Ouessant sheep
The Ouessant sheep ( OUS ), also Breton dwarf sheep (international name Ushant), is the smallest breed of sheep in Europe. It takes its name from the Île d'Ouessant , a 15.6 square kilometer treeless French Atlantic island. Ouessant sheep are usually kept in small groups as hobby animals and are now spread over large parts of Europe. The frugal sheep come in different colors.
Breed description
- The sheep is small, relatively long-legged and - viewed from above - has a rectangular body.
- The head is fine and even, slightly rammed in the goats.
- Females are hornless, males horned. The horns have a single large diameter turn with a relatively large distance from the head.
- The ears are small, short and slightly erect.
- The topline is straight, the pelvis large, the tail ends just above the hock.
- Ouessant sheep have a semi-closed, mixed-wool fleece with a very fine undercoat. In the case of the bucks, a tie formation is desirable due to the increased occurrence of guard hair in the area of the lower neck, neck and front thighs.
- Adult animals must not measure more than 49 cm (male) or 46 cm (female) at the withers.
- The majority of the Ouessant sheep (> 70%) are black; but there are also gray, white, brown and mold colored animals.
- The color should be uniform throughout the year. The tie can be darker with the same color, the horns and claws are light in white animals and dark in dark ones.
Performance data
| Body weight (kg) | Fleece weight (g) | Leaning result (%) | Height at withers (cm) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bucks | 15-20 | 600-900 | - | 42-49 |
| Yearling bucks | 12-20 | 600-900 | - | 39-46 |
| Ewes | 13-16 | 600-1000 | 100 | 41-46 |
| Yearling sheep | 10-15 | 600-1000 | 50 | 38-44 |
The heights at the withers are ideal measurements. Yearlings that exceed the specified dimensions often grow too big. The breeding of smaller and smaller animals should also not be aimed at, as this can lead to an accumulation of birth problems and thus is detrimental to the health and vitality of the breed.
Breeding goal
What is desired is a tough and undemanding sheep with minimal feed and supply requirements, which is suitable both in the classic biotope and landscape maintenance area in the smallest of areas, as well as an ecological "lawnmower" in private, public and commercial green space maintenance.
Origin / history
The origin of the Ouessant sheep is closely linked to the keeping conditions and traditional agriculture on Ouessant . It is therefore a relic of a culture that first cracked in the 19th century and completely collapsed in the 20th century. The origins of the Ouessant sheep are probably much older. Archaeologists unearthed several thousand sheep bones during excavations that date back to 750 to 450 BC. Were dated. The human settlement of Ouessant even goes back to the Neolithic .
The earliest written sources attesting sheep on the island date from the 17th century. Even if the inhabitants were poor, they wrested more from the barren island than they needed; the livestock were large. Already at this time markings were punched or cut into the ears of the sheep in order to assign them to the owners.
Sheep were not valued in Brittany; you needed the wool, that's the only reason you kept it. The office of shepherd was irrelevant and was often performed by children. On Ouessant, the animals were completely on their own for most of the year.
Although the agricultural area of the island was privately owned, it could not be used exclusively by the owner all year round. On March 15 of that year, the sheep were taken to remote, uncultivated areas of the island and penned up in an enclosure. These areas were common land; a flat fee per animal was payable for the maintenance of the walls. The traditional grains were harvested by July 15th; that day the sheep were set free. The animals were able to roam freely on the island for two thirds of the year. During this time, grazing was free. Only the fenced-in gardens were taboo, otherwise nobody was allowed to prevent a sheep from eating where it wanted.
From the middle of the 19th century, communal areas were sold in Brittany and heathland was cultivated. As a result of industrially produced fabrics, wool lost its importance and the traditional pasture areas were lost; sheep farming saw its slow decline. On Ouessant, sheep were kept for a longer time, even if they faced competition from new types of grain and cultivation methods. The sheep were liberated much later on "Saint-Michel", September 29th. Most of the animals were no longer kept in the paddock during the vegetation phase, but were mostly pegged in pairs. With the sale of the last community area, the connection became the only form of husbandry outside of the grazing area. The sheep had to be moved twice a day, in the morning to their pasture and in the evening back to the Gwasked. These low, star-shaped stone or earth walls had three or four arms behind which the sheep could at least find shelter from the strong winds. Like the pasture areas now in use, the Gwasked belonged to the family and had to be maintained by them.
