page_title: Agriculture in Wales
section_title: Livestock
hierarchical_section_title: Agriculture in Wales / Livestock
caption_attribution_description: English: Sheep on the Uplands These Welsh mountain sheep can scrape a living even on this sparse pasture. The red markings distinguish them from sheep from other farms sharing the common grazing. The farms of Hafod and Tresgyrch Fawr can be seen beyond. There is also a tall pylon carrying the grid across the valley.
context_page_description: Agriculture in Wales has in the past been a major part of the economy of Wales, a largely rural country that forms part of the United Kingdom. Wales is mountainous and has a mild, wet climate. This results in only a small proportion of the land area being suitable for arable cropping, but grass for the grazing of livestock is present in abundance. As a proportion of the national economy, the importance of agriculture has become much reduced; a high proportion of the population now live in the towns and cities in the south of the country and tourism has become an important form of income in the countryside and on the coast. Arable cropping is limited to the flatter parts and elsewhere dairying and livestock farming predominate.
  Holdings in Wales tend to be small and operated as family farms. Arable crops and horticulture are limited to southeastern Wales, the Welsh Marches, the northeastern part of the country, the coastal fringes and larger river valleys. Eighty percent of the country is classified as being in a "Less favoured area". Dairying takes place on improved pasture in lowland areas and beef cattle and sheep are grazed on the uplands and more marginal land.
context_section_description: In 2013, there were 1,094,644 cattle in Wales including 223,208 dairy cows and 174,100 beef cows, two years old or over. The total number of sheep and lambs was 9,460,692, of which 4,003,581 were ewes or replacement females retained for breeding. Besides this, there were 24,890 pigs, 10,475 goats and 50,381 horses. The poultry flock totalled 8,736,547 birds, including 6,079,114 table birds (broilers).
  Welsh Black cattle are the traditional breed of Wales. These hardy cows with horns and shaggy coats are able to thrive on poor quality pasture and moorland and can be used to provide both milk and beef. Large numbers were raised in Wales and herded on foot to be fattened in England for selling in English markets. On Welsh farms they were used to pull ploughs and sometimes wagons during the nineteenth century, and were the prized possessions by which a man's wealth could be estimated. Nowadays, many have been crossed with Charolais, Limousin or Hereford bulls but pure bred herds can still be found in many parts of the uplands.
  The Welsh Mountain sheep is a hardy breed that can scrape a living from the mountainous habitats where they spend the whole year. Being adept at exploiting their environment, they have local knowledge of their mountains and are left to their own devices, being gathered once or twice a year. Originally often horned, and various shades of brown or black, they were often of poor conformation and bedraggled appearance. More recently, scientific breeding has improved them and they have been exported to many parts of the world. They form part of the ancestry of various local breeds of sheep in Wales, the Llanwenog, the Lleyn sheep, the Kerry Hill, the badger-faced, the Welsh mule and the Beulah speckle-faced. In rural areas, sheep are still an important part of life with local livestock shows and sheep dog trials taking place annually.
  Pigs are not one of the main forms of livestock on Welsh farms though there are some specialised units. They used to be kept in small numbers on farms and by rural and urban cottagers. In the twentieth century, many miners in the South Wales valleys still kept a pig in a backyard sty, to be killed for production of fresh and salt pork, bacon, faggots and black pudding. In 2011 there were 25,600 pigs in Wales, less than half the number that were present a decade earlier.
caption: Welsh Mountain sheep on tussocky grassland
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