Easy lambing means Cheviots still have a role to play, says top breeder

Wagga Wagga, NSW, Cheviot stud Chain Gate has taken out the breed's supreme ribbon at the Australian Sheep & Wool Show with a "balanced" young ewe.

Chain Gate stud principal Peter Simpson said he felt the judge liked the balance in the ewe.

"She is a nice young ewe, who stood well," he said.

Judge Brenton Heazlewood, Whitemore, Tas, said it had been hard to separate the two, as both were very good representatives of the breed.

"The ewe is a lovely ewe, just a very well-balanced, feminine ewe," Mr Heazlewood said.

"She comes out and naturally stands well.

"That's not taking away anything from the ram, but the ewe just had it over him."

He said he felt the ewe was a better representative of Cheviot females than the ram was of its male line.

Mr Heazlewood said the champion ram, from Grand Ridge and Seaview, Seaview, was "well balanced with a reasonable amount of length about him".

"He's got a reasonable barrel and is nice in the wool," he said.

He said the reserve champion ram, also by Grand Ridge and Seaview, had a "beautiful barrel on him", while not being overlong in the leg and body.

"If the wool was taken off him, he may just lack a little bit in the hindquarters, and that's the only reason I went for the champion," he said.

Mr Simpson said the stud had a poor spring, and it was dry for most of last year.

"There's been good winter rain so far, it's green but there is not a lot of length in the pasture," he said.

"The stock is starting to pick up a bit."

He said that had required more feeding to bring them up to "some sort of condition".

He said the top ewe was in lamb so he would see how her progeny turned out.

He said interest in Cheviots was "very quiet in NSW".

"I don't know if they are on the endangered list, but there are not many ewes left in Australia, and that's going to create more problems down the track, genetically," he said.

But he believed the Cheviot still had a place, because of their genetics.

"You never know what's going to happen in the future, and it's nice to go back and rely on some past genetic material," he said.

He said he was selling rams to Merino breeders in the NSW-Victorian border area.

"They want to join the younger ewes early, so they have easy lambing," he said.

"One of the good characteristics about Cheviots is its lambing ability.

"When they do lamb, they are good, vigorous little lambs."