There is obviously something very fitting about a boy by the name of Robert Burns growing up on an Ayrshire farm.

The two year old is the son of Michael and Fiona Burns who became starter farm tenants in Glenside Farm near Kirkmichael last year.

Fiona , 33, looks after the children and works on the farm as does Michael, 31, in any spare time he has from working as an Agricultural Officer for the Scottish Government.

They have 64 hectares ( 158 acres) on the main farm and an additional 104 (256 acres) on a short-term lease. They have Limousin and Galloway cattle as well as Cheviot cross and Blackface sheep.

Fiona is from a farming family near Kinross while Michael' parents have a smallholding near Newton Stewart in the south west.

" So we were both brought up on the land. It was in our blood and we were keen to get into farming. But you need a lot of money behind you to get a farm tenancy and a track record for subsidy. We were also finding often that landowners liked neighbouring farms to take over tenancies. This would allow them two income streams by renting out the farmhouse separately", Fiona said.

"We were living in at Bladnoch just outside Wigtown. We had two young children Robert and Katie who is now four. I was looking after them and working part-time in a local pub, while Michael was working for a breeding company dealing with beef and dairy cattle."

She continued: "We tried for a few tenancies without any success, but then we read about the starter farms in the Scottish Farmer and decided to go for this one. It's been a great chance and it would have been very difficult to get into farming without it. We have the farm for 10 years, unless another traditional tenancy comes up before then which would suit us. But by year 10 we would hope to have the stock and finance that would allow us to get a tenancy. So far it is going really well, although it is a challenge."