Northies celebrate 40 years at the Royal Welsh this year

The versatile breed was first exhibited at the event in 1983 by a handful of dedicated breeders who had successfully begun to establish the Northie in Wales.

Among them was recent past president of the North Country Cheviot Sheep Society, Melfyn Williams, whose father, John Huw, was a noted early adopter of the breed.

Huw and Melfyn were joined by other well-known breeders of the day including David Pittendreigh, David Roberts, John Lloyd and David Hughes, to compete in just two classes, one for rams and the other for ewes.

Melfyn, who was around 14 at the time, described the early shows as ‘very competitive and very social’.

He has competed at every Royal Welsh Show since, except when his dad judged the interbreed classes, the year of foot and mouth, and when it was cancelled due to Covid.

The Williams’ Pengroes flock won the first Interbreed title for the North Country Cheviot in 1997.

Melfyn said: “Those early shows were a fantastic time for someone with an interest in the breed as they set the scene for the next 40 years.

“Naturally, everyone wanted to win in the ring, but as soon as it was over everyone got together, had a drink or two and talked about Northies. It was a great atmosphere then and still is now.”

Melfyn recalls that in 1983, there were around 34 North Country Cheviots exhibited, with the first champion being won by Lady Beaumont of Deddington Mill, Oxfordshire.

This year there have been more than 130 entries for the Northie classes at the Royal Welsh, with breeders coming from all corners of the country.

“This reflects the growing popularity of the breed in Wales,” Melfyn said.

“There’s potential for further growth, too. The Park type is very popular and we’ve seen an increase in the Hill type over the past five years.

“The Northie is one of the largest hill breeds with the park-type being suited to lower pasture and hill areas, while the hill type can go ‘further up the mountain’ and people really seeing the advantages of that.”

The North Country Cheviot was first introduced into Wales in the 1970s after the breed society felt there was potential in crossing the breed to the Welsh Mountain ewe.

The society started to take a stand at the Royal Welsh Show in the 70s to promote the Northie, which caught the eye of a number of local breeders.

David Pittendreigh, now 82, also exhibited in the first breed classes in 1983, and like a number of the original exhibitors, has competed every year since, except when asked to judge.

Unlike many of his fellow competitors, however, David started his shepherding career with Northies, in Black Isle, Inverness.

After a stint in the borders running Scottish Blackface, he then moved to West Wales where he found local sheep breeders were beginning to express an interest in Northie lambs.

Keen to help them out, he got in touch with his old boss in Black Isle with the intention of buying some lambs, only to find the flock was up for sale.

He promptly bought 50 sheep and moved them down to his new home to become the Coel-Y-Foel flock in Llanlwni, Cardiganshire in 1973.

It was to become just the second Northie flock to be registered in Wales, but over the course of his career, David has started a total of 53 flocks with his ewes.

He said: “That first year, I was selling ram lambs for £20 - £25 but when people saw them this soon rose to £30.

“Then a chap came along and asked if I had anymore for sale but I said no, as I was keeping the best one for myself.

“He asked to see it and as soon as he did, he offered me £50 for it, so I sold it. That’s how much people wanted them in those days. It all blossomed from there and just got bigger and bigger.”

He added that some of the earliest memories of showing Northies at the Royal Welsh Show was the parties.

“We had some fantastic parties after the showing,” he said.

“I have some great memories from those times and from the Royal Welsh generally. It is a fantastic show. It’s a family show and has always been a family show. That’s why people love it so much.”

At its height, the Coel-Y-Foel flock consisted for 150 Park type North Country Cheviot ewes, but despite being in his 80s, David still runs 40 ewes.

He was recently made an honorary president of the North Country Cheviot Sheep Society.

In 2000, a Gilston-bred North Country Cheviot ram shown by Arwel and June Jones won supreme champion of champions at the show – a truly fantastic achievement when up against so many breeds at the Royal Welsh Show.

The Royal Welsh Show takes places on from Monday, July 24th to Thursday, July 27th at the Royal Welsh Showground, Llanelwedd, near Builth Wells, Powys.