大象传媒

We are at a crossroads. Sheep help make the North York Moors what it is - a landscape loved by millions of visitors every year - but for how much longer?

Sheep in Hutton le Hole

Recent newspaper headlines suggest a bleak future: "Fears that moorland could be in danger"; "Warning to stop decline in moorland farming"; "Moorland sheep may be a thing of the past".

It's all because upland sheep farming doesn't pay very well these days and it's becoming uneconomic to keep sheep on the moors.

A dead sheep next to a moorland road

As a result the the number of sheep on the moors is falling. Flocks are currently disappearing from the uplands of the North York Moors at a rate of almost four a year - and it doesn't help when so many sheep and lambs are killed on moorland roads by thoughtless drivers.

A report for the North York Moors National Park Authority, examining six farms in detail, made sober reading. The authors of the report, from Askham Bryan College in York, concluded that听"once moorland flocks have disappeared they are very unlikely to return".

Why are moorland sheep so important?

Don't be fooled by the seeming permanence of the heather moorland. The landscape wasn't always like this. Thousands of years ago it was woodland.

Sheep grazing by a shooting butt

When the trees were cut down all kinds of vegetation grew in its place.

Grouse shooting in the 19th century changed all that. Grouse like heather and the moorland was managed for the game birds. Sheep, and for a time cattle, became part of the management of the moorland.

The sheep - affectionately dubbed by some as four-legged lawn-mowers - eat invading vegetation. The heather thrives, the grouse thrive. The concern is that if the sheep disappear, large areas of moorland may return to impenetrable scrub.

So what's to be done?

You can't simply replace the flocks which are taken off the moor. They're hefted sheep, flocks which instinctively know their territory and keep to their own part of the moorland.

Sheep on the Moors

This allows livestock to be kept in unfenced areas without constant shepherding. Large areas are divided into numerous hefts, with each flock knowing its own area and returning to it after lambing or veterinary treatment. It takes years for hefted flocks to establish themselves and although attempts have been made to replace them, it was a disaster financially.

Establishing hefted flocks is costly and takes time. Extra shepherding is needed for at least five years and the whole process can take between 10 and 15 years to complete.

Moorland cross

Time is running out to find an answer. Government payments to hill farmers are being overhauled. The outcome may not be all to the good for the future of the moorland sheep.

Money is still the key. It's been suggested that hill farmers should be paid a going rate to keep the sheep on the moors - no matter what.

That is if we want to keep a landscape looking how it looks at the moment.

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