Sheep
- Sheep Subsidies
- Depredation
- Highland Farming
- Highland Sheep
- Highland History
Three million sheep live in the Highlands. This is the major problem for the wolf reintroduction.
| Web Address www.wolftrust.org.uk Email Address Wolf Trust |
Highland Farming
 The Highlands: Daibaig on Loch Torridon. Courtesy Highlands Of Scotland Tourist Board |
Agriculturally speaking, Scotland ranges from soaked mountain ranges on the west coast, north and interior, to dry, flat lowland on the east coast with relatively shorter winters and better soil. Farms Farms range from tiny crofts on poor soil in the west and north (typically with a few acres of relatively better land for crops and with rights for extensive grazing of their sheep on the hills) to huge estates of several thousand hectares associated with gentry and sporting interests in the north and south. The majority of the Highlands, like other high land in Britain, is considered to be suitable only for sheep and cattle rearing (Scottish Office 1998). Livestock The Highlands are stocked with about three million sheep (SEERAD 2001). They live on the hill all year and are the major problem for the wolf reintroduction. The principle product of Highland hill sheep farms is 'store' lambs sold annually to farms on lower ground to be fattened for the market (Scottish Office 1998). Some 370,000 cattle (Scottish Office 1998), like Galloway and Highland cattle, are raised in the Highlands and are economically important in their own right. People Nearly 5,000 people are employed in the Highlands in farming and crofting (ie crofts with one or more hectares) in full-time, part-time, seasonal and casual jobs and over half these jobs are on cattle and sheep farms (SEERAD 2001). References Scottish Office (1998): Agriculture in Scotland. Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries Department. SEERAD (2001): Agriculture Facts and Figures. Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department. Scottish Office Publications.
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