# Cheviot



## Year of the Rooster (Nov 2, 2011)

Does anyone have Cheviots or know anything about them? What do you like/dislike about them? How common are they? After looking at the pictures I'm starting to fall in love with them


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## goodhors (Nov 2, 2011)

They seem to be rather goat-like, very bouncy as a breed.  They have very lovely wool, extremely 
good quality for spinning.

They don't seem to tame down as much as other breeds.  Stay rather spooky, fight when handled, 
even if you work with them.  Just not a friendly as other kind of sheep breeds.  They jump well, 
so you need good fences.  They are not large as sheep can be, so for meat the lambs will be quite
small.

I decided not to get them, they were more work than I wanted to do with my sheep.  Friends who 
had them have since gotten rid of them.  He sold his lambs for eating but they were only about 70 pounds, 
so only a miniscule amount of meat after processing. They were pretty difficult to handle, hard to 
gather to shear.  They LIKE their animals, worked with them regular, still had issues.  Heard the same
from others who owned Cheviots.

They are a cute sheep, but maybe better in commercial wool flocks, than ones you want as pets too.


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## Year of the Rooster (Nov 2, 2011)

Ah, I see then... What kind of sheep would be similar to the Cheviot, but are more tame? And if you don't mind me asking, what kind of sheep did you choose?


ETA: I just looked at the Border Leicester. How do they compare?


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## aggieterpkatie (Nov 3, 2011)

I agree with Goodhors about the Cheviots. My friend owns some and I've noticed the same qualities.  


Border Leicesters, on the other hand, I love them!  They're gorgeous, have wonderful wool, and good carcass quality.  Now, if you're looking for a mainly meat breed, I'm not sure I'd pick them, but if you're looking for something with good wool and decent meat, I think they'd be a good choice.  My neighbor raises them and I really like them.  Another choice may be the Romney. They're very nice sheep as well, and I used to own them (still have a few crosses) but now I'm focusing more on raising Southdowns (standard, not babydoll).


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## 20kidsonhill (Nov 3, 2011)

We had a cheviot/suffolk cross one year for showing at the fair, And that thing was crazy.  We never got one again with cheviot in it.  We never could really get it to tame down and cooperate.


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## 20kidsonhill (Nov 3, 2011)

Hampshire are all the rage right now for meat lambs,  It often switches between hampshire and suffolk.  Not sure about any of the other breeds, since we have always just done 4H meat projects.


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## goodhors (Nov 3, 2011)

Since I am not a spinner, am a poor knitter, we have mostly gone with meat sheep.
I looked at the Cheviots when i first got interested in sheep, also because they are
so cute!  The farm was nice, but wnen we stangers got close to the pens the sheep 
got very excited and ran wildly about.  Many jumping in the air, and they were BIG
jumpers, easy 4ft up.  Husband was not impressed, he meets a number of sheep in 
his business as a Farrier.  We didn't buy any.

Then we got a deal on some FREE crossbred ewes who had outgrown their lamb cuteness
and were into the nusiance stage.  They were nice with good fences, tame and 
friendly, were easy to get bred and we then ate the lambs.  Between the two, we would
have 2-3-4 lambs each spring.  Lambs fattened on grass, processed about New Years and 
they were BIG, 150# or more on the hoof!! Cutting numbers because we couldn't eat that
much, we traded one ewe off for use of the ram, then the bred ewe died, so we were out of 
sheep for a while.

With kid needing an FFA project, we got back in with market lambs.  If you want to do
well showing here, you MUST have the black faces and black legs.  So Suffolk, Hamp, or 
lambs who look like them are what do best.  Our kids work with their lambs daily, results showed with
lambs being easy to handle, friendly, show well.  These breeds can also give the bigger carcass when you process
if you want meat quantity, without getting too old so they are mutton not lamb in flavor.
I want BIG lambs to process, over 130#.  Makes the meat a little cheaper per pound, because 
your basic fee per head is the same, regardless of weight.  I get larger cuts of meat, no 
quarter sized (medallion) lamb chops, and the legs can be cut into several pieces for reasonable
sized roasts, quantity of other meat cuts and burger.

If you just are looking at wool, meat sheep have a very coarse quality.  I do keep what 
we shear off, wash it and use for pillow stuffing.  It is excellent filling, washable, dried in 
the dryer and makes for comfortable pillows.  This is very short cuts, since the show lambs are 
shorn about monthly for better weight gain in summer heat.  I feel guilty throwing it away!

Wool breeds have MUCH more quantity in their fleeces, you want length in the fiber so they
wouldn't be shorn so often unless you are just going to eat the lambs.  I an not sure what kind
of quantity you would be able to use up in wool.  There are mills that will clean and process 
the wool for you.  You can get it turned into bats for quilting, spinning material, or finished 
into yarn for just using.  My mom made quilts with wool batting, LOVELY to sleep under.

There are many breeds of sheep to enjoy, they all have their niche areas.  We wanted sheep
to graze and keep the fences cleaned out, provide lambs to eat.  They were fairly cheap to 
keep fed over winter, especially compared to horses!  And the price on the original ewes 
couldn't be beat!  Well bred sheep are more pricy, but you get a good product, they breed 
true.  

However in talking at Fair to other sheep folks, they agee that the commercial meat breeds do seem 
easier to tame, calmer to work with on a regular basis.  They often own both meat and
wool sheep, do the equal amount of handling all their animals.  The wool breeds just are
a bit flighty, regardless.  Exceptions would be singles or a pair kept as pets, treated more
like dogs.  And this is with a variety of wool breeds in the larger sizes.

Pick some you like looking at, read up on them.  Don't get locked in on a breed until you find out
how available they are, cost to purchase.  And while many of the "unique" sheep are
enticing, there is a REASON they are not common.  We never seem to find out the reasons 
until AFTER we have invested in that horse, dog and have to live with the quirks!  If I had 
more room, I might buy some of the odd sheep because they ARE cute.


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## Year of the Rooster (Nov 3, 2011)

Wow! Thank you very much, goodhors! That was very helpful 

Thanks for everyone else's info too, this was a great help!


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## SlowMoneyFarm (Nov 7, 2011)

I really like the cheviot - hardy, decent to handle, plan to get more when I have room to put them. Even better were the cheviot X barbados crosses.


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## 77Herford (Nov 13, 2011)

A book that was helpful for me was Stories Guide to Sheep, I believe it was called.  They have nearly every breed of sheep imaginable plus their average wool rating.  They also add average weights and other qualities.


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