The Fabrianese is a modern Italian breed of domestic sheep from the Marche region of central Italy. It takes its name from the town and comune of Fabriano, in the province of Ancona. It was created as a dual-purpose breed in the 1960s by cross-breeding local breeds of the Apennines of the Marche with rams of the Bergamasca breed from the Alps of Lombardy. It is raised in the eastern foothills of the Apennines, in the provinces of Ancona, Ascoli Piceno and Macerata in the Marche, and in the province of Terni in Umbria.
History
The Fabrianese was created as a dual-purpose breed in the 1960s by cross-breeding local breeds of the Apennines of the Marche with rams of the Bergamasca breed from the Alps of Lombardy. It takes its name from the town and comune of Fabriano, in the province of Ancona.
It is one of the seventeen autochthonous Italian sheep breeds for which a genealogical herdbook is kept by the Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia, the Italian national association of sheep-breeders; the herdbook was established in 1974. In 1983 the breed population was in the region of head, of which some were registered. In 1997 the total number was about . In 2013 the number registered for the breed was . In 2024 its conservation status was listed in DAD-IS as 'at risk/endangered'.
Characteristics
The Fabrianese is of medium size, with white wool. The face is white, the profile is markedly convex, and the ears are semi-lop. It is always polled.
Use
The average age and weight of lambs at slaughter is unclear; the target is approximately at 60 days.
The milk yield, including that taken by the lambs, averages litres (40 US gal) in 180 days for primiparous, and litres (~55 US gal) for pluriparous, ewes.
References
Le razze ovine e caprine in Italia (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Ufficio centrale libri genealogici e registri anagrafici razze ovine e caprine. Archived 21 September 2013.
Consistenze Provinciali della Razza 39 Fabrianese Anno 2013 (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Banca dati. Archived 14 May 2014.
Caratteri tipici e indirizzi di miglioramento della razza Fabrianese (in Italian). Ministero delle Politiche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali. Accessed May 2014.
Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. . Archived 23 June 2020.
Daniele Bigi, Alessio Zanon (2008). Atlante delle razze autoctone: Bovini, equini, ovicaprini, suini allevati in Italia (in Italian). Milan: Edagricole. .
Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. .
Breed data sheet: Fabrianese / Italy (Sheep). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed March 2024.