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The Beautiful Wild West Coast and Cheviots

Ken and Robyn Ferguson farm at Waipuna Station in the Grey valley near Ikamatua on the West Coast. Ken is the 6th generation to farm at Waipuna and his brother Mark also farms in the Valley.

Ken and Robyn farm 10,000 stock units on 1000ha comprising 2300 Wairere Romney ewes, 1200 hinds, 500 velveting stags, and 300 beef cows, predominantly Angus. All of the offspring are finished on the farm.

Spring can be harsh at Waipuna and Ken wanted to use rams with an excellent constitution and carcase that could also produce a good lively, active lamb that is easy on the hogget at birth.

500 ewe hogget’s were mated to Cheviot rams for the first time in 2015.

The ewe hoggets scanned 129% and lambing commenced on the 20th September. Ken said “Only six were assisted, they were very easy care. The lambs were like little bricks!”

At tailing it was also noted how strong the lambs were, weaning numbers were 100% with only 25 dry ewes and 16 pet lambs. Robyn and Ken mother-on and do a lambing beat.

The first cut of lambs for Alliance took place in the first week in January and the first 100 lambs sent produced an18kg carcase. The Fergusons are delighted.

The female offspring, which are a first cross, are being retained to sell on as breeding ewes.

The Cheviots rams are scheduled to be used for mating again this year.

High Country Cheviots

Lake Coleridge Station is situated north of the Rakaia River and is 1667 ft above sea level, rising to 4000ft at its highest peak.

The Station alongside its counterpart, the Acheron Bank Station, comprises 6,500 ha including 1200 ha of developed pasture which offers green feed consisting of lucerne, swedes and kale.

The third station, Mount Oakden, is 2900 ha and has undergone redevelopment to give some 300ha of oversown pasture. Stocking includes 150 Hereford cows mated to an Angus bull.

Currently there are 3000 Perendale ewes at Mt Oakden. These are going to be phased out and replaced with Romney ewe hoggets’ which will be mated to the Cheviot Rams. This will complement and integrate Mt Oakden with Acheron Bank and Lake Coleridge Station.

Cattle numbers this year (2016) total 330 Angus cows mated to Angus and Hereford bulls. Lake Coleridge Station also runs 4400 merino ewes and 400 wethers. Wool produced totals 52,000 kgs of 18.5 -19 micron range being sold to NZ merino.

Acheron Bank also runs 4400 Wairiri Romney ewes and 1500 hoggets are also mated.

Byron Kirk, the then manager of Lake Coleridge Station, purchased Cheviot Rams for the first time 2012. The new manager, Mark Rose, has come with a wealth of experience having worked at the Mendip Hills Station, and for 15 years at Mount Peel Station.

Mark had not worked with or particularly had much to do with Cheviots, so when he first saw the Cheviot rams collectively in the yards he said “I nearly fell backwards over the fence! They had those prick ears and a ‘get up and go about them. I was impressed with the overall constitution and in particular the rear muscling of them”.

Having used them this year in what is Marks first full year at Lake Coleridge Station, he is very pleased with the results “they are good lambs out of the hoggets, up and running when born, and easy lambing”.

In total 1470 Romney hoggets’ went to the Cheviot rams. 108% were tailed and 85% in total to the ram. They were weaned and sold at the Rakaia Gorge Sale averaging $71 and weighing an average of 29kgs which is more than credible for hoggets. 1500 ewe hoggets will be mated this year (2016).

The two tooth Merinos are also mated to the Cheviot, the lambs give the ewes an easy birth, which in turn with good survivability reduces the risk of mismothering.

Cheviot Lambs – Impressive

LCL (Les Clement Livestock Ltd) is run by Les and Vicki Clement and is based in Kirwee, Canterbury.

Les started working in the industry in 1979 as a trainee stock agent for Dalgety Livestock. He was a founding member of Rural Livestock and twenty years later formed LCL.

LCL operates between the Rakaia and Waimakariri rivers and the Malvern Hills. There are not many sheep breeders left in this area as it is now predominately a lamb fattening area on mixed cropping farms. LCL source store lambs for these farms from North Canterbury, Southland and Banks Peninsula.  Around 100,000 lambs will be sold through LCL each year.

Les selects and drafts lambs according to quality and weight to determine their final destination.

