Abstract The continuity of traditional extensive livestock farming is being challenged by rapid socioeconomic and environmental changes, threatening livelihoods and ecosystem services critical to food security and sustainability. We conducted a large-scale assessment involving 255 livestock farmers across six extensive livestock farming systems in Spain to understand their perceptions of vulnerabilities. Using the Coupled Infrastructure Systems framework, we identified 24 different vulnerabilities, mainly caused by external socioeconomic and biophysical disturbances, such as resource costs, low profitability of livestock products, climate variability, and conflicts with wildlife. The main factors explaining these vulnerabilities were primary productivity, farm location, presence of large predators, and climatic conditions. The findings highlight the complex interplay of these factors and provide important insights for the maintenance of extensive livestock farming systems in Europe. This information is crucial for informing policy decisions aimed at supporting these farming systems and ensuring their contribution to food security, sustainability and biodiversity conservation.