwick - or Scott as he's better known - the third generation of Farquhar Renwick based at Inverbroom, Ullapool, where he runs 1100 ewes of which 700 are under the Inverbroom prefix and a further 400 at Strathcanaird.

"All our draft ewes go for breeding and some to produce butchers lambs for the show ring when crossed to a Texel or a Beltex. They just go on forever.

"Our sheep get little feeding - they prefer to work away on their own on the hill," added Scott, who lives with his wife Marie, who runs a successful bed and breakfast business, along with sons Farquhar (16) and Jamie (14) who are equally enthusiastic with Cheviots, and daughters Amy (26) and Catriona (12).

Included within the Inverbroom Estate, Scott's nephew, Gavin MacDonald, who helps out at busy times, owns the neighbouring farm of Clachan, with 350 hill Cheviot ewes with a further 350 hill-type ewes on Achendrean.

However, while the sheep are relatively 'easy-care', Scott was quick to point out that he has always stuck to a particular type of hill Cheviot. "We'll get a least 52 inches of rainfall a year, so we need sheep with good tight skins, but not too bare or they won't survive the winter. We don't line breed. Instead, we watch not to buy tups that are too big as they don't last and buy only from farms with tick. The hills here will only grow sheep to a certain size."

He also points out that while Lairg-type Cheviots can be retained as breeding females on some of the highest and roughest terrain for longer, they're also worth a pretty penny at the end of the day.

While all Inverbroom ewes are sold as five-crop through Dingwall, they have sold to £90 per head for a pen of 80, and regularly average in excess of £70 per head for 350. And, going by their purchasers, they still make more than other hill-type ewes when sold through the fat ring, several years later.

It's not just the females that have to work for their money on this remote Highland sporting estate, though. The home-bred rams also have to pay their way with many used initially as shearlings at home and sold the following year at the main sales at Lairg and Dingwall as two-shears. They're then expected to go out and work on high hill farms and estates for another three, four, or five years.

Many of the most successful stock rams at Inverbroom were bought as four-shear rams at Lairg and Dingwall, including Balnakeil Sir Campbell, Balnakeil Mr Campbell and Balnakeil Captain Campbell, all bought from Andrew Elliot's Sutherland unit, herded by veteran shepherd, Hamish Campbell, with the oldest working until he was 10-years of age.

Other stock rams that have stamped their mark include Keppoch Kestrel, Flodigarry Old Man of Storr and Balligal Butch, along with rams from Armadale, Auchentoul, Kelsocleugh, Torrish and Whitchester.

"If they're right in the mouth at two or three shear and good on their legs, they'll last forever and these characteristics pass on to their progeny," said Scott. "We'd never use a tup lamb on our ewes, no matter how good he is, as you don't know how he'll turn out. All our tup lambs and shearlings are wintered outside too, on grass only on the Black Isle. They only get concentrates six weeks before they're sold as two-shears at Lairg, in October."

It's a similar story for the ewe lambs/hoggs too, which are all wintered on fields on the Black Isle but lambed the following year as gimmers. It's a policy which has undoubtedly paid dividends not only for the farm but also the breed, as while the business has to wait another year to sell breeding stock, feed costs are so much lower and producers don't have the replacement costs.

Scott argued that the good thing is, most breeders are well aware of the damage caused to other breeds by hard feeding at young age to sell breeding rams either as lambs or shearlings. Therefore, there is little demand for hill Cheviot tup lambs and only a limited market for shearlings.

While North Country Cheviot shearlings of both types are sold at Lockerbie, Dingwall and Portree, the Lairg sale comprises mostly two-shears, plus three and four shears.

It's Lairg and Dingwall where Inverbroom sell most of their two-shear rams too which in the past have sold to £7000. In all, between Inverbroom and Clachan - the other farm on the estate herded by Scott's nephew, Gavin MacDonald - the two units usually sell up to 20 rams at Dingwall, 10 at Lairg, 10 at Portree and a further 10 at Oban, to average in excess of £500.

Admittedly, the Chevies at Inverbroom don't produce the biggest crops of lambs, but then with the estate rising from sea-level to 3200ft and only 250-acres of in-bye ground, the average 120% scanned lamb crop is more than enough.

With limited grass, all lambs - outwith replacement ewe lambs and the best of the ram lambs - are sold store through Dingwall. In previous years, these have hit a top of £60 per head to average £55, and that's lambs coming straight off the hill/grass and sold by the end of October.

Feed costs are minimal too with so much scope on the hill. Scanned in February, the ewes are fed accordingly from then on with a small amount of ewe rolls, depending on the weather, for lambing in various batches from the middle of April onwards.

All are lambed in in-bye fields for ease of management with twin-born lambs retained in fields while the singles are slipped back to the hill.

With the ewes split between four different hefts on rugged hill and heather ground with panoramic views, the biggest job at Inverbroom is gathering and that's with Farquhar and Jamie and their dogs helping out.

In days gone bye, Scott and his father, Farquhar, would stay in a bothy for a week at a time to shear many of the sheep.

Even now, with quad bikes and some of the country's best-known sheep dogs - Scott is a former winner of the Scottish National Sheepdog trials and regularly qualifies for the national, international and world sheep dog trials - the team has to spend three or four days gathering one heft alone. Not surprisingly, Scott, Gavin and the boys all have several dogs each they can call on at any one time.

They're pretty good at it, too, being hired on a regular basis to do contract gathering in the north and west, along with clipping and contract dipping.

In contrast to many breeders who enjoy nothing better than going to a show, Scott takes his time out at sheep dog trials either as a competitor or a judge.

Instead, it's Farquhar and Jamie who appear to have caught the show bug having already had a taste of success at Lochaber Show, last year, with some of their own sheep purchased from Andy Smith.

There's also the Luing cattle sale in February, at Castle Douglas, and another at Dingwall, in May, to look forward to, where Scott and Gavin regularly sells bulls and heifers from the 35-cow Lochbroom herd.

Just like their sheep neighbours, these cattle have to work hard for a living too, with one of the cows now in her 20th year. The progeny are paying their way though, with the herd recently selling a bull at Dingwall for 4200gns.