Xalda sheep

The xalda sheep (in Astur-Leonese oveya xalda or moñalba) is a breed of sheep native to the Principality of Asturias. of the Ovis aries celticus or churro trunk. It is a sheep of Celtic origin, like the Ouessant of Brittany, the Cochddu (black Welsh) of Wales, the Morite (sheep moors) from the Shetland Islands in Scotland and the Skudde, Weibe Gehörnte Heidschnucke and Moorschnucke from Germany.

History

This breed came to the brink of extinction in the 20th century due, among other factors, to the abandonment of the rural world, to the introduction of other breeds that supposedly gave a higher economic performance and to the forest use of the old pastures of the communal mountains.

In 1982, a census was carried out that showed the figure of about eight hundred females in all of Asturias. This contrasts notably with the almost six hundred thousand copies that in the XVIII century were collected in the Cadastre of the Marqués de la Ensenada.

To prevent the disappearance of the breed and promote its use among Asturian farmers, the «Asociación de Criadores de Oveja Xalda» (ACOXA) was created in 1992.

References to this breed begin centuries ago, as it is known that it was used since ancient times by the Astures, who wore a sagus or black wool tunic, the characteristic color of these sheep (book III of Estrabón's Geographika).

It is true that their cattle are small; their sheep seemed to me a medium between the merinas and the common churras, perhaps because the short emigration they do annually, or the sole excellence of the grasses they graze, put the fineness of their wool in the middle of the other two classes.

Jovellanos