The sheep were kept without a barn all year round. Unlike on the mainland, this was not necessary as there are no predators on Ouessant. The main lambing season began in mid-March; Butcher's lambs were sold from mid-May. The export to the mainland dragged on until October; Several hundred animals were sold annually. The meat was very popular and had a good reputation. Even though most of the animals were marketed in the region, some of them were brought as far as Paris and Champagne. Three to five kilos are mentioned as slaughter weights. This, like the fleece weights of up to 1000 g, corresponds almost exactly with today's information.
Various sources report up to 10,000 sheep on the island. In detailed counts only about 6000 are listed. A count from 1856 names 4190 sheep and lambs as well as the astonishingly high number of 1713 goats! In addition to the actual deckbucks, there was accordingly a large number of males that were not yet ready for slaughter and that were able to reproduce in the winter months. The fact that very happy-growing animals were slaughtered as early as May and underdeveloped bucks came to cover, could be a reason for the small body size.
The selection pressure for frugality was enormous. The winters were rough and stormy; the sea swept away the unwary and devoured those the hurricane blew off the cliffs. The cows on Ouessant even ate seaweed at times. Hundreds of sheep perished during that time of year. During the lamb season, the sheep had too little pasture available; when they were liberated they were emaciated; only sheep that were able to raise a lamb despite such adverse circumstances have established themselves in the long term. In addition, it must be remembered that the vegetation on Ouessant is sparse and offers relatively little food even in better times.
From the end of the 19th century, the ferry service established in 1880 brought the first tourists to the island and the Ouessant sheep also became fashionable on the mainland. Ouessant sheep were also bred there from around 1885. The owners were often aristocrats who kept the little sheep near their castles for fun.
In a very short time the sheep population changed to Ouessant. White sheep, first mentioned in 1861, were in the minority until the late 19th century. In a photograph from 1913, which was probably taken after the gathering at the end of the pasture-free area, there are hardly any black animals left. A similar picture from 1930 shows significantly larger animals; the sheep on Ouessant were no longer Ouessant sheep. The animals brought to the mainland as a hobby were kept to themselves and, unlike on the island, were not crossed with foreign races and thus survived well into the second half of the 20th century.
From the 1970s, the Ouessant sheep, which had been almost completely forgotten, found new fans. Unless new friends had been made at that time, the Ouessant sheep would probably no longer exist or would be very much threatened, as only one of the former "castle herds" still exists today. GEMO (Groupement des Eleveurs de Moutons d'Ouessant) was founded in 1976 under the leadership of Paul Abbé. Conservation breeding was started with the animals from the four herds of origin (Morbihannaise, Vendéenne, Jardin des plantes de Paris and Nord).
The current population of Ouessant sheep in France is mainly due to the tribes Morbihannaise, Vendéenne and Jardin des plantes de Paris. The Nord tribe essentially laid the foundation for the early Belgian and Dutch populations. Due to the great distance of 600 km to Brittany, the population here cannot do without crossing other races, which is why you can differentiate between traditional colors (black and white) and modern colors (brown and mold). Many strict maintenance breeders no longer count the Nord tribe among the pure herds of origin. However, through decades of human selection, animals have developed that meet the criteria of the breed standard, even if the modern colors did not originally appear in Brittany and in the case of the color mold are also not compliant with the French standard.
Colours
- Black is the original color of the Ouessant sheep. The technical term in genetics is nonagouti.
- Gray animals were mentioned on the island as early as the 19th century. In France, gray sheep are listed as black because, strictly speaking, they are black with agglutinated pigment granules. The effect is created by a dilution gene - scientifically dilute .
- White animals have been documented by historical postcards since the end of the 19th century. The origin is not completely clear. Since white heather sheep were known much earlier on the mainland, one can assume that these animals were involved in the creation. The earliest detectable importation of sheep from the mainland to the island is only dated at the beginning of the 20th century. White Ouessant sheep can develop a reddish color, especially on the neck, tail and legs. Geneticists use the term agouti white and tan.
- According to current knowledge, all brown sheep can be traced back to the north tribe. Originally there are no brown animals in Brittany. Anyone who speaks of brown animals in Brittany usually means black animals bleached by sunlight. The color is determined by the brown locus .
