UPL2Low livestock grazing on moorland

What it actually is

The low tier of the three moorland grazing densities: livestock across the entered land held at no more than 0.08 grazing livestock units per hectare at any time, half its moderate sibling UPL1's cap, double its limited sibling UPL3's. In the conversion table's terms, one hill ewe with her lamb to the hectare. Everything else matches the family: no supplementary feeding beyond mineral licks, hay or haylage only in extreme weather, two days or more of deep snow or hard frost, and a written stocking calendar produced for each parcel at the start of each year with monthly numbers, types and age brackets. GOV.UK's stated aim is moorland habitat maintained or enhanced under a low density of stock.

Source: GOV.UK, UPL2 action page, checked 23/08/2026.

What it pays, and what that comes to

The rate is in the panel at the top of this page. Multiplied out:

Source: arithmetic on the payment rate shown at the top of this page, which comes from Tilth's copy of the GOV.UK action catalogue and carries its own last-checked date. The 200 hectares is an illustration.

Is it worth it on your ground?

The tier arithmetic from the UPL1 page, applied one rung down: this rate pays more than two and a half times the moderate tier's for half the stock. For a moor already lightly run, hill flocks reduced over the years, cattle long gone, the cap may cost nothing and the uplift is the whole gain. For a moor still carrying near the moderate cap, the difference is real head of stock displaced, and the sum is their value against the difference between the two rates across your hectarage. The stocking calendar settles which moor you have.

Source: the payment rates on this page and the UPL1 page; requirements from GOV.UK, UPL2 action page, checked 23/08/2026. The judgements are Tilth's own reading rather than scheme guidance.

Does it work, and what makes it work better

This section is what we have found in published sources about the practice this action pays for. It is not scheme guidance, it is not Defra's or the RPA's view, and it adds no requirement beyond what the GOV.UK action page sets out.

The evidence is the family's, set out in full on the UPL1 page: maintaining upland heath and moorland is graded Likely to be beneficial on 17 studies, scored 90 per cent effectiveness against 50 per cent certainty, with reduced grazing repeatedly associated with more heather, more moths and true bugs, more of the arthropods upland birds eat, and benefits to black grouse and most moorland birds in scheme reviews, alongside honest counterweights: mixed species responses in three studies, and four studies finding reduced grazing cut the abundance of soil organisms. None of it tested this tier's particular cap against its siblings'; the record supports the direction, lighter tends to help the vegetation and birds, not the precise number.

Source: Conservation Evidence, action 647, Farmland Conservation synopsis, checked 23/08/2026, including the note that studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. The fuller account is on the UPL1 page.

What you actually have to do

Hold the density at or below 0.08 GLU per hectare at all times. Feed nothing but mineral licks, sited away from historic features, steep slopes and footpaths, with the extreme weather exception only. Produce and keep the written stocking calendar each year. Static: the same land throughout.

Source: GOV.UK, UPL2 action page, checked 23/08/2026.

Where it can go

Above the moorland line on permanent grassland or the non-agricultural covers, as for the family. SSSIs need Natural England's consent first; historic features need an SFI HEFER. One of the supplements UPL5, UPL6 or SPM5 can go on the same land, and SPM5 can also go alongside whichever of UPL5 or UPL6 you take. One of the shepherding actions UPL8 or UPL10 can go on the same land as well, as can the organic rough grazing action OFM3.

Source: GOV.UK, UPL2, UPL8 and UPL10 action pages, checked 23/08/2026.

Things worth watching

This section is Tilth's own reading of where this action is easy to get wrong. It is not scheme guidance, it is not sourced from Defra or the RPA, and none of it adds a requirement beyond what the GOV.UK action page sets out.

The peak binds, not the average. 0.08 at any time is the summer's biggest day. One extra mob for a fortnight can break a cap this low, so the calendar wants writing around the peak, not the mean.

Half of very little is very little indeed. At one hill ewe with her lamb per hectare, gathering, checking and keeping the flock hefted is more work per animal, not less, than heavier regimes. The rate rewards it, but the shepherding time is a cost the arithmetic should carry.

Commons double the arithmetic again. Every grazier's stock counts against the shared cap. On a common, this tier is a collective decision or it is not achievable.

Watch the gap to UPL3. The limited tier pays a further step up for half the stock again. A moor already close to empty may as well take the top tier; the calendar tells you.

Keeping the evidence

Source: evidence requirements, GOV.UK, UPL2 action page, checked 23/08/2026. The suggestion is Tilth's own.

The part only your own ground can answer

Whether your moor is a 0.16, an 0.08 or an 0.04 is a question your own peak-month stocking answers in units. Tilth keeps the movements and monthly numbers that make the answer a lookup. Request an invite.