Island of Crete, in Apokoronos and, Sfakia, (Chania
Prefecture)
Breeding females
(year)
60.000
Trend of population size
Stable
Flock book established
1999
Origin – history
The Sfakia is an
indigenous breed, belong to the mountain Zackel breed and is located
in Crete, in Apokoronos and Sfakia (in Chania Prefecture).
Breed description
The animals are white coloured with
dark spots around the eyes and on the feet. A very small percentage
of the animals are black. The males have two spiralled horns. The
mature weight is about 40 kg for the females and 60 for the males.
The lambings mainly occur during the months of November and December.
The prolificacy rate is about 1.3. The average milk production is
about 150 kg. The lambs are weaned at the age of 2 months at a
weight of 13.5 kg.
Feeding is based in the mountainous and semi mountainous pastures. A
big part of the flocks is housed in traditional stoned installations.
The breed is adapted in mountain areas with low quality pastures and
extreme xyrothermic conditions.
Conservation activities
The number of
breeding ewes in milk recording schemes is 5.750. Milk recording is
applied by the Farmers Association and is supervised by the Genetic
Improvement Centre of Athens of the Ministry of Rural Development
and Food. Currently there are no semen samples or embryos conserved
for this breed.
Contact:Dr.
Christina Ligda, NAGREF, Agricultural Research Centre of Northern
Greece, Dept. Genetic Resources, e-mail:
chligda@nagref.gr,
chligda@otenet.gr
Action Heritage
SheepAGRI GEN RES 040 receives
financial support from the European Commission, Genetic Resources in Agriculture, under
European Commission
Council Regulation
(EC)
No 870/2004 AGRI GEN RES 2006 HERITAGE SHEEP
