Livestock Welfare in Mountainous and Hill Farming Systems

Hill and mountain farming systems raise livestock in challenging terrain and climates, with extensive production systems providing welfare benefits from natural behavior expression alongside challenges from harsh weather and limited veterinary access.

Key Facts

UK hill farms raise sheep and cattle on approximately 40% of total farmland area in challenging upland environments
Extensive hill systems allow natural behavioral expression including grazing large areas and natural social grouping
Harsh winter conditions on upland farms cause significant welfare challenges from cold, wet, and nutritional stress
Veterinary access to remote hill farms may be delayed, meaning welfare problems can go untreated longer
Hill farming is culturally important and produces higher welfare meat from animals living natural lives

Welfare Considerations

Hill farming welfare involves genuine tradeoffs between natural behavioral freedom and the welfare challenges of harsh environments and limited resources. Animals on upland farms experience genuine freedoms including space, natural social grouping, and expression of foraging behavior across varied terrain. Against these positives, harsh winters cause significant welfare suffering for sheep without adequate shelter or supplementary feeding. Lambing in exposed conditions without shelter causes lamb mortality from hypothermia. Management intensity and investment in welfare infrastructure varies enormously between hill farming operations.

What You Can Do

Support hill farming certification schemes that verify welfare standards alongside environmental commitments
Choose upland lamb and beef that supports culturally important farming systems when welfare is demonstrably good
Advocate for agri-environment support that enables hill farmers to maintain welfare infrastructure
Learn about the welfare tradeoffs in extensive upland farming before making judgments
Support organizations including the Upland Alliance that represent hill farming interests and welfare