Pastoral farming in the Lake District

what is the main type of farming

rearing of hill sheep

physical inputs

heavy year round rainfall

mild/cloudy summers and cool valley winters (higher colder up)

steep valley sides

poor soil and exposed rock

low lying valley floors

• flatter

• deep soil → good- quality grass

human inputs

relatively poor communication systems (narrow roads)

large markets are far away (increases transport cost/time)

land is unsuited for large-scale machinery

limited capital

variable inputs

occasional heavy snowfall at lambing time

changed in government policies

disease outbreaks

some restrictions on the movement of animals

processes

lambing

dipping

shearing

collecting hay

maintaining dry-stone walls

outputs

young lambs

lamb meat

hay

wool

recent changes

fall in prices of lambs, lamb and wool

marginal land is taken out of production

decrease in the number of farms

• turning to other sources of income to attract tourism