Garfagnina Bianca

Garfagnina Bianca

Conservation status	FAO (2007): critical-maintained[1]: 68 DAD-IS (2025): at risk/endangered[2]
Country of origin	Italy
Distribution	Garfagnana, Tuscany
Standard	MIPAAF
Use	dual-purpose, milk and meat
Traits
Weight	Male: 50–55 kg[3] Female: 40–45 kg[3]
Height	Male: 65–70 cm[3] Female: 60–65 cm[3]
Wool colour	white
Face colour	white
Horn status	horned in both sexes
Sheep Ovis aries

The Garfagnina Bianca is an Italian breed of small domestic sheep from the historic area of the Garfagnana, the mountainous northern part of the province of Lucca, in Tuscany in central Italy.^[2][4] It shares common origins with the other sheep breeds of the Tosco-Emilian Apennines – the Cornella Bianca, the Massese and the Zerasca.^{[5]: 224 [6]: 58} It is one of the forty-two autochthonous local sheep breeds of limited distribution for which a herd-book is kept by the Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia, the Italian national association of sheep-breeders.^{[6]: 58}

Breed numbers declined drastically in the second half of the twentieth century. In 1961 there were more than 50000, distributed over much of central Italy; a census in 1983 identified fewer than 50 pure-bred specimens. In 2013 total numbers for the breed were 356.^[7]

References

1. 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. ISBN 9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
2. Breed data sheet: Garfagnina Bianca / Italy (Sheep). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed September 2013.
3. Norme tecniche della popolazione ovina “Garfagnina Bianca”: standard della razza (in Italian). Ministero delle Politiche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali. Archived 23 September 2015.
4. Daniele Bigi (2007). Razze zootecniche in pericolo di estinzione: la pecora Garfagnina Bianca (in Italian). Vita in campagna. 2007 (10): 49. Archived 30 June 2024.
5. Daniele Bigi, Alessio Zanon (2008). Atlante delle razze autoctone: Bovini, equini, ovicaprini, suini allevati in Italia (in Italian). Milan: Edagricole. ISBN 9788850652594.
6. 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.
7. Consistenze Provinciali della Razza G2 Garfagnina Bianca Anno 2013 (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Banca dati. Archived 23 September 2015.