- The color mold originated in the Netherlands. Romanov and Finn sheep were crossed here in the 1970s and 1980s. One also speaks of agouti gray, to put it simply, the color is switched off in some of the wool fibers. Mold can appear from white to almost completely black. This color is not recognized in the country of origin France.
| Locus | designation | Alleles in OUS | Phenotypic effects of the alleles |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. | agouti | A wt | White |
| A g | Mould | ||
| a | black (nonagouti) | ||
| B. | Brown locus | B. | black |
| b | brown | ||
| D. | dilute | D. | complete color formation |
| d | thinned / lightened |
Inheritance takes place as shown in the table. One color is dominant to all colors below and recessive to all above.
distribution
In 1977 the GEMO knew 486 animals of the breed. In the cattle census of the G. E. M. O., in the herd books of the F. O. S. (Netherlands), as well as the German state sheep breeding associations, approx. 9500 animals were registered in 2006. Furthermore, there are still numerous unregistered stocks, so that one can assume a population of more than 15,000 Ouessant sheep. After the Netherlands (FO S), France (GEM O) is the main focus in the breeding and keeping of Ouessant sheep. In Belgium (BOV), Germany (IGOU), Great Britain (OSS) and Switzerland (Ouessantschafe Schweiz) there are numerous smaller breeders' associations. There are now individual breeders and owners in Austria , the Czech Republic , Latvia , Denmark , Spain , Portugal and probably other European countries.
attitude
For some of the Breton GEMO breeders, the preservation of this old breed as a valuable genetic potential and its importance as a living cultural and historical heritage are in the foreground. In the Netherlands, owners are more related to the individual who, like a cat, belongs to the family and also decorates the garden. You can also meet passionate breeders here who enjoy breeding itself. Because of its small size, the breed lends itself to this even on relatively small areas. It is widely used as an ecological lawn mower. Use as a therapy animal is also possible. In Germany, all of the reasons mentioned can be found, with the pet, which replaces the lawnmower, being the most common.
Although the Ouessant sheep is actually no longer of economic importance, commercial use as a landscape maintenance company is gaining in importance again in France.
Both sexes can be kept together all year round, as the sheep have a rather severe rutting season . From a breeding point of view, the separation by gender and a targeted allocation during the breeding period make sense.
The animals like to go to shelters as rain and sun protection. As long as there is not too much snow, the animals can be kept outside all year round. The space requirement varies depending on the location, but it should not be less than 1000 m²; Approximately three animals can be kept on this area (depending on the vegetation). The differences in location can be compensated for with the amount of hay to be bought. The sheep have good mother characteristics and a good milk yield. Lamb losses rarely occur. An initial occupancy of seven months is possible. As a rule, single lambs are born between March and May. Twin births are rare and not sought. In exceptional cases, the lambing season extends from February to September. In very rare cases, two lambs occurred in one year, which is also not an aspired breeding goal.
See also
literature
- Beaulieu, de, Françoise: Le moutond'Ouessant . Skol Vreizh Verl. 2015. ISBN 978-2-36758-048-7
- Dobler, Gregor: Needs and dealing with things. A historical ethnography of the Île d'Ouessant Bretagne, 1800–2000 . Reimer Verl. 2004. ISBN 978-3-496-02770-6
- Lucas, Désiré: Uncas de régression agricole: Ouessant . In: Penn ar Bed . No. 33/1963
- Schneider, Jürgen: The Ouessant sheep - an old Breton country sheep breed - 40 years of breeders' association . In: Ark Nova . No. 1/2016
Web links
- Information on the Ouessantschaf e. V. in Germany
- Ouessant breeders' association GEMO (fr.)
- Breed description VDL
- Breed description on ouessantschafe.ch
- www.ouessantschafe.de
- www.ouessant.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ See the two PDF files Ouessantschaf_Erweiterter_Rassenstandard and Ouessantschaf_02.pdf
- ↑ See Ouessantschaf.pdf on 09.06.17 [1]
- ↑ "Le moutond'Ouessant" ISBN 978-2-36758-048-7 de Francois Beaulieu publishing Skol Vreizh 2015, page 44
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from June 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ See 2.7.1.1 and following of this literature review of a dissertation
- ↑ Here is the table of the GEMO cattle counts up to 2000 (French) for the year 2006, a query was made to the associations that can no longer be verified . Unfortunately, more recent figures are not available
