Like all dedicated sheep farmers, the primary aim come lambing time is to keep losses to an absolute minimum, and the Irvine family is no exception.

Running 180 Mules and a small pedigree flock of Blue Texels at 240-acre Braehead Farm in north-east Scotland, Martin and Mel, together with Martin’s parents Stephen and Denise, work very much as a team, and it’s their attention to detail that stands out.

Meticulous in all aspects of the pre- and post-lambing management, it’s no surprise to see the importance that they attach to colostrum. Crucially, this starts weeks before lambing, with specialist supplementation of the ewes to ensure both quantity and quality is guaranteed.

“I believe some people refer to colostrum as ‘liquid gold’,” says Mel Irvine, “and we most certainly do everything we can to ensure all lambs receive an adequate amount as soon as possible. Whoever is on lambing duty knows the routine, which is ideally to see the lambs up and drinking within minutes. If there’s any doubt, particularly with triplet lambs, the lambs will be stomach tubed with either colostrum replacer or ideally their mother's colostrum to ensure they receive that vital first feed as soon as possible.

“We all work hard keeping pens fresh, disinfecting between each lambing but there’s no doubt in my mind that getting colostrum into the lambs is as important as anything in minimising losses.”

Whilst there are many aspects of management year-round that play their part in ensuring ewes are in the best condition for lambing, it’s late pregnancy that the Irvines regard as the most critical when it comes to colostrum quality. To this end, ewes are supplemented with high energy liquid feed and also – from about six weeks pre-lambing – with Rumenco’s Lifeline Lamb and Ewe buckets. This patented formulation provides a blend of nutritional boosters that support the ewe’s immune function and has been independently proven to increase colostrum quality. Lifeline Pre-Calver is also available for cattle, and has been utilised by the family for its suckler herd.

“We have used Lifeline in our cattle for longer than we have in the sheep,” says Martin Irvine, “and there’s no doubt in my mind that we have seen benefits, not just in colostrum quality but also in other areas such as easier calving.”

Colostrum is now tested routinely in the sheep using a refractometer, which measures the specific gravity to determine the concentration of antibodies, and Mel reports that quality is more often than not ‘off the scale’.

The sheep are a relatively new enterprise at Braehead Farm, but are now seen as an ideal complement to the 65-cow pedigree Limousin suckler herd that produces quality cattle for the breeding sales.

“First and foremost, it’s important to have a breed that suits the area,” says Mel, “and we’ve found the Mules work really well for us. We have a mixture of English and Scotch Mules, breeding them to either the Blue Texel or a Texel cross Beltex.

“Having sheep on the farm has been beneficial in terms of helping to maintain grazing quality, which has been good for the cattle. There’s also the fact that the dry ewes will graze on the 60 acres of rough pasture that we have. This makes good use of this more marginal land whilst ensuring we avoid ewes becoming over fat and are in optimum condition before flushing.”

Lambing the main Mule flock from the end of March, the Irvines work to a target of achieving two lambs weaned (in July) from every ewe going to the tup. Lambs are all sold through the Morrisons Farming abattoir at Turriff, with the earliest hitting the 45kg liveweight target off grass from August onwards and the slower growing lambs being finished on kale or a kale/turnips mix from about October onwards.

“We’ll hope to have sold all the lambs by the end of January,” adds Martin. “The fodder crops work very well as a way to finish lambs without any concentrate feed, and they fit well in the rotation with spring barley – which we grow for feeding at home – or as a break crop before reseeding grass.”