Leccese
| Other names | Moscia Leccese |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Italy |
| Distribution | Salento peninsula |
| Use | Triple-purpose, primarily for milk |
| Traits | |
| Weight |
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| Height |
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| Wool color | white, occasionally black |
| Face color | black |
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The Leccese or Moscia Leccese is a breed of domestic sheep indigenous to the Salento peninsula, in Puglia, southern Italy.[1][2] 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.[2]
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.[3] The herdbook was established in 1972.[1] Total numbers for the breed were estimated at 240,000 in 1983;[2][1] in 2013 the number recorded in the herdbook was 574.[4]
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.[3] 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.[2]
References
- ^ a b c Breed data sheet: Leccese/Italy. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed January 2014.
- ^ a b c d 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.
- ^ a b 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. 12. Accessed January 2014.
- ^ Consistenze Provinciali della Razza 20 Moscia Leccese Anno 2013 (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Banca dati. Accessed January 2014.