sheep
Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated sh ...
from the
Val Camonica
Val Camonica (also ''Valcamonica'' or Camonica Valley, Eastern Lombard: ''Al Camònega'') is one of the largest valleys of the central Alps, in eastern Lombardy, Italy. It extends about from the Tonale Pass to Corna Trentapassi, in ...
, in the
province of Brescia
The Province of Brescia ( it, provincia di Brescia; Brescian: ) is a Province in the Lombardy administrative region of northern Italy. It has a population of some 1,265,964 (as of January 2019) and its capital is the city of Brescia.
With an ...
comune
The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces ('' province''). The can ...
of
Corteno Golgi
Corteno Golgi (; Camunian: ) is an Italian village and ''comune'' in the central Alps, in the province of Brescia, Lombardy, northern Italy. It is in the Val Camonica.
There is a museum dedicated to scientist Camillo Golgi who was born in Cor ...
, from which it takes its name, and in the neighbouring comuni of Edolo, Malonno and Paisco Loveno, all lying within the
Comunità Montana di Valle Camonica
The Comunità montana di Valle Camonica is an administrative union of 41 comuni of the Valle Camonica, in the province of Brescia in north-east Lombardy
Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') ...
. It 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 Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia, or roughly "national association of pastoralists", is the Italian national body responsible for the administration of sheep- and goat-breeding. It maintains the herd books for more than a hundred i ...
, the Italian national association of sheep-breeders.
History
The origin of the Corteno breed is unknown, but is probably shared with that of other lop-eared breeds of the Alpine region such as the Bergamasca, the Biellese and the Lamon. Numbers were estimated at 4000 in 1983, and at about 1600 in 1995. In 2006 the total number was estimated at 1500, of which 131 were registered in the herdbook. The conservation status of the breed was listed as "critical" by the FAO in 2007. In 2013 the number registered for the breed was 295.
Use
The meat of the Corteno is exceptionally fatty. It is traditionally used to produce Cuz, a local type of preserved meat. Whole carcases of
wether
Wether may refer to:
*A castrated male goat
*A castrated male sheep
*A misspelling of weather
*A misspelling of whether
*Wether Down, a hill in Hampshire
*Wether Hill (Lake District), a hill in Cumbria
*Wether Holm (disambiguation)
See also
*Weth ...
mutton
Lamb, hogget, and mutton, generically sheep meat, are the meat of domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries''. A sheep in its first year is a lamb and its meat is also lamb. The meat from sheep in their second year is hogget. Older sheep meat is mutton. Ge ...
are boiled in a cauldron for five or six hours with salt and a little water; the meat is then put up in
terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta i ...
jars with more salt and sealed with the mutton-fat.