breed
A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...
province of Massa Carrara
The province of Massa-Carrara ( it, provincia di Massa-Carrara) is a province in the Tuscany region of central Italy. It is named after the provincial capital Massa, and Carrara, the other main town in the province.
History
The province of "Ma ...
, in Tuscany in central Italy. It is raised almost exclusively in the comune of Zeri and the neighbouring comune of Pontremoli. In the years after the Second World War, systematic use was made of Massese rams with the aim of improving milk yield; the result was a reduction in resistance to disease and ability to forage on poor terrain, an increase in mammary defects, an increase in colour variability, but little improvement in milk yield. The Zerasca 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.
In 2012 the total number for the breed was 951.