What Are the Hills and Uplands?
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Dales and Snowdonia - in fact 9 of the 13 national What are the hills parks in England and Wales are in hill farming areas. Contributing and uplands? Features to look out for to the economy The English and Welsh uplands are elevated areas Each area has its own distinctive features. Farming Beyond creating and managing with dramatic features such as hills, moors, valleys includes hardy, often local cattle and sheep breeds. Britain’s cherished hills and uplands and mountains. Despite harsh conditions, for There are few arable areas in the hills and uplands, farming is the driving force behind 024 7685 8500 hundreds of years, hill sheep and cattle have shaped simply because crops cannot thrive in the often its economy. Farmers buy feed and this iconic landscape and created one of the most challenging conditions. machinery from local businesses, [email protected] important managed environments in the country. process food through local abattoirs This history of livestock farming has led to some large and of course buy their own groceries in the local town, not www.nfuonline.com The high elevation and soil makeup of these areas areas of grazing to be designated as common land, forgetting socialising on a market day! makes farming a particular challenge, with factors where certain farmers have the right to graze cattle www.facebook.com/NFUonline including high rainfall, low temperature, severe and sheep. Off the commons, it has also led to the In the South West, home to Exmoor, Dartmoor and Bodmin weather, acidic soil and isolation from services making development of very distinctive field boundaries, moor, each livestock farming job supports an extra 0.5 jobs some everyday tasks difficult – some hill farmers have including dry stone walls and Devon hedges. These elsewhere in the economy - jobs in feed companies, vet to own snowmobiles! boundaries have been maintained for hundreds of surgeries, auction marts and hauliers. years so fields are often smaller in the hills than in other Keeping livestock on the hills is the key to maintaining parts of the country where field sizes have increased. Outside obvious industries, the very landscape created by the character of these areas which include such Nowadays this can cause problems for large modern farming is part of what brings over 3 billion visits to the National Farmers’ Union, Agriculture House, Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire CV8 2TZ treasured landscapes as the Lake District, the Yorkshire machinery trying to navigate through small gateways. countryside every year. This in turn supports local jobs in tourism, hospitality and other local businesses. LOVE579-14TL YO cover Farm 3.indd 2 07/05/2015 13:30 CO UR UNTRYS Three simple Why is farming Farm animals of the uplands Have you brought IDE your four-legged important in friend with you on this ways you can Upland farmers are proud to produce trip to the great British high quality beef and lamb for us to countryside? help our uplands the uplands? eat as well as breeding stock for many Almost every aspect of the lowland farms. Due to the nature The NFU, together thrive: hills owes its existence to of the area they farm the majority with the Kennel generations of livestock farmers of hill farms are also involved in Club, is promoting and their animals. Centuries environmental schemes. These schemes responsible of farming has created provide benefits for local wildlife, dog walking to unique views and distinctive water quality and even migratory make sure we characteristics of some of our species from countries as far away as can all enjoy the most loved countryside. Alaska and sub-Saharan Africa! system. Tough hill sheep are crossbred countryside safely. to produce hardy breeding stock for Keep visiting the countryside – by Farmers’ craftsmanship ensures England’s 2.2m hectares of uplands are lowland farmers to produce lamb. Farms are working visiting or staying in the upland miles of stone walls, hedges home to 44 per cent of breeding ewes Hill areas often have their own area environments areas you’ll be contributing and buildings withstand and 40 per cent of beef cows. In Wales, specific breeds, most famously the so please be aware Dogof walking sign-English.indd your 1 30/03/2015 12:12 to local economies and farm the buffeting of gales and 75 per cent of breeding ewes and 85 Herdwick from the Lake District, but surroundings – your dog can diversification activities. et guide t winter storms and managed per cent of beef cows are found on also the incredibly popular Swaledale scare or even harm farm animals. Pock o... grazing balances the natural 1.1m hectares of Welsh uplands. from Yorkshire, now found all over Please stay safe and use a lead