I farm: “A 20ac sheep farm and I also have an 80ac suckler farm with my mother.”

Sheep: “I have 35 Charollais ewes; 20 pedigrees and 15 commercials. They are easy lambing; they’ve slender heads. Also, if you had to keep a lamb for later in the year, it wouldn’t get fat – they stay lean.”

Lambing: “I took two weeks off work with parental leave so I have a very compact lambing this season. I scanned at about 1.78 and I’m on about 1.5 with lambs on the ground. I’d like to have it at 1.65, but it’s not the worst especially for a pedigree flock. I’ll keep them in groups for another while; I’ll keep singles and doubles separate. It’s just easier to spot a lamb getting weak.”

Quads: “They were from an ewe that had a single last year. She had four this year but she only scanned with three. I had her on extra meal for nearly six weeks which is one thing that might have saved the lambs. They’re doing well, I’m bottle feeding two of them and she’s rearing the other two herself but I’ve kept them all together. It’s one ewe lamb and three ram lambs.”

Sucklers: “I have six Shorthorn heifers and mum has the suckler cows, year-and-a-halfs and weanlings. We’ve pedigree Shorthorns and we’ve a couple of Simmentals and Limousins. They’ve good calving and their hardiness; you can winter them out, but the quietness or lack of hostility is the main difference with the Shorthorns. We keep the calving and lambing periods separate because we use some of the same open sheds for both.”