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Environmental implications of changing sheep breed structure on hill farms - Eileen McCloskey, 01/12/11
The relationship between grazing livestock and heather moorlands has been an area of great importance for many years. Upland habitats have been grazed and managed by herbivores for many years, and although primarily managed for production, there has been a shift to align with environmental objectives. As a result of sustained economic pressure, there is pressure from within the sheep industry to change from traditional breeds to more productive crosses based on lowland breeds, to improve ewe productivity and thus profitability.
In an era where livestock-environmental interactions is at the forefront of many policies, and degradation of uplands has been attributed to inappropriate grazing it is remarkable that very little is known about the effect of grazing on upland habitats by different breeds of livestock.
This aim of this study was to investigate the environmental implications of changing breed structure on hill farms by monitoring the grazing patterns and foraging behaviour of traditional Scottish Blackface ewes compared to a range of crossbred ewes.
Environmental implications of changing sheep breed structure on hill farms in Northern Ireland.