Biellese

Last updated

Biellese
Conservation status FAO (2007): not at risk [1]
Other names
  • Razza d'Ivrea
  • Piemontese Alpina
Country of originItaly
Distribution
Standard MIPAAF
Useformerly dual-purpose, meat/milk; now principally for meat
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    100 kg [2]
  • Female:
    82 kg [2]
Height
  • Male:
    86 cm [2]
  • Female:
    81 cm [2]
Skin colorpinkish
Wool colorwhite
Face colorwhite
Horn statushornless in both sexes

The Biellese is a breed of large domestic sheep indigenous to the province of Biella, in Piedmont in north-western Italy, [3] [4] from which it takes its name. It may also be known as the Razza d'Ivrea, after the town of Ivrea, or as the Piemontese Alpina. [3] The Biellese is one of the seventeen autochthonous Italian sheep breeds for which a genealogical herdbook is kept by the Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia, the Italian national association of sheep-breeders. [5]

Contents

History

The origins of the Biellese breed are unknown. In the early part of the twentieth century it was considered by some to be a sub-type of the Bergamasca breed; others did not share this view. [3] The much-reported derivation of it, with the Bergamasca and other Alpine breeds, from Sudanese sheep is a hypothesis published in 1886 in the Traité de zootechnie of André Sanson, and is based on craniometry; it has no foundation in science. The breed was numerous in the area of Biella; in 1942 numbers were estimated at 40,000. [6] As with many other Italian breeds, numbers dropped sharply after the Second World War. However, interest in the breed revived in the 1960s; the breed was officially recognised in 1985 by the then Ministero dell'Agricoltura e delle Foreste, [3] and a herdbook was established in 1986. [4] By 1994 there were more than 50,000 head, of which 1900 were registered in the herdbook. At the end of 2013 the total number registered was 1016; [7] there has been no recent census of unregistered stock. [3]

Use and management

The Biellese was formerly considered a dual-purpose breed, yielding meat and wool; it is now kept now principally for meat production. Lambs are usually slaughtered at a weight of 12–15 kg, or rarely at 18–20 kg. Some wether mutton from castrated animals slaughtered at 12–18 months is sold in the markets of Milan and Ravenna; there is demand from some immigrant communities for large entire (uncastrated) lambs. [3] The wool is of carpet quality; rams yield about 3.5 kg, ewes about 3 kg, per year. [3]

The Biellese is commonly used for hybridisation with other breeds such as the Frabosana, the Garessina, the Sambucana and the Savoiarda to improve meat yield and growth rate. [3]

As in the past, management of the Biellese is most often transhumant: the flocks are kept on alpine pasture from June to October, and over-winter in the valleys, where they are fed hay. About 75% of the population is managed in this way. Management of a further 20%, mostly in the area of origin, is nomadic; these are often kept in relatively large flocks of 800–1000 head. Only a small percentage are kept in the same place year-round. [3]

References

  1. Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to: The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN   9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Caratteri tipici e indirizzi di miglioramento della razza Biellese (in Italian). Ministero delle Politiche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali. Accessed May 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Daniele Bigi, Alessio Zanon (2008). Atlante delle razze autoctone: Bovini, equini, ovicaprini, suini allevati in Italia (in Italian). Milan: Edagricole. ISBN   9788850652594. p. 190–191.
  4. 1 2 Breed data sheet: Biellese/Italy. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed May 2014.
  5. Le razze ovine e caprine in Italia (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Ufficio centrale libri genealogici e registri anagrafici razze ovine e caprine, page 20. Archived 21 September 2013.
  6. Pietro Dassat (June 1942). Contributo allo studio della pecora biellese (in Italian). L'Italia agricola (6): 323-328.
  7. Consistenze Provinciali della Razza 71 Biellese Anno 2013 (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Banca dati. Accessed May 2014.