Garessina

Garessina

Conservation status	FAO (2007): not listed[1]
Other names	Muma Razza di Garessio
Country of origin	Italy
Distribution	province of Cuneo
Standard	MIPAAF
Use	triple-purpose, milk, meat and wool
Traits
Weight	Male: 50–55 kg[2] Female: 45–50 kg[2]
Height	Male: 60–65 cm[2] Female: 55–60 cm[2]
Skin color	pinkish
Wool color	straw-white
Face color	white
Horn status	hornless in both sexes
Sheep Ovis aries

The Garessina or Muma is a breed of small sheep from the Garessina, the area surrounding Garessio in the province of Cuneo, in Piemonte in north-west Italy.[3] It is raised principally in the valleys of the Tanaro, its affluent the Negrone, and the Casotto; it is not raised commercially, but kept as a family sheep.[4][5] It has been influenced by Spanish Merino and French Alpine breeds. The wool is of fine quality.[4] The Garessina is one of the forty-two autochthonous local sheep breeds of limited distribution for which a herdbook is kept by the Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia, the Italian national association of sheep-breeders.[5]

Under the national Piano Sviluppo Regionale or regional development plan for 2000–2006, a subsidy was available for those who kept Garessina sheep; in 2004 it was claimed for 64 head.[6] In 2013 the total number recorded for the breed was 110.[7]

References

1. Barbara Rischkowsky, D. Pilling (eds.) (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: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Accessed May 2014.
2. Norme tecniche della popolazione ovina “Garessina”: standard della razza (in Italian). Ministero delle Politiche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali. Accessed May 2014.
3. Breed data sheet: Garessina/Italy. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed September 2013.
4. Daniele Bigi, Alessio Zanon (2008). Atlante delle razze autoctone: Bovini, equini, ovicaprini, suini allevati in Italia (in Italian). Milan: Edagricole. ISBN 9788850652594. pp. 222–23.
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. p. 57. Accessed September 2013.
6. J. Errante, L.A. Brambilla, M. Corti, E. Pastore, R. Leonarduzzi (2006). Le razze ovine autoctone a rischio del Valle d'Aosta, Lombardia, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia^[permanent dead link‍] (in Italian). Associazione RARE. Accessed May 2014.
7. Consistenze Provinciali della Razza G1 Garessina Anno 2013 (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Banca dati. Accessed September 2013.