"Distinctly Cheviot" - PART 2 (SNEAK PEEK)

Just a quick word about the future of our Cheviot Flock...

We decided that if we were going to promote ourselves as breeders of "old style" Cheviots, then our sheep better have breed character coming out of their ears...  So when a friend found a breeder down in North Carolina who was interested in selling stock from his registered flock which he has kept closed for 16 years, we were interested in finding out what he had...  I will say that I would personally never keep my genetic base so narrow for so long.

I talked to the breeder extensively and he emailed me a few pictures of his sheep.  I liked their breed character and thought that crossing these sheep with ours would definately be worth trying, so we decided to invest in a few ewes and perhaps a young ram.  Our plan was to breed the ewes to our homegrown ram lamb and then to put a ram from his flock on some of our ewes.

Wayne drove down to North Carolina and picked up the sheep...  after many hours of driving and an unexpected tow to a Ford Dealership for a new alternator on his way home, I finally got to see the sheep in person.

As you can see, they were nice, "typey", and stocky ewes...  What immediately suprised me was that they were quite a bit smaller than my ewes.    WHY?    Is this the "TRUE" size of a Cheviot?    or is the smaller stature a function of keeping the genetics of the flock closed for so long?   Or perhaps this is a result of a completely grass fed environment and upbringing?

This picture was taken the day the ewes came out of quarantine and had gone through a very agressive deworming regimine in order to minimize the risk of introducing parasites from a warmer climate which may be more resistant to commercial dewormers.  You can see the size difference pretty well in this picture.

Regardless of the reason for the size difference, these ewes do not look narrow so their capacity to carry and deliver healthy lambs is not worrying me...   and I think that crossing them with my genetics should produce some pretty nice sheep.  Time will tell!

If nothing else, we have added some more variety...  stay tuned for updates as our 2011 lambs show us what the future may hold!