The Frabosana is a breed of sheep from the valleys of the Monregalese, the area around Mondovì in the province of Cuneo, in Piemonte in north-west Italy. It takes its name from the comuni of Frabosa Soprana and Frabosa Sottana, and was once the most numerous sheep breed of Piemonte. It is raised in the Valle Gesso, the Valle Grana, the Valle Pesio, the Valle Vermenagna and the Valli Monregalesi (all in the province of Cuneo), and in the Val Pellice (in the province of Turin). Two types are recognised within the breed, the Roaschino in the Ligurian Alps, and the slightly smaller Frabosana raised in the area of Mondovì. The Frabosana 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.
The conservation status of the breed was listed as "not at risk" by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2007. In 2013 total numbers for the breed were 4284.
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. p. 56. Accessed September 2013.
Consistenze Provinciali della Razza F0 Frabosana Anno 2013 (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Banca dati. Accessed September 2013.
Norme tecniche della popolazione ovina “Frabosana”: standard della razza (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. . pp. 220–21.
Breed data sheet: Frabosana/Italy. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed September 2013.
J. Errante, L.A. Brambilla, M. Corti, E. Pastore, R. Leonarduzzi (2006). Le razze ovine autoctone a rischio del Valle d'Aosta, Lombardia, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia (in Italian). Associazione RARE. Accessed May 2014.