The Brillenschaf 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 that originates from Jezersko, Slovenia

Jezersko, Slovenia

Jezersko is a municipality in the historic Carinthia region of northern Slovenia. Since 2005, it has been part of the Upper Carniola statistical region....

. It is extensively bred also in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

. It is a member of the alpine mountain sheep breeds. It is a cross between the Landschaf with the Bergamasca

Bergamasca (sheep)

The Bergamasca is a breed of domesticated sheep originating from northern Italy. This breed is the foundation of the other Lop-eared Alpine breeds and of Fabrianese, Pavullese, Perugian Lowland and Zakynthos. It is a triple purpose breed raised for their milk, meat and coarse wool...

 and Paduaner Schaf. The Brillenschaf grows coarse wool

Wool

Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....

 and is raised primarily for meat.

Characteristics

The Brillenschaf has evenly distributed, black color around the eyes. This gives it the appearance of wearing glasses which lends to its name "spectacles sheep". The bottom two-thirds of the ears are black and have a Roman nose. The ears are broad and hang. Both sexes are polled (hornless). The Brillenschaf has fine bone but have hard hoofs. Twins are common and can give birth three times in two years.

This breeds displays white and is unicolored. Ewes are 65 cm (25.6 in) at the withers and 65 kg (143.3 lb) when mature.