How Shetland agriculture continues to thrive

Anyone travelling around Shetland is likely to spot cattle, sheep and ponies grazing in lush fields and on heather-covered moorland.

There’s also a good chance they will see crofters and farmers working the land and helping preserve the Shetland countryside as it has been for generations.

Farming and agriculture remain important sectors in the islands, from dairy farms in the fertile South Mainland to native lamb and beef reared around the islands, including on small crofts.

Here, modern agriculture works in tandem with tradition, and both fit seamlessly alongside nature.

Away from the fields and peaty pastures, another visible sign of the scale and importance of Shetland’s agricultural sector is the number of trucks tasked with transporting the islands’ renowned livestock to the Scottish mainland for sale. Shetland is not just feeding itself, its produce is in demand elsewhere.

Shetland even has its own marts – an auction where livestock is sold – with sales including cattle, sheep and ponies. These sales attract keen attention both locally and from Orkney and the north of Scotland due to the high standard of Shetland livestock.

A local abattoir helps to ensure a local supply chain for the top-quality meat that Shetland produces, with producers able to humanely kill and butcher livestock for home use and for sale to locals, shops or wholesalers.

Go to a Lerwick supermarket, a butcher’s shop or one of the community stores around Shetland, and you can almost guarantee that Shetland milk, butter and meat will be among the most popular products. Having such products available locally also helps keep the shelves stocked when imported supplies are disrupted due to weather delaying ferry sailings.

That shows the reverence in which local produce is held. But agriculture in Shetland is far more than the meat and milk it produces – it’s still an important industry in the isles, keeping 1,938 people in employment as of 2024.

According to statistics compiled by Shetland Islands Council, there were almost 290,000 sheep scattered across the length and breadth of the islands – roughly 12 sheep to every person as of 2024.

Over 301,000kg of wool was produced in 2023 alone, along with more than 1 million litres of milk.

It requires a dedicated team to ensure the prized assets across Shetland’s farms and crofts are kept in top condition. One of the experts providing that standard of care is vet Karis Johnson, who said their role in the agricultural community ranges from everything from “routine callouts” and “emergency visits”, to “a significant amount of preventative health testing” and “flock/herd health planning”.

The work to ensure Shetland’s sheep and cattle are as healthy as they can be starts before they even touch a blade of grass.

“We work closely with the Shetland Animal Health Scheme to try and protect the health of sheep and cattle within Shetland,” Karis explains.

“The scheme is an invaluable resource to our isles – testing animals at import as well as on-farm screening for various diseases.”

She said she personally loves getting out on a farm or croft and dealing with the animals “hands-on”.

“I love a successful calving or lambing and do enjoy the occasional large animal surgery,” she said.

“As well as the animals, I like connecting with the folk. Being out on the croft gives you a chance to get to know your client and gives insight into how they run things.

“I feel this makes tasks like health planning so much more useful as advice can be tailored towards things that are actually going to be meaningful and beneficial to clients.”

Ensuring the animals are fit and healthy is also crucial for Shetland Livestock Marketing Group (SLMG), which runs and operates the marts in Lerwick as well as the abattoir.

Its chairman, Cecil Eunson, said it played a “central role in the local agricultural community” and called the abattoir a “great asset for Shetland”.

The mart has increased its throughput over the years, Eunson said, with over 84,000 sheep handled in 2025 alone.

That had created “logistical challenges” however, with three or four sales per week from September to November.

But Eunson said the industry was a “vital part of rural life in Shetland”, and “clearly contributes considerably” to the isles’ economy.

“Agriculture is a major employer,” he said.

“We have crofters and farmers throughout the Mainland and the outer isles, along with all the associated service industries, feed, fertiliser merchants, machinery garages, haulage and fencing companies, NorthLink [ferry service] and our own mart and abattoir.”

It would not be an article about agriculture in Shetland without mentioning Shetland ponies, the sighting of which is a bucket list item for many visitors to the isles.

Pony studs prevail across the isles, and overseeing them all is the Shetland Pony Stud Book Society, as well as by the Pony Breeders of Shetland Association.

Both organisations not only aim to promote Shetland ponies at home, they do so globally – ensuring the isles’ agriculture is spoken about the world over.

Shetland Wool Week, the annual celebration of the isles’ textile sector and farming community, has also done wonders to enhance Shetland’s reputation on the world stage – with people flocking from the USA, Canada and Australia every year.

Karis Johnson, of Shetland Vets, said a lot of their work every year was in developing and advancing its veterinary facilities to ensure it kept at the forefront of any emerging issues in the agriculture sector.

She said that the industry was hugely important to Shetland’s economy and would be for a long time to come.

“I feel that the number of animals sold through SLMG mart in the past few years speaks for itself,” she said.

“Buyers are seeking animals with a high health status and are therefore looking to Shetland to make their purchases.

“I feel we have a great opportunity in future years to promote what we have to offer to try to keep agriculture thriving within Shetland.”

Grow your career – discover more about working in agriculture in Shetland.