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Velay
Black
French
EFABIS Data
 |
International Name |
Velay Black |
|
Local Name |
Noire
du Velay |
|
Location |
Massif central |
|
Breeding females
(year) |
22.000 |
|
Trend of population size |
Decreasing |
|
Flock book established |
1970 |
Origin – history
The breed seems to
have arrived in France with the Celtic tribes who came to inhabit
the Massif Central, among other locations. It was previously known
as the Noir des Bains (Baths Black), from the name of a place close
to Le Puy-en-Velay. The breed had a difficult time at the beginning
of the twentieth century, with commercial breeders crossing
Tarasconnais ewes with better conformed rams in order to improve
meat conformation. Since the 1970s, some breeders have been working
on the breed’s rehabilitation. Currently, some animals are exported
to Switzerland and Morocco, as these countries have a strong
interest in this breed.
Breed description
The breed is
perfectly adapted to difficult conditions and has a strong ability
to breed out of season in semi-mountain areas. Although traditional
management allows the lambs to stay with their mother all of their
lives, the breed can be exploited based on an accelerated lambing
schedule to achieve a fecundity rate of 1.47 per ewe. In this case
the lambs are weaned at two months and then trough-fed, with flocks
often being kept in combination with dairy cattle breeding units.
Around 75% of ewes are pure-bred for renewal of pure-bred stock and
crossing with rams from meat breeds.
The sheep are black and hornless, with a white patch on the head and
at the end of the tail. The mature rams weigh 70-100kg, and the ewes
weigh 50-70kg.
Conservation activities
Currently 30
flocks are registered with the breed society UPRA des races ovines
des Massifs, having a flock book established in 1970 and 13.480 ewes
registered. There are 33 flocks registered for performance recording
with 314 ewes recorded.
Contact: UPRA
Races Ovines des Massifs Route de Thiers site de Marmilhat 63370
Lempdes
Tel : 0473927407
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