Les said he is very impressed with the Cheviot lambs he has sold through Lean Meats at Oamaru. ‘They come forward in good condition, with well-developed hindquarters and do not get overfat. Their yield weight from live weight to deadweight is very high with a killing out percentage of 47% in ram hoggets. Even in drought these lambs have the ability to grow, gain weight and finish on grass’.

Les also said he can see a role for Cheviots as a terminal sire and combined with easy lambing attributes it has to be a plus situation.

Previous Stories

Crossing the Cheviot – Cheviot rams are used over Perendale ewe hoggets with virtually no hogget deaths and a very marketable and sought after crop of lambs.

Cheviots hit the ground running – the hoggets lamb easily, but you’ve got to have fast legs and a good crook to catch a Cheviot lamb – they hit the ground running.

Cheviots serve the ultimate purpose – Cheviot rams serve the ultimate purpose for farmer John McLaren – a live lamb out of his hoggets.

Hogget Mating for over 30 years – For many years we tried other breeds for hogget mating but found we were losing too many hoggets during lambing.

Cheviots in New Zealand  for over 150 years
Cheviots originate from the Cheviot Hills, from which the sheep gets its name,  in the border between England and Scotland.

The Cheviot breed was first introduced into New Zealand in 1845 further importations arrived in 1857, 1890 and 1937.

In 1857 Thomas Murray imported into Otago some Cheviots from Peebleshire and farmed these near Milton until selling the flock to Matthew Holmes in 1865.
Holmes became the first successful breeder and over the following years imported several more ewes and rams from Scotland. Matthew Holmes was a large landowner in Otago and later owned Castlerock Station at Lumsden. He soon recognised the hardy qualities of the breed.

In the first NZ Flock Book (1895) he records:
“The pure Cheviots have been tested on all sorts of country. At first they were kept at Awa Moa, Oamaru, on rich, heavy land; afterwards at Lee Stream, a very high and cold place, moderately grassed with tussock only, where they throve well and increased rapidly without any artificial treatment whatever.

They have also been tried at the Manapouri Lake Station, on which the Merinos had not done well, and showed themselves there much hardier and of a more vigorous constitution than the Merino, so that finally the latter were abandoned and Cheviots and cross-bred Cheviots took their place.”

At Massey College Geoffrey Peren initiated trials to study the performance of different breeds on the marginal North Island hill country and from these trials eventually evolved the Perendale. Massey was looking for a breeding ewe that would thrive and produce a good percentage of lamb on this country where the lambing percentage was rapidly decreasing . This country was turning over to wethers and during the course of collecting data from the trials it soon became apparent that the Cheviot, as a prime lamb sire on the poorer country, was far superior to any other breed.

Bob Hewitt, one of the senior staff members conducting the experiments, later wrote,
“We at Massey were so intent on producing what we now know as the Perendale that we quite overlooked the Cheviot as a fat lamb sire. We knew from experience that the first cross lambs were by far the most profitable that were sold off Tuapaka.
We expected to get 50% off their mothers on the hills and one year, believe it or not, we got 80%. I must state here that we never over-stocked with sheep and carried far more cattle than other farmers on the Fitzherbert hills.

Breed trials at Whatawhata and  results clearly showed the superiority of the Cheviot under what one can only describe as extremely severe conditions. This did not surprise me. As a prime lamb sire on the second class hills the Cheviot is unsurpassed.”

Today the aim of present society members is to maintain sufficient stock numbers to meet the demand and retain all the best qualities of the breed.

The cheviot of today still maintains all the qualities of yesterday and more ……………as it is now a proven sire for hogget mating, with high lambing percentages and low mortality overall.  Even runs of lambs are produced and are eagerly sought after for prime stock.
It has always been proven to be a consistent performer back then and in the present.  The Cheviot is a proven sustainable breed.

They are renowned for their vigorous lambs and hardiness.
Trends have swapped and changed over the past years but the Cheviot is still available offering huge potential to sheep farmers.

The Cheviot ewes are hardy, good foragers, offer easy lambing. They are also capable of producing quality prime breeding stock the female progeny by these sires offer excellent hybrid vigour as a first cross. The mothering ability, ease of lambing and milking ability of the ewes are all qualities that pass onto their offspring. The Cheviots are renowned for good feet. The Cheviot is  much more than a dual purpose breed……..

Why struggle trying differing breeds when one PURE is available……. And proven……………’ THE CHEVIOT   STANDS ABOVE THE REST’