New president (From Western Telegraph)

New president

11:10am Friday 5th March 2010 in

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The man who established the North Country Cheviot in Wales has been elected president of the breed society.

David Pittendreigh brought a small flock from the Black Isle, north of Inverness, when he moved to Llanlwni, Pencader, Carmarthenshire, in the early seventies as a farm manager.

He quickly established a formidable reputation as a breeder, consistently winning at the Royal Welsh Show – just last year he took the reserve male championship and his female champion went on to take the reserve overall champion. He has also been a keen supporter of the Wales and Borders ram sale since its early days.

He said: “I think one of the reasons I was made president was because I had done so much to establish the breed in Wales. I’ve sold to people from Cardiff to North Wales and have started off about 30 flocks.

“There weren’t a lot of Cheviots in Wales when I first came to the area but they are the biggest hill breed in Britain in terms of size and they fit very well into cross breeding with Welsh ewes. If you keep them pure you can get the lambs away early at 21kgs if you are intensive, or you can keep them on until the spring in a more extensive system. They are very versatile.

“I average 170% lambing and they’re a good mothering, milky, hardy sheep. Mine are the Park type, which are the heavier of the three types of North Country Cheviot.”

Mr Pittendreigh says he is delighted by the upturn in the sheep trade – with big ewes fetching £200 recently he feels the industry is buoyant.