Leccese

This article is about the Italian domestic sheep of Salento, Italy. For other uses, see Leccese (disambiguation).

Leccese
Conservation statusFAO (2007): not at risk[1]: 68 
Other namesMoscia Leccese
Country of originItaly
DistributionSalento 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]

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