Blackface sheep reign for Renwicks, Blackhouse, Yarrow

It’s also a lonely way of life having to work outside on the hills in all weathers. However, with limited input costs, it can be ideal for new entrants when often all that is required is the opportunity to get land, a good working dog and a quad bike.

Craig Douglas is a hill farm located in the Yarrow valley Ref: RH190924111 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer... For Billy Renwick and son Andrew who farm at Craig Douglas and Blackhouse in the Yarrow Valley, there is only one breed that will produce good lamb crops on limited in-bye ground –and that’s the Blackface.

Add in her maternal attributes, ability to withstand all types of hill ground and weather, and the duo believe that for them there is nothing to beat the Scotch Blackie.

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A group of robust and healthy Blackie ewes graze alongside their lambs, which are flourishing under their attentive care Ref: RH190924101 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer... “The Blackie is the original easy-care breed that can look after herself and her lamb on the hill,” said Billy who is an honorary president of the Blackface Sheep Breeders’ Association.

“The great thing about the Blackie, compared to other breeds, is she can count, and she knows if she has two lambs she will look after both of them to the best of her ability,” he added, pointing out that the Blackie has maintained its popularity and demand continues to grow, despite market trends and land becoming scarcer due to large areas of ground being planted or rewilded.

A group of robust and healthy Blackie ewes graze alongside their lambs, which are flourishing under their attentive care Ref: RH190924105 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer... “The Blackie is doing better now than she has ever done before. We’re seeing the breed in more areas with a lot of new, young, enthusiastic breeders appearing at sales from all over the country. It is important we maintain the health and integrity of the breed, and it is encouraging that many Blackie breeders have been scanning their sheep for OPA or jaagsiekte for about 10 years now.

“Vets have found OPA in all breeds of sheep but instead of ignoring it, Blackface breeders have tackled the issue head on and there are not nearly the same problems as there used to be.”

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An impressive group of shearling rams is gearing up to make a strong appearance at the upcoming sales in Lanark and Dalmally Ref: RH190924086 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer... The Blackface breed has come a long way since the 1970s when Billy’s late father, Tommy Renwick, purchased Craig Douglas and Blackhouse from Lord Glenconnor. In those days, Craig Douglas was home to Cheviots which were soon replaced with Blackies.

Blackies are now split over six hefts on this steep, rocky, white Molina grass/heather hill ground at Craig Douglas and further out at Blackhouse. Originally, in the late 1960s, the breed produced lambing percentages around 60% out on the hill. However, with improved genetics, management, and extra grass, the flock now regularly averages 140-150%.

All ewes are pregnancy scanned early March and then split off accordingly, with twin and triplet-bearing ewes receiving ewe rolls, while the single-bearing ewes have access to blocks only on the hill.

The show team has been making a significant impact on the local show circuit, consistently securing top tickets and standing out in competitive classes Ref: RH190924097 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer... With limited shed space at Craig Douglas, all are lambed outside from early April onwards, with the singles heading back out to the hill as soon as they are fit enough to go. The family also used to rent fields for the twin mothers and their lambs, but last year they were fortunate enough to be able to buy the 400-acre lowground farm at Howden, Selkirk, where Andrew and his wife Zoe now live, while Billy and his wife Alison reside at Craig Douglas.

The addition of this good grazing ground, coupled with a further 250 acres rented at Midlem, now enables all ewes to be flushed, which alongside the extra fields, means batches of ewes can be tupped by individual rams.

Similarly, there is adequate field space to lamb all the twin-bearing ewes in fields with those rearing single lambs left out on the hill. There is also now sufficient grass to finish all lambs not retained or sold for breeding. “We’ve already had 100 Blackie wedder lambs away off grass at the end of August and they killed out at 18kg and averaged £110, and we’ve got another 140 to go away at the end of this month,” said Billy, adding that previously many of the wedder lambs were sold as stores.

