Profitability of hill sheep enterprises depends on both maternal and lamb traits, and selection programmes should include all aspects of performance. However, the relative contribution of different traits to overall profitability depends on the type of hill farm and, specifically, the severity of the environmental constraints on the farm (Conington et al., 2000). The objective of this paper is to derive and evaluate selection indexes for holistic and sustainable genetic improvement of hill sheep on ‘intensive’ and ‘extensive’ hill farms by considering carcass, maternal and ‘sustainability’ traits simultaneously.