The best kept secret in the sheep industry.

If you want hardy sheep that can thrive whether the conditions are adverse or ideal, then North Country Cheviots are for you. North Country Cheviot sheep are a "hill breed". The designation encompasses much more than the fact that they evolved on the rugged Scotch highlands. Of necessity, hill sheep thrive untended by man, searching for browse on wild unimproved herbage. They usually lamb alone and the newborn lambs are able to survive by their near-miraculous ability to get up, nurse and run just minutes after birth. They are intelligent, self-reliant, resourceful, and among the healthiest and longest lived breeds. Truly, they are the product of two hundred years of selection by survival of the fittest!
North Country ewes have a strong protective instinct toward their lambs, and many experienced breeders have tales to tell of their miraculous survival, strength and self-reliance. North Country ewes and bucks have been known to chase a dog out of the pasture. Fantasy quickly becomes stark reality when the shepherd owns North Country Cheviot Sheep. North Country Cheviots are indeed the best kept secret in the sheep industry.

Origin: The northern latitude of Scotland has a long a trying winter, and the summer often short and cool. It is under these very difficult conditions that the North Country Cheviot was developed.

In Scotland there are two main types of farms where North Countrys are kept. One is the upland farm and the other is the hill farm. It is difficult to precisely define the difference between these two kinds of farms, but in general terms a hill farm is one that contains little or no arable land and an upland farm would contain at least some ground where forage crops are grown. Under hill farm conditions, the flocks are usually bred pure and graze year round unattended much like wild animals. On an upland farm the stocking rate may run one ewe per one to two acres of grazing land. The flocks may be purebred or the breeder may be engaged in crossbreeding of North Country ewes with Border Leicester rams to produce the famous Scotch half bred ewe. This is often done by purchasing four to six year old ewes from hill farms and moving them to the upland farm where the less severe conditions allows them to produce several more lamb crops. Under these conditions the ewes often produce lamb crops that are 150% and some Farms produce 200% lamb crops.
At three to four months of age a first class North Country lamb could yield a carcass of around forty five pounds. Live weight of and adult ewe on good ground is around 180 pounds, and a mature ram would weigh around 300 pounds. J Bar Stenberg Ranch has raised North Country's for 25 years under unpampered range conditions.