Breed: Corse
Species: Sheep
Country: France
Description: The animals are small and very hardy, living outdoors in arid Mediterranean grassland and mountainous areas, yet productive in the difficult environment. In spite of difficult conditions this small ewe can be milked for 181 days after weaning of the lamb at 35 days old, producing 134 litres of milk (UPRA, 2004). Around 20.000 ewes are in the official milk recoding scheme. A few farmers on the plains use crosses with other milk breeds, but it is estimated that 100% of the ewes are kept as pure-bred. The animals are white, black, brown, and grey with some single coloured variations, both sexes usually having rolled horns with slight spiraling for the males, the ewes have smaller horns and some females exhibiting stumps instead. They have good fleece coverage, with the legs also covered. The mature rams weigh 65kg, and the ewes weigh 35kg.
History: Since 1960 there has been about 10% annual infusion of Sarde from Italy but this has been recently stopped since the specifications for the “AOC Brocciu”, which was created in 1998, forbids the use of any other breed or crossbreds.