Basco-béarnaise

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The basco-béarnaise is a French breed of sheep from the Basque country.

[edit] Origins

It derives from a family of sheep breeds from the Pyrénées with falling wool. It arose in the béarnaise part of the Pyrénées. It has long been flocked across the Girondine plain to the Pyrénéan mountain pastures.

[edit] Morphology

Its wool is long, white and hanging. Its horns form a spiral around the ear. Its head and paws are coloured reddish-yellow. Ewes are 75cm long and weigh 55kg and rams are 90cm long and weigh 80kg.

[edit] Aptitude

It is a dairy breed, which issued from the AOC Ossau-Iraty, derived from the ewes of the Pyrénées. A ewe of this breed produces 120 litres over 130 days of lactation, producing a milk rich in matière grasse (7,42 %) and in proteins (5,39 %).

It is a rural breed, which lambs in spring and produces milk in the estive, passing on the richness of the Pyrénéean flora through its milk.