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A standout group of Blackie tup lambs, bred for their strength and hardiness, are being prepped for the upcoming sales at Lanark and Dalmally Ref: RH190924092 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer... They’ve also already sold 168 ewe lambs to average £109, at Lanark, with a further 110 sold privately. In previous years they would sell 230 draft ewes through Lanark or privately too, which in the past have peaked at £520 for a pen of 20. This year, these ewes are being retained for the new farm at Howden and will be tupped with a crossing-type Bluefaced Leicester to breed Scotch Mules that in turn some may be tupped with a Beltex or similar as hoggs, and sold with lambs at foot the following year.

Blackhouse is also a famous name for breeding the best of Blackface tups, having sold ram lambs to a top of £90,000 10 years ago at Lanark, and shearling rams to £48,000 in 2020.

However, in contrast to many of the country’s leading breeders, the Renwicks no longer use artificial insemination (AI) and prefer natural service.

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A standout group of Blackie tup lambs, bred for their strength and hardiness, are being prepped for the upcoming sales at Lanark and Dalmally Ref: RH190924095 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer... “AI is a great tool when it works, but it’s horrendous if all your ewes are due to lamb when the weather is bad. We were also getting too many yeld AI’ing. It’s far better if a tup is used naturally on 40-50 ewes and you get to see how well a tup stamps his mark on those sheep,” said Billy, adding that they’ve never flushed any females.

“I do think there should be more emphasis placed on the commercial attributes of the breed, which can be easily forgotten about in the frenzy and buzz of the tup sales. We like to use our own tup lambs and sell them as shearlings to get a more uniform type coming through our females.”

Commenting on the type of sheep they look to breed, Andrew said: “They’ve got to have size and good skins with a big muzzle.

“We aim to breed good commercial sheep, but they’ve got to have a bit of quality about them with good hair, bone and breed character.”

While there have been numerous tups bought over the years, one of the best in the early years was an £1100 Peelahill bought in the early 1970s. Latterly, a £65,000 Auldhouseburn ram lamb bought in partnership with Glenrath in 2010, the £24,000 Allanfauld Hulk bought in 2014, and a £25,000 Elmscleugh purchased in 2016 have all stamped their mark. More recently, shearlings off the £28,000 Glenrath, purchased in 2022, have bred well as lambs and are showing good promise.

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With only Billy and Andrew working on the farm full time, alongside Alison and Zoe at busy times and Billy’s nephew James Cockburn at tup sales, there have been few quiet spells on the farm – but things are only going to get a lot busier with the new farm and the increased stock.

Previously, the boys had already introduced a flock of 40 pedigree Texel ewes to breed shearlings from and some 60 head of Luings, which have produced several five-figure priced bulls up to 24,000gns.

Add to that a herd of Beef Shorthorns which have been bulled with an Angus to breed home-bred replacements for Howden and a Scotch Mule ewe flock already in the making, and it’s going to get a lot busier in the near future.

October, however, is Blackie tup sale time, with Dingwall, Ayr, Ballymena, Stirling, Hexham, Lanark, Dalmally and Oban all staged in the one month.

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Farm Facts:

Family farm: Billy and Alison and Andrew and his wife Zoe, with assistance of James Cockburn at tup sales.

Farming enterprise: Blackhouse and Craig Douglas comprises 1600acres with Howden made up of 400acres of grassland with a further 250 acres rented at Midlum.

Livestock numbers: 1600 Blackface ewes bred pure with 300 to the Bluefaced Leicester to breed Scotch Mules for Howden this year and 40 pedigree Texel ewes which come under the Blackhouse prefix, kept at Howden. Cattle herd comprises 60 pedigree Luings which have produced several five-figure priced bulls and 20 Beef Shorthorn female that have been crossed to an Aberdeen Angus bull to produce home-bred replacement females.

Tups for sale: 35 shearlings per year split between Stirling, Lanark and Dalmally and 6-8 lambs between Lanark and Dalmally.