Apart from the MLC indices for hill sheep (MLC, 1986) and Atkins’ (1984) study for Scottish Blackface sheep, little attention has been directed towards the general implementation of selection indices in hill sheep production, despite the fact that hill sheep constitute the backbone of the British sheep industry (eg. the genetic contribution of hill sheep to lamb carcass meat was estimated at 33 per cent, to total lambs slaughtered 36 per cent, and to dams of the lambs slaughtered 56 per cent - see MLC, 1988)

The purpose of this paper is to try to define appropriate breeding objectives for hill sheep that could be incorporated in a selection index, in order to improve output and efficiency of sheep production in such a limiting environment.