Fabrianese

Fabrianese
Conservation status
Country of originItaly
DistributionLe Marche
StandardMIPAAF
Usedual-purpose: meat, also milk
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    90 kg (200 lb)[3]
  • Female:
    68 kg (150 lb)[3]
Height
  • Male:
    82 cm (32 in)[3]
  • Female:
    74 cm (29 in)[3]
Wool colourwhite
Face colourwhite
Horn statushornless in both sexes

The Fabrianese is a modern Italian breed of domestic sheep from the Marche region of central Italy.[4][2] It takes its name from the town and comune of Fabriano, in the province of Ancona. It was created as a dual-purpose breed in the 1960s by cross-breeding local breeds of the Apennines of the Marche with rams of the Bergamasca breed from the Alps of Lombardy. It is raised in the eastern foothills of the Apennines, in the provinces of Ancona, Ascoli Piceno and Macerata in the Marche, and in the province of Terni in Umbria.[4]: 216 

History

The Fabrianese was created as a dual-purpose breed in the 1960s by cross-breeding local breeds of the Apennines of the Marche with rams of the Bergamasca breed from the Alps of Lombardy.[4]: 216 [5]: 806  It takes its name from the town and comune of Fabriano, in the province of Ancona.[2]

It 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;[6]: 21  the herdbook was established in 1974.[2] In 1983 the breed population was in the region of 25000 head, of which some 4600 were registered.[4]: 216  In 1997 the total number was about 70000.[3] In 2013 the number registered for the breed was 3342.[7] In 2024 its conservation status was listed in DAD-IS as 'at risk/endangered'.[2]

Characteristics

The Fabrianese is of medium size, with white wool. The face is white, the profile is markedly convex, and the ears are semi-lop. It is always polled.[5]: 806 

Use

The average age and weight of lambs at slaughter is unclear; the target is approximately 25 kg (55 lb) at 60 days.[4]: 216 

The milk yield, including that taken by the lambs, averages 150 litres (40 US gal) in 180 days for primiparous, and 200 to 220 litres (~55 US gal) for pluriparous, ewes.[4]: 216 

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. ^ a b c d e Breed data sheet: Fabrianese / Italy (Sheep). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed March 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e Caratteri tipici e indirizzi di miglioramento della razza Fabrianese (in Italian). Ministero delle Politiche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali. Accessed May 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Daniele Bigi, Alessio Zanon (2008). Atlante delle razze autoctone: Bovini, equini, ovicaprini, suini allevati in Italia (in Italian). Milan: Edagricole. ISBN 9788850652594.
  5. ^ a b Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN 9781780647944.
  6. ^ Le razze ovine e caprine in Italia (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Ufficio centrale libri genealogici e registri anagrafici razze ovine e caprine. Accessed December 2013.
  7. ^ Consistenze Provinciali della Razza 39 Fabrianese Anno 2013 (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Banca dati. Archived 14 May 2014.


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