Vissana

Vissana
Conservation status possibly extinct
Country of origin Italy
Distribution Marche, Tuscany, Umbria
Use triple-purpose: meat, milk, wool
Traits
Weight Male: 50–55 kg
  Female: 40–45 kg
Height Male: 70 cm
  Female: 60 cm
Wool color white
Face color white, sometimes marked with brown or grey
Notes
triple-purpose, meat, milk and wool
Sheep
Ovis aries

The Vissana is a breed of domestic sheep from the province of Macerata, in the Marche in central Italy.[1] It may be extinct.[2] It takes its name from the comune of Visso in the Monti Sibillini, and is or was raised mostly in that area, extending also into Umbria and Tuscany; herds under transhumant management formerly over-wintered in Lazio .[2] Cross-breeding with the Comisana, the Sarda and the Sopravissana may have contributed to a substantial decline in breed numbers which was noted in the 1980s.[2] The Vissana 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 1983 the breed numbered about 1000. A total number for the breed has not been recorded in the herdbook for many years.[4] Numbers have not been reported to DAD-IS since 2000.[1]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Breed data sheet: Vissana/Italy. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed September 2013.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Daniele Bigi, Alessio Zanon (2008). Atlante delle razze autoctone: Bovini, equini, ovicaprini, suini allevati in Italia (in Italian). Milan: Edagricole. ISBN 9788850652594. p. 304–305.
  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. 82. Accessed September 2013.
  4. Consistenze Provinciali della Razza R7 VISSANA Anno 2012 (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Banca dati. Accessed September 2013.