We see how father and son farming duo Ken and Richard Matthews allow their ewes time to deliver their lambs but know when to make the judgement call to intervene and assist the ewes with the birthing process.

We also witness how a breach birth left a big lamb fighting for its life at birth and hear how a lamb presenting backwards poses a major risk of its lungs becoming filled with fluid and the ways farmers can act fast to resuscitate these lambs at birth.

The Mathews demonstrate their strategy for getting the fluid out of the lambs' lungs, and thankfully the lamb is resuscitated after a nerve-wracking few minutes in the lambing pen.

The lamb and its mother go to the 'ICU unit' where the lamb is tube-fed colostrum and placed under a heat lamp.

Richard notices a lamb in the post-lambing pens with 'a folded eyelid' or an inverted bottom eyelid.

He explained that this essentially means the eyelid is rubbing against the eye, which if left untreated, can cause blindness in the eye.

He demonstrates how this issue can be solved with "a very simple fix". The lamb's eyelid is gently pressed down allowing the eyelid to fold out into a normal position.

Up at the pet-lamb rearing facility, or 'the creche' as it is known on the farm, Ken talks us through some of the pet-lamb rearing costs.

He says that a lamb reared on the ad-lib feeder will drink "less than a bag" of milk powder. The lambs are generally weaned at five weeks-of-age.

At that stage, the lambs are confidently eating concentrates.

Ken discusses the profitability of the system, saying that he generally allows for €50 of milk powder fed per lamb. He added that, last year, the pet lambs made from €170-€180/head in the factory.

He also highlighted that costs such as straw, labour, and concentrates must be taken into account.

Ken then gives us insight into the practical data-recording system in place on the farm. He shows us how medical records are kept up-to-date with a simple clipboard and chart system on the farm that ensures compliance with regulations surrounding medicine use.

Don't forget the final episode tomorrow evening (Thursday, March 26) where we meet some of the winners of the 2025 ICM Flocks of the Future Competition.

We also catch up with the general manager of ICM Camolin, and get lots more tips and insights from the lambing shed.