Leccese

Last updated

Leccese
Conservation status FAO (2007): not at risk [1] :68
Other namesMoscia Leccese
Country of origin Italy
Distribution Salento peninsula
UseTriple-purpose, primarily for milk
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    59 kg
  • Female:
    45 kg
Height
  • Male:
    73 cm
  • Female:
    66 cm
Wool colorWhite, occasionally black
Face colorBlack

The Leccese or Moscia Leccese is a breed of domestic sheep indigenous to the Salento peninsula, in Puglia, southern Italy. [2] [3] Its name derives from that of Lecce, the principal city of the peninsula. Like the Pinzirita and the Altamurana, it belongs to the Zackel sheep group. It is a hardy and frugal breed, usually kept in semi-feral herds, capable of surviving year-round on pasture alone. The wool is normally white and the skin flesh-coloured with darker mottlings. In a small proportion of animals the wool is entirely black, and the skin is also black; these black-skinned sheep are resistant to the effects of the poisonous Hypericum crispum , common in the Salento, which in the white-woolled, pale-skinned sheep causes photosensitivity and thus dermatitis. [3]

The Leccese 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. [4] The herd-book was established in 1972. [2] Total numbers for the breed were estimated at 240,000 in 1983; [3] [2] in 2013 the number recorded in the herd-book was 574. [5]

The milk yield of the Leccese averages 76 ± 21 litres in 180 days for primiparous, and 99 ± 37 L for pluriparous, ewes. The milk has 7% fat and 6.5% protein. [4] Lambs are usually slaughtered at about 90 days, when they weigh approximately 23 kg. Rams yield about 3.2 kg of wool, ewes about 2.1 kg, in two shearings; the wool is of ordinary quality, suitable for mattresses. [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 Breed data sheet: Leccese/Italy. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed January 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Daniele Bigi, Alessio Zanon (2008). Atlante delle razze autoctone: Bovini, equini, ovicaprini, suini allevati in Italia (in Italian). Milan: Edagricole. ISBN   9788850652594. p. 236–237.
  4. 1 2 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 12. Archived 21 September 2013.
  5. Consistenze Provinciali della Razza 20 Moscia Leccese Anno 2013 (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Banca dati. Accessed January 2014.