Source: https://www.heritagesheep.net/manech_tete.htm
The black-headed “manech” is a sheep (Ovine race) from the mountains of Basque. Its origin is poorly known, but it is believed that it has been planted for a long time in the Basque country, where it is found especially on the coasts. It is a dairy sheep, the most productive of the Pyrenees, whose milk is, among other things, used in the design of the name of controlled origin ossau-iraty, local sheep cheese.
Breed description
The Manech are milking sheep of the Pyrenees (Atlantiques). The two very hardy breeds are well adapted to high grazing lands and to extreme variations in temperature. For the Manech Tete Noire, the seasonal migration every summer facilitates the economic survival of many very small farms. 100% of each breed’s ewes are pure-bred. The ewes need little attention, which permits a heavy stocking rate per hectare, and they are good milkers, easy to milk and suitable for out of season breeding. Lambings take place from November to April, and lambs weaned at the age of 1 month are appreciated for celebration meals such as Easter. Milk production starts after weaning at 35 days of age, and is all is used in the production of pressed cheeses, under the label of origin “Ossau-Iraty”.
The Manech Tete Noire has a black head and feet with both sexes having strongly curled horns. They have good fleece coverage, with the legs not covered. The mature rams weigh 75kg, and the ewes weigh 50kg. The Manech Tete Rousse has red head and feet, only the male can be horned. The mature rams weigh 70kg, and the ewes weigh 45kg.
Conservation activities
First established in 1975, the selective breeding plan for the milking breeds allows stockbreeders to achieve levels of productivity that fully justify such livestock farming in these difficult areas. This plan uses the monitoring of milk and widespread use of artificial insemination in selective breeding flocks. A breeding centre situated at Ordiarp (Pyrenees-Atlantiques), where every year 200 young rams Manech Tete Rousse and 50 Manech Tete Noire from planned matings are assembled. Among these, 130 Manech Tete Rousse and 30 Manech Tete Noire are tested on the milk output (quantity and now also composition) of their female offspring in the farms of the selection nucleus. The best of these are used in artificial insemination and as priority in planned matings with the
5 000 ram dams in Manech Tete Rousse and 15 00 ram dams in Manech Tete Noire, to produce the new generation of males. The selection scheme has so far achieved an annual genetic progress of 2,6 and 4 litres for the Manech Tete Noire and Manech Tete Rousse respectively.
Contact:
UPRA DES RACES OVINES LAITIERES DES PYRENEES
Quartier Ahetzia 64 130 Ordiarp – France
Tel : +33 (0)5 59 28 19 90
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When genetic selection preserves traditions
What would be the Pyrenean cultures and in particular those of the Basque Country and Bearn without sheep? An integral part of traditional agricultural life, they have shaped the landscape for generations on both sides of the border. In 2021, the entire livestock sector, along with researchers, is taking action to preserve these indigenous breeds: the Latxa on the Spanish side and the Manech and Basco-Béarnaise on the French side. In this way, the ARDI project was born, which works for extensive agriculture and optimizes ancestral practices through genetic selection. Meeting with the “Basque, Navarrese and Spanish” agronomist Andrés Legarra, research director at INRAE Occitanie-Toulouse, from the GenPhySE laboratory.
Why should the traditional Pyrenean breeds be conserved? Are they under threat?
Andrés Legarra: “The sheep sector in the mountains must be more resourceful to prevent economic constraints from forcing farmers to abandon their traditional breeds for more productive and intensive breeds. The majority of them prefer to maintain the meadows, graze and organize transhumance. Of course, there are places where they have no choice, like in some regions of central Spain where they accumulate difficulties: drought, milk prices and unavailability of pastures. But, I think that in general, farmers prefer extensive farming, if the economy allows it. In the Basque country, where I come from, sheep are everywhere. Even on a dairy farm, there are always about 20 ewes left that the grandfather takes care of!”
What are the differences between Latxa and Manech?
AL: “The idea of a country breed is quite flexible, it is a set of physical characteristics that are culturally accepted… to see it clearly, you may have to have soaked in the environment a bit like Obelix in the pot! The Manech ewe is French, has white wool, black or red head and legs. The Manech Tête Noire have horns. Largely identical, the Spanish Latxa has slight morphological and color differences. The wool is always rustic (besides Latxa etymologically means “rough”). The blacks are historically more the classic sheep of the transhumance and the reds more those of the hills. There are black and red sheep on both sides of the border. Breeders of both nationalities have always exchanged their animals, despite the logistical difficulties and sanitary constraints inherent in moving the animals. These two breeds are very similar. For genetic improvement, by doing it together, it is possible to do better, and thus avoid that they become small sensitive breeds.”
