Lacaune

The Lacaune is a domesticated sheep breed from southern France, developed originally as the mainstay of Roquefort cheese production. It is a medium-framed animal reared chiefly for its milk, although breeders have also developed a separate strain for meat over the decades. Among the world's milch sheep breeds, the Lacaune ranks among the most numerous, and the bulk of ewes in the Roquefort catchment area belong to this breed.

The breed carries two distinct lines. The dairy line, called lait, is selected for heavy milk yield and feeds the cheese trade, while the meat line, called viande, is bred for growth rate and carcass quality. Both lines carry the same general look: a white face and legs left largely free of wool, with the fleece confined to the body. Neither sex carries horns.

The Lacaune is known for its hardiness and its knack for grazing rough pasture in a hot, dry climate, a trait that sets it apart from breeds suited to India's humid, monsoon-fed grasslands. Ewes make attentive mothers and are steady milkers, and the breed takes equally well to open-range grazing and to organised dairy management.

Who it suits

The Lacaune suits rearers focused on milk production, especially those supplying or running a cheese dairy, and farms located in warm, dry tracts with adequate grazing land. Its docile nature makes twice-daily milking and routine handling straightforward rather than a daily struggle. The meat strain suits producers after a hardy lamb that does well on pasture. Keepers looking for a horned breed or one with a heavy fleece would do better to look elsewhere.

The breed is named after the town and hill country of Lacaune, in the Tarn department of southern France. Sheep-rearing in this part of the Massif Central goes back centuries, with flocks grazing the limestone plateaus and upland pastures. Local flocks supplied milk to the ageing caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, and this trading link gave the regional sheep a clear commercial purpose long before organised breed societies existed.

Through the nineteenth century, local breeders worked at fixing a more uniform and productive animal, combining and selecting from the mountain sheep already found in the area. What emerged was the modern Lacaune: a white-faced, hornless breed suited both to the local climate and to dairy purposes.

In the twentieth century, selection within the breed branched into two lines. The dairy line was upgraded for milk yield and milking traits through organised recording and artificial insemination programmes, which pushed up average production considerably. The meat line was bred separately for growth rate and body conformation. Both lines trace back to the same regional stock.

Today the Lacaune dominates dairy sheep numbers in the Roquefort production zone and has travelled well beyond French borders. Breeders in many countries use its genetics to upgrade local dairy flocks; it is now one of the most widely distributed milch sheep breeds anywhere.

The Lacaune has a clean, medium-sized frame. Wool is largely absent from the head and legs, which instead carry short white hair and give the animal a neat outline. Neither ewes nor rams carry horns; both are naturally polled. The back is level and the body well proportioned, though the dairy line tends toward a leaner, more angular, milk-oriented frame, while the meat line is broader and carries more muscle. The ears are of medium length and stand out to the sides.

Coat and colour

The fleece is white and medium-grade, covering the trunk while the head, lower legs and belly remain bare of wool. Since the breed is kept chiefly for milk and meat, wool is very much a secondary product, and the fleece stays light rather than heavy. The bare head and legs help the animal keep cool in the warm climate it comes from, and they make milking and general inspection that much easier.

The Lacaune carries a settled, even temperament. Flocks are calm and docile, moving and handling without much fuss, which counts for a great deal in a dairy set-up where the animals pass through the milking parlour twice daily. Rearers commonly describe the breed as good-natured and steady at work, in the sense that ewes milk consistently and raise their lambs well.

Ewes handled regularly turn quiet and cooperative around people. Being a flock species, they stick together and respond well to routine, so a keeper who sticks to a fixed schedule will find them relaxed rather than flighty. They are generally peaceable around other livestock too. Rams, like those of any sheep breed, call for sensible handling once the breeding season sets in. Maternal behaviour is a strong point of the breed, with ewes staying attentive to their lambs through the early days.

Grooming

• Shear once a year, ideally just before the hottest part of the season sets in.
• Check and trim hooves on a fixed schedule to keep lameness at bay.
• Maintain a parasite control programme based on faecal testing and veterinary advice.
• Examine the bare face and legs regularly for cuts, ticks or skin trouble.
• For milking ewes, keep the udder clean and stay alert for early signs of mastitis.

Exercise

• Give the flock daily access to grazing land; this is a breed built for active foraging.
• Allow room to move over rough or sloping ground, which suits its hill origins well.
• Rotate paddocks to keep fodder quality up and cut down the parasite load.
• Do not keep animals penned in small, bare enclosures for long stretches.

Environment

The Lacaune is bred for a warm, dry climate and takes summer heat in its stride, but it still needs shade and shelter from heavy rain, wind and cold. Keepers in most of India, where humidity and monsoon downpours are part of the yearly cycle, would need to pay closer attention to drainage and shelter than a flock owner in the breed's native Tarn would. Provide a dry, well-ventilated shed for lambing, milking and rough weather generally. Clean water should be available at all times, and intake climbs sharply once ewes start lactating. Sturdy, well-maintained fencing keeps the flock together and safe from predators.

Grass and conserved fodder, whether hay or silage, form the backbone of the Lacaune's diet. On decent pasture, dry ewes that are not in lamb can meet most of their needs through grazing alone. Energy and protein demand climbs during late pregnancy, through milking and while lambs are growing fast, and a concentrate ration is usually brought in to match this extra workload, particularly for the higher-yielding dairy ewes. A loose mineral and salt lick supplement takes care of trace elements that pasture alone may not supply.

Treats and supplements

Keep any extra feeding modest. Small quantities of safe vegetables, or treats made specially for sheep, work well enough for training and handling purposes, but these should remain a minor part of the overall diet. Offer a mineral supplement formulated for sheep, and take veterinary advice on selenium and other trace elements in areas where local soils are known to run deficient.

The Lacaune is a generally robust breed, well adapted to open grazing, and an animal that is properly looked after commonly lives 8 to 12 years. Most of the health problems seen are those common to grazing and dairy sheep in general, rather than defects specific to this breed. Sound nutrition, parasite control, foot care and udder hygiene between them cover the bulk of routine health needs.

Preventive care

• Follow a vaccination and deworming schedule drawn up with a veterinary doctor.
• Check hooves on a regular basis and trim as needed.
• Keep a watch on body condition right through the production cycle.
• Practise sound milking hygiene to protect udder health.
• Quarantine new arrivals before letting them into the main flock.

Lacaune ewes typically reach breeding condition within the first year of life, and many are put to the ram to lamb somewhere between one and two years of age, depending on growth and how the flock is managed. Mating is generally seasonal, with rams turned in with the flock so that lambing falls at a planned time of year. Gestation runs to about five months. One or two lambs is the usual litter size, and twins are common in ewes that are well fed.

Ewes are attentive mothers and strong milkers. In dairy set-ups, lambs are frequently weaned quite early so that the ewe's milk goes to the parlour for cheese-making instead, with the lambs reared on milk replacer or shifted onto solid feed. Where the focus is meat, lambs are left on the ewe for longer so they can grow. Selection within the dairy line puts weight on milk yield, milking speed and udder shape, while the meat line is selected for growth rate and carcass traits. Artificial insemination is common in recorded dairy flocks as a means of spreading improved genetics.