Zerasca
Country of originItaly
Distributionprovince of Massa Carrara, in Tuscany
Usemeat
Traits
Weight
  • Female:
    62 kg
Height
  • Female:
    75 cm
Wool colorwhite
Face colorwhite, sometimes mottled with brown or grey
Notes
meat

The Zerasca is a breed of upland sheep from the province of Massa Carrara, in Tuscany in central Italy.[1][2] It is raised almost exclusively in the comune of Zeri and the neighbouring comune of Pontremoli.[2] In the years after the Second World War, systematic use was made of Massese rams with the aim of improving milk yield; the result was a reduction in resistance to disease and ability to forage on poor terrain, an increase in mammary defects, an increase in colour variability, but little improvement in milk yield.[2] The Zerasca 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.[3]

In 2012 the total number for the breed was 951.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Breed data sheet: Zerasca/Italy. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed September 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 Daniele Bigi, Alessio Zanon (2008). Atlante delle razze autoctone: Bovini, equini, ovicaprini, suini allevati in Italia (in Italian). Milan: Edagricole. ISBN 9788850652594. p. 306–307.
  3. ↑ 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. 83. Accessed September 2013.
  4. ↑ Consistenze Provinciali della Razza 97 ZERASCA Anno 2012 (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Banca dati. Accessed September 2013.


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