A SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT

Philiphaugh Farm, lies just outside the Scottish Border town of Selkirk and forms part of the larger Philiphaugh Estate which is owned by Sir Michael Strang-Steele. Alan Cowens, together with wife Kirsty and their two young sons, Cameron and James, work in a contract farming partnership with the estate. The farm covers 1200 acres, 800 of which is grassland with the other 400 acres being split equally between woodland and the arable ground, which grows Winter and Spring Barley for malting with 60 ton retained for winter feeding.

With the land running in a steep slope away from the farm steading to a height of 1,000 ft, the ground lends itself to the stock of 1200 Park Halfbred ewes can produce heavier and Lairg type North Country Cheviots, which wedder lambs are bred to both the Border and Blue Leicester rams. There are a further 350 NCC ewe lambs as followers and an unregistered but pure flock of 70 Texel Ewes has also been introduced recently with the Texel Shearlings being sold at Kelso in September. All of the stock are homebred, with the exception of the 100 North Country Hill ewes bought at Lairg each year.

As well as the stock, the farm carries 50 Luing , 20 Simmental , 4 Aberdeen Angus and 140 suckler cows which are predominantly home bred Simm X Luing. The cattle, like the sheep outwinter on grass and silage with the bull calves finished on a Harbro blend mixed with the home grown barley. The cattle are also strip grazed on Kale with the store lambs finished on kale and stubble turnips.

Halfbred Ewe lambs hoping to equal the market topping spot of last year’s lambs

Philiphaugh runs uphill from the steading to a height of 1000 feet

For many years, Philiphaugh had used the rams to produce Cheviot mules from the South Country Cheviot but the need for a bigger, stronger ewe with a better skin and lambing percentage, encouraged Alan to think again about the system and invest in the North Country Cheviot. While the Bluefaced Leicester is still used to produce Mules out of the Lairg type ewes, Alan could see that there was still a good demand for halfbred ewes and it was at this point he considered the possibility or using the Border Leicester on the Park Ewes. “I remembered my father using the Border Leicester to produce Halfbreds to breed Suffolk X Halfbred ewes which I considered to be very good sheep. When we moved here the Bluefaced Leicester was the main crossing sire and I decided to try the Border Leicester again to breed halfbred lambs as an experiment for a year on 100 ewes, just to see how it would work.” explains Alan. “The lambs did so well for both breeding and fattening that I’ve decided to continue. The lambs sold privately easily and last year were sold at the sale at St Boswells, where the two pens made £135, topping the sale, while the other made £121. My original buyer now breeds his own half-bred lambs after I bought him some NCC ewes.” He laughs, “So I shot myself on the foot with that one!” One of last year’s homebred lambs doing well in the showring this year The farm still retains the Bluefaced Leicester to use on the smaller Lairg type NCC ewes to produce the Cheviot Mule lambs which sell well at Longtown and gives the farm some good diversification without having too many breeds. “The top end Mule lambs sell well, says Alan who had pens to a top of £124 for his lambs last year, “but the smaller lambs fell away to just over £100, so I will be keeping the smaller mule lams to run on to gimmers this year.” The 180 Gimmers he sold at Longtown last year, averaged £140

“There has always been a small flock of Bluefaced Leicesters at Philiphaugh and they are set to continue but with The Border Leicester breeders making a move to improve the skins in particular, they are becoming a very good prospect for producing heavier wedder lambs, which sell well on the Weigh and Pay Scheme, as they will weigh 3-4 kilos heavier than the Mule wedder lambs and last year they all graded at R3L.” says Alan. “My only concern with the breed is a need for Ram breeders to pay attention to an eyelid issue on some rams which causes us some problems at lambing time with turned in eyelids.” The Border Leicester rams are now bought at Kelso with shape and skins in mind with two of the current stock rams coming from Sandy and Alex Watson’s Intock flock, one from David Walker at Alticaine and two older stock rams from Allanshaws, which Roderick Runciman had surplus to requirements. The 600 Park ewes scan at around 185% to The Border Leicester and generally lamb over 165%. The more prolific 800 Lairg draft ewes, which were bought from Joyce Campbell at Armadale north of Thurso, have done really well in the Borders, scanning at an outstanding 190% pure. While none of the sheep are in a health scheme, the farm is part of the Land Managers Contract which involves working with the local vets Good skins and shape forms the basis of buying rams on various issue including footrot problems which have improved immensely since the introduction of Footvax vaccine.

“In the future, I plan to continue to breed Halfbreds, says Alan, as there is a good demand and market for them and they are in short supply for those people who want to breed a heavier lamb. There is a place for both types of Leicester at Philiphaugh, each supplying their own market and working together side by side.”

There is good demand and a shortage of supply for quality halfbred lambs and gimmers