The Basco-béarnaise is a domesticated breed

Breed

A breed is a group of domestic animals or plants with a homogeneous appearance, behavior, and other characteristics that distinguish it from other animals or plants of the same species. Despite the centrality of the idea of "breeds" to animal husbandry, there is no scientifically accepted...

 of sheep originating in the Basque country

Basque Country (historical territory)

The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast....

. The breed was developed from Basque and Béarnaise

Béarn

Béarn is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Basque provinces of Soule, Lower Navarre, and Labourd, the principality of Bidache, as well as small parts of Gascony, it forms in the...

 sheep during the 1960s to be a single-purpose milk

Milk

Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...

 breed.

Origins

It derives from a family of sheep breeds from the Pyrénées with falling wool. It arose in the béarn

Béarn

Béarn is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Basque provinces of Soule, Lower Navarre, and Labourd, the principality of Bidache, as well as small parts of Gascony, it forms in the...

aise part of the Pyrénées

Pyrenees

The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...

. It has long been flocked

Transhumance

Transhumance is the seasonal movement of people with their livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and to lower valleys in winter. Herders have a permanent home, typically in valleys. Only the herds travel, with...

 across the Girondine

Gironde

For the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...

 plain to the Pyrénéan mountain pastures.

Morphology

Its wool is long, white and hanging. Its horns form a spiral around the ear. Its head and paws are coloured reddish-yellow.

Rams are horned and the ewes may be either horned or polled (hornless). Both sexes display white and are unicolored.

The mature rams weigh 80 kg (176.4 lb) and grow to 90 cm (35.4 in) at the withers on average. Ewes grow to 75 cm (29.5 in) at the withers and weigh 55 kg (121.3 lb).

Aptitude

It is a dairy

Sheep milk

Sheep's milk is the milk of domestic sheep. Though not widely drunk in any modern culture, sheep's milk is commonly used to make cultured dairy products. Well-known cheeses made from sheep milk include the Feta of Greece, Roquefort of France, Manchego from Spain, the Pecorino Romano , the Pecorino...

 breed, which issued from the AOC

Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée

Appellation d’origine contrôlée , which translates as "controlled designation of origin", is the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government bureau Institut National...

 Ossau-Iraty

Ossau-Iraty

-Origin:Ossau-Iraty is produced in south-western France, in the Northern Basque Country and in Béarn. Its name reflects its geographical location, the Ossau Valley in Béarn and the Iraty Valley in the Northern Basque Country.-AOC status:...

, derived from the ewes of the Pyrénées. A ewe of this breed produces 120 litres over 130 days of lactation, producing a milk rich in matière grasse

Fat

Fats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and generally insoluble in water. Chemically, fats are triglycerides, triesters of glycerol and any of several fatty acids. Fats may be either solid or liquid at room temperature, depending on their structure...

(7,42 %) and in proteins (5,39 %).

It is a rural breed, which lambs in spring and produces milk in the estive, passing on the richness of the Pyrénéean flora through its milk.