progression to thick woodland the country, and the distinctive around livestock, but if you are Buy British food - and scrub. These features are Cattle breeds chosen by hill farmers are Exmoor horn from the South West. chased by cattle, release your looking out for part of a landscape beloved by usually less selective grazers than others dog so you can both get to safety the Red Tractor logo THE ICONIC millions of visitors (wildlife and and are particularly good at converting Hill farmers often graze their sheep separately. Remember to clean up is one way to make human) every year. low quality forage into high protein and cattle on common land – land after your dog – bag it and bin sure you are buying BRITISH HILLS human food. They eat a wide range of that they share with other farmers. it wherever you are to prevent quality food and drink which can Today, as in the past, productive semi natural vegetation and they can Stock become ‘hefted’ or ‘leared’ to spreading disease to livestock. be traced back to British farms. AND UPLANDS and sustainable farming is help reduce the dominance of invasive a specific part of a common, learning The Union flag within the logo essential for their future. species, such as purple-moor grass and from generation to generation where guarantees the food comes from bracken, which may otherwise smother to go for water, shelter, and how to British farms. heather moorland. Popular breeds you get back to the farm and the ‘in bye’ might spot include Aberdeen Angus, land (the best land around farm). Ruby Red Devon and Belted Galloway. This hefting and learing is one of the Ask difficult questions - if it’s not most important and unique parts of clear, ask in your local shop or Sheep are another crucial part of the hill farming, as it takes generations restaurant where the food is from. landscape making up the nucleus of to build up the ancestral memory in a Vote with your feet if you’re not Britain’s unique stratified sheep farming flock or herd. happy with the answer. 579-14TL cover Farm 3_V2.indd 1 11/05/2015 10:24 Swaledale sheep, named after the Almost 35% of all English common valley in the Dales, are one of the land is in the North West, with the most popular breeds of hill sheep, uplands containing fewer but larger found in Britain. commons than the areas in the These hardy animals are able to south of England. survive in harsh conditions on the This is an area that has one hill. When cross bred they produce land owner but many commoners 99% of all Herdwick sheep the famous north country mule were the first to graze their are commercially farmed and form part of the backbone of livestock. Hefting is very important in the central and western British sheep production. (see overleaf). Lake District. This iconic hill breed was badly affected in the 2007 foot and mouth outbreak when 25% of the breed were lost. The Dales’ stone field barns were built to provide winter housing for animals and storage for hay. Largely redundant now, they are still maintained as a key landscape feature. Swaledale The highest dairy herd in England can Herdwick be found in the fields around the village of Flash in Staffordshire, also the highest village in England. In Derbyshire look out for Field barn Derbyshire Gritstone sheep, named for the Dark Peak region of the Peak District which is Look out for Wales’ stone based on gritstone and shale. walls which go as far as the This area is categorised by peat eye can see up into the hills clad moors and harsher ground and mountains. Farmers also than the White Peak region. Dairy cows maintain 34,000 miles of Gritstone sheep hedgerows in Wales. The high limestone plateau of the White Peak has free draining ground, making it suitable for Welsh Black Cow livestock rearing and milk production off grass. The milk produced by dairy farmers in the White Peak is used in a variety of ways – to make local stilton and other specialist cheeses, being bottled The Welsh uplands are Welsh Mountain Sheep home to a native breed of for the surrounding towns of Buxton, Castleton, cows. Welsh Black cattle, Matlock, Wirksworth, Cheadle and Stafford, and a hardy breed, are easily even skimmed milk powder for export. identified by their black coat and horns. They are complimented by similarly compact and tough Welsh Mountain sheep. Don’t forget to try Exmoor Horn Sheep lots of delicious fresh produce from the Red Ruby Devon Cow upland areas including An iconic feature of the South West Stilton cheese, Cumberland hills are the hedgebanks, often punctuated by veteran boundary trees. sausages, Wensleydale These ancient structures contribute to cheese, Herefordshire agricultural management by providing The South West is one of beef, Welsh lamb and shelter to livestock and crops as well as the heartlands of livestock Devonshire ale.