The Leccese local sheep breed from Apulia (Italy): a questionnaire survey

Leccese is a local sheep breed from Apulia, raised mailny for milk production. The population has suffered a dramatic bottleneck during the past three decades due to main changes in rural production systems. Today the breed counts about two thousand animals. In order to establish a successful conservation plan, an economically sustainable valorisation of the breed has to be considered. A questionnaire survey to examine structure and management of farms rearing Leccese sheep breed has been undertaken in the provinces of Lecce, Taranto and Brindisi. A total of ten farms have been identified, only half of them being registered in the Genealogical Book. Fragmentation and reproductive isolation among farms, lack of labourers to be employed as herdsmen and massive presence of non-pure bred Leccese animals are the main weakness points. On the contrary, main strenght points are the eco-sustainable pasture-based production system, higher resistance to local parasites of Leccese compared with non-autochtonous milk breeds, widespread know-how in traditional and artisan cheese-making techniques and a high quality of both dairy and lamb meat products. All these data suggest the need to adopt instruments, like traditional denominations and farmer consortia, as strategic tools to protect and promote the niche market penetration of both the local single-breed Leccese cheese and the light lamb meat.