Sheep of the Belìce valley
The territories of the Belìce valley have a very ancient tradition in dairy farming and oviniculture.
Even today, sheep farming is mainly traditional, practiced in family-run or semi-industrial sheepfolds.
These characteristics favor the free grazing of sheep, with positive effects on the quality of the milk. In this way, good milk gives the Vastedda della Valle del Belìce PDO its peculiarities.
It has always been used for the production of native sheep's milk Vastedda, today elevated to the Valle del Belìce breed known for the production of milk with good dairy characteristics
Even today, sheep farming is mainly traditional, practiced in family-run or semi-industrial sheepfolds.
These characteristics favor the free grazing of sheep, with positive effects on the quality of the milk. In this way, good milk gives the Vastedda della Valle del Belìce PDO its peculiarities.
It has always been used for the production of native sheep's milk Vastedda, today elevated to the Valle del Belìce breed known for the production of milk with good dairy characteristics
The belìce's sheep presumably originated from the numerous foreign contaminations that the island has seen throughout history.
The cross between the pinzirita breed, originally local, with the Comisana and Sardinian breed, has generated a variety of sheep that has become indigenous to the Belìce valley.
The selection carried out by Sicilian breeders over the centuries and recently by the S.EN.FI.MI.ZO.8 Department of the Faculty of Agriculture of Palermo and by the Regional Breeders Association have made the Valle del Belice sheep one of the best sheep breeds from milk in Italy and Europe
The cross between the pinzirita breed, originally local, with the Comisana and Sardinian breed, has generated a variety of sheep that has become indigenous to the Belìce valley.
The selection carried out by Sicilian breeders over the centuries and recently by the S.EN.FI.MI.ZO.8 Department of the Faculty of Agriculture of Palermo and by the Regional Breeders Association have made the Valle del Belice sheep one of the best sheep breeds from milk in Italy and Europe
The characteristics attributed to this breed are the high productivity, due to the presence of a voluminous and well-shaped mammary apparatus and biological characteristics that confer resistance to climatic adversities and aptitude for twin births.
