Local breeds are key components of livestock farming systems. They are part of livestock biodiversity and thisdiversity has been threatened since the second half of the 20th century by their replacement with animals from specializedbreeds. The multiple benefits of farming systems using local breeds – provision of goods, landscape and environmentalmanagement, and uses related to cultural and heritage dimensions – have long been recognized and used to argue fortheir conservation. However, the notion of ecosystem services is rarely used to analyze those benefits. This article presentsa qualitative approach to the provision of ecosystem services by farming systems that use livestock biodiversity. Based ondiverse case studies of breeds from several species, we propose an analytical framework that accounts for how a service isqualified, who is concerned by the services identified, the role of the breed in the process of service provision, and interactionsbetween services. Finally, the framework considers the links between the provision of services and the management of thebreeds. We discuss to what extent the notion of ecosystem services is useful in dealing with the multiple benefits from farmingsystems using local breeds.