Conservation status | FAO (2007): endangered[1]: 68 |
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Other names | |
Country of origin | Italy |
Distribution | Emilia–Romagna |
Standard | MIPAAF |
Use | triple-purpose, milk, meat and wool |
Traits | |
Weight | |
Height | |
Wool colour | white, sometimes spotted |
Face colour | spotted or mottled |
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The Cornigliese or Corniglio is an Italian breed of domestic sheep from the Apennines of the province of Parma, in Emilia–Romagna in central Italy.[2] It takes its name from the mountain town of Corniglio in that province; it may also be called Borgotarese after the town of Borgo Val di Taro which is about 40 km to the west.[3]: 54 It is raised in the provinces of Bologna, Ferrara, Modena, Parma, Ravenna and Reggio Emilia.[5]: 208–209
The Cornigliese breed was created in the mid-eighteenth century by the Borboni of Parma by crossing the local Vissana breed[6]: 789 with Spanish merinos to improve the quality of the wool, at that time the most important attribute of sheep.[3]: 54 In the early twentieth century, the weight was increased by intromission of Bergamasca blood.[2][5]: 208–209 The Cornigliese is one of the forty-two autochthonous local sheep breeds of limited distribution for which a herdbook is kept by the Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia, the Italian national association of sheep-breeders.[3]: 54
The conservation status of the Cornigliese was listed as "endangered" by the FAO in 2007.[1] Between 2000 and 2014 total numbers recorded for the breed fell steadily from 2179 to 1369.[7][8]