WHEN is farming like midwifery?

When you have more than 2000 animals to give birth every year and where successful births underpin everything else on the farm. This is the challenge facing Ayrshire farmer Michael Logan.

Micheal farms with his father William, brother David and Uncle Johnny three miles in from the coast at Girvan. The two farms Dalfask and Pinmacher total around 1600 acres and rise to more than 800ft above sea level. The farm is all grass, predominantly permanent pasture and is home to 1800 ewes and 250 suckler cows.

"Managing successful births is at the heart of our system," he comments. "We want animals, whether ewes or cows, to give birth as easily as possible so that the lamb or calf is able to start growing quickly with the mother able to recover condition prior to rebreeding.

"Problem births have a big knock-on effect. We run the risk of more intervention, increased mortality, slower growth rates and potentially higher culling rates. We can't afford passengers so we really need every animal to produce offspring every year.

"Getting everything off to a good start can make a big difference to the business."

The 1800 ewes cover a mix of breeds with 500 Blackface, 250 Texels, around 800 Blueface Leicester over Blackface Texel crosses and 250 ewe hoggs.

Texel tups are turned out from October 15 and taken back in at the end of November, giving a lambing period from mid-March until early May which allows the ewes to be managed outdoors. Last year ewes scanned at 190% with 185% lambs born. Hoggs scanned at 140%.

"We keep the ewes at grass but will feed square bale silage in the field from mid-January onwards. We bring in ewes at night to lamb but let them out during the day."

In the four weeks prior to lambing the ewes are supplemented with Scotmin Megastart Ewe and Lamb blocks. Megastart contains energy from protected fat, cereals and molasses but also contains Safmannan, a mannan oligosaccharide (MOS) which is unique in that it is cell wall material harvested from a specific strain of yeast and therefore renowned for its consistent quality. It also contains a balance of minerals and vitamins, including vitamin E which is essential for lamb survival.

"All ewes have access to the blocks and will consume around 100g/day.

"We find it helps ensure the ewes get the minerals they need along with extra energy to help them lamb easily and get settled into lactation producing plenty of good quality milk as we want the early lambs finishing quickly," Michael explained.

"We had very few lambing problems and the ewes had plenty of colostrum meaning we got the lambs off to a good start and with fewer problem ewes to tend to."

The lambs are turned straight out to grass. There is no creep feeding and twins and singles are managed the same way. Ewes are fed concentrates until grass growth picks up.

All lambs are sold to Scotbeef with the first batch selling from early June. They look to sell 60-70 lambs a week right through to the end of January.

"We are aiming for 20kg deadweight carcases as we don't get paid for anything more than 21kg. Last year 60% graded Es and Us with the rest producing R grades. We like to get as many away by the end of June as possible before the price falls. This can be worth an extra £7 per lamb."

All lambs are weighed at point of sale using an electronic weigh cell. Later finishing lambs are weighed at weaning which is usually at the end of August when silage aftermaths become available. They will then be grouped based on weight.

In 2014 Michael also fed Megastart to lambs as he had some blocks available and was pleased with the results, commenting that they finished well and a little earlier.

"As we want to move more lambs on sooner it is something we will consider this year but we need to be careful not to let them grow too quickly and get too fit."

Run in parallel to the sheep flock, the suckler herd comprises 250 Limousin cross Friesian cows.

Bulling heifers are bought in from a dedicated source as Michael says they are hard to come by.

The cows are crossed to Simmental bulls. Heifers calve in August with the majority of cows calving from September until the end of November, with around 40 spring calvers.