Raising Sheep With Traditional Hill Farming Methods

By Josephine Roberts
Updated on August 3, 2022
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by Josephine Roberts
The little old farmhouse above is called “Cedryn,” and it’s located in the Eigiau region of North Wales where hill farming is still popular.

Learn how to raise heritage and rare breed sheep using a traditional farming method called hill farming practiced in England and Wales.

For a small island, Great Britain certainly has more than its fair share of sheep. According to the National Sheep Association (NSA), there are thought to be more sheep breeds in the United Kingdom than in any other country in the world. Breeds like the Welsh Mountain sheep, the Border Leicester and the Cheviot are success stories. Other breeds including the Teeswater and the North Ronaldsay are rare, and rarer still is the Boreray sheep, sadly on the critically endangered list and hailing from the small island of Boreray off the northwest coast of Scotland.

The same can be said for several heritage breeds of sheep in North America, including the Saint Croix, Karakul, and Jacob on the Livestock Conservancy’s “Threatened” list, and breeds like the Florida Cracker and Hog Island on their “Critical” list. A desire for larger, more productive meat sheep has led to the decline of many smaller breeds. However, one type of farming in Britain continues to sustain these small breeds, and that is “hill farming.”

Historical hill farming

Hill farming is an agricultural practice that takes place mainly in Wales, Scotland and some parts of northern England. Sheep are the main livestock farmed in these regions, simply because in mountainous places there is little else in the way of livestock that will thrive. In Wales, we have several sheep breeds that are well suited for the land–mostly small, hardy animals, bred to cope with life in the mountains. Steep hillsides, harsh weather and rough grazing land have meant that sheep farming has long been the primary source of income for most farmers in the area. A hill farmer may own several thousand acres of land but have little need for state-of-the-art machinery since much of the land is often too rough or too hilly to cultivate.

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