How does the ARDI project help to maintain an extensive breeding, more interesting from a cultural and environmental point of view?
AL: “The common objective is to have balanced and therefore profitable ewes. Improvement as we practice it consists of choosing the best rams in a collective manner and distributing their semen carrying the genes. It is essential to maintain an operational collective dynamic, because from a purely genetic point of view, and without mentioning the cultural aspect here, a breed maintained by a few breeders, let’s say about fifty, reduces its capacities over time. Statistically, there are less possibilities to obtain individuals performing well on different characteristics with few herds. Also a small breed is more sensitive to abandonment by a number of breeders.
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Ossau-iraty cheese
Source: https://culturecheesemag.com/sponsored/basque-in-the-glory/
BASQUE IN THE GLORY
Ossau-Iraty originates in the Basque country, the mountainous land that hugs the border between Spain and France. The sheep’s milk cheese draws its name from the Irati beech forest in the Northern Basque Country and the neighboring Ossau Valley. Local legend claims that people have been enjoying this cheese since 3,000 BCE.
Beneath its coarse and funky rind, Ossau-Iraty yields a smooth ivory paste that boasts notes of figs, hazelnuts, and fresh grass. You can almost taste the towering Pyrenees mountains and lush pastures where the Black Head Manech sheep graze. In 1980, Ossau-Iraty was granted Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) status and Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) in 1996. These geographical indications ensure that any cheese labeled “Ossau-Iraty” is made in the Basque region while observing strict guidelines.
A bite of this cheese coats your tongue in a luxurious way. Buttery without losing its complexity, Py Black Head Manech Ossau-Iraty is made by hand and aged on wooden boards for six months, developing protein crystals that add a delicate crunch. Pairing possibilities are endless with this versatile cheese. We love a thick piece on a cracker spread with blackberry jam. Or bring it along on a mountain picnic to enjoy with a crusty baguette and a dry Basque cider.
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The “terroir” in summer: cheese-making
In the summer, the mountain is the realm of the herds. Mountain Tarine cows in Maurienne, the black sheep of the Velay in the Massif Central or the Manech black-headed sheep in the Pyrenees, amongst others, thrive on these slopes which become their peaceful home once spring arrives. The job of farming has considerably evolved over the past few decades -mowing has become mechanised except on the steepest slopes where in some resort-villages in the Alps, for example, grass is still cut traditionally for hay. In some stables, animals are treated with homeopathic remedies. But whilst the work has changed somewhat (what were once peasants have become true entrepreneurs) it has not lost the ancestral know-how which is passed down to the younger generations.
Adrien Gachet, a young farmer, “moves” with his animals in the summer, not far from the magnificent Roselend dam. He produces the coveted Beaufort cheese from the mountain pastures. Like his forefathers, he milks his elegant Tarine cows – beautiful brown cows with black made-up eyes – after their delicious meal of multicoloured flowers, and then transforms the precious milk on the spot, by heating it in cauldrons which seem to have always been there. “Celine, my girlfriend, and I produce our cheese in the pasture for 110 days.It is a fairly lonely period, only livened up by hikers passing by, who come and talk to us, eager to see how we live and work.In fact we live like our grand-parents used to!” “Up there, we leave our lives down below”, confirms Karine, his twin sister, who sometimes comes to help. “We escape everyday worries and stress.We move in rhythm with nature and the animals.It is a world that makes you feel good.”
A bit further on, in the Alps, Cyril Champange does the same thing with his Abondance cows, in the Aravis.But from this rich milk comes reblochon cheese.This is, as you know, the king of the favourite skier’s dish –the tartiflette!Everywhere in the mountains the same thing happens. Farmers get up – very early in the morning – to milk their animals, cows, goats or sheep, then go to set up the parks – zones where the animals will graze calmly.
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Adopt a sheep and get your own cheese
https://www.crowdfarming.com/en/farmer/ferme-aozteia/up/adopt-a-manech-sheep
