Saltasassi
| Conservation status | |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Italy |
| Distribution | |
| Traits | |
| Weight | |
| Height | |
| Wool colour | white |
| Face colour | white |
| |
The Saltasassi is an Italian breed of upland sheep, reared for meat. It originates in the provinces of Verbano Cusio Ossola[4]: 268 and Novara in the northern part of Piemonte, in north-west Italy.[2] 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.[3]
The population in 1983 was estimated at 2500.[4][2] In 2013 the total number for the breed was not recorded; in 2012 it was 37.[5] A study conducted by the region of Piemonte in the year 2000 found the Saltasassi to be virtually extinct.[4]: 269 At the end of 2020 the population numbered six head – five ewes and a ram; in 2025 the conservation status of the breed was listed in DAD-IS as "at risk/critical".[2]
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c d Breed data sheet: Saltasassi / Italy (Sheep). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 2025.
- ^ a b c d e 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.
- ^ a b c Daniele Bigi, Alessio Zanon (2008). Atlante delle razze autoctone: Bovini, equini, ovicaprini, suini allevati in Italia (in Italian). Milan: Edagricole. ISBN 9788850652594.
- ^ Consistenze Provinciali della Razza G0 SALTASASSI Anno 2012 (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Banca dati. Archived 27 September 2013.