Livestock farming (LF) is increasingly constrained by competition for natural resources, climate change and changing sociocultural values. Analysing interactions between the various services and impacts provided by LF makes it possible to identify the origin of potential trade-offs. Here, we first use two simple criteria, livestock density (in livestock unit/ha Utilized Agricultural Area; UAA) and the proportion of permanent grassland (including rangelands) within the UAA to identify and map five types of LF areas, based on Eurostat data for 2010 processed at NUTS3 level. In each area, we then use ‘the barn’, a representation derived from a social-ecological approach, to visualize how LF systems interact with their physical, economic and social environment. This reveals the classical distinction between production-oriented areas and areas that provide more environmental and cultural services. In production-oriented areas, LF systems get local-level acceptance based on the territorial vitality services they provide, such as on-farm jobs and social bonds linked to livestock. The barn also allows a multilevel analysis to account for niche systems hidden by the dominant socio-technical regime. For instance, Label Rouge chickens (LRc) in Pays de la Loire represent 41% of French LRc production, and provide a very different bundle of services compared to the dominant LF regime of this region. Finally, the barn points to LF areas where bundles of services are more balanced: (1) some PDO cheese production areas where territorial governance forms create more value by enhancing the use of local resources and regulating production by dedicated professional organisations, (2) agricultural and recreational landscapes in peri-urban areas that benefit from consumer trust in local food systems.