Bleu du Maine (sheep)
Encyclopedia
Domestic sheep
Sheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries...
that originated in western France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, in the region common to the departments of Maine-et-Loire
Maine-et-Loire
Maine-et-Loire is a department in west-central France, in the Pays de la Loire region.- History :Maine-et-Loire is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. Originally it was called Mayenne-et-Loire, but its name was changed to Maine-et-Loire in 1791....
, Mayenne
Mayenne
Mayenne is a department in northwest France named after the Mayenne River.-History:Mayenne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. The northern two thirds correspond to the western part of the former province of Maine...
and Sarthe
Sarthe
Sarthe is a French department, named after the Sarthe River.- History :The department was created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790, pursuant to the law of December 22, 1789, starting from a part of the province of Maine which was divided into two departments, Sarthe to the east and...
. A large, prolific sheep, the most distinctive characteristic of the breed is its bald, gray–blue head which is polled in both sexes. More common in France and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, it has also been exported to the U.K., where it is sometimes used for the creation of cross–bred mules
Mule (sheep)
In sheep farming, the term Mule is used to refer to a cross between a lowland ram and a purebred upland ewe....
. Though this breed does grow wool, it is raised primarily for meat.
Millennium Bleu
The Millennium Bleu is a new breed which began to be developed in the year 2000. It is a cross of a Bleu du Maine ewe with a TexelTexel (sheep)
The Texel is a breed of domestic sheep originally from the island of Texel in the Netherlands. It is now a popular lean meat sheep in the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay and Europe. The Texel is a heavily muscled sheep. It produces a lean meat carcass and will pass on this quality to crossbred...
or Beltex
Beltex (sheep)
The Beltex is a breed of domestic sheep. A portmanteau of Belgian and Texel, the name reflects the breed's origin as an offshoot of Texel sheep from Belgium. In the late 1980s, Belgian Texels were exported to the United Kingdom, and it was there that it was primarily refined in to its modern form...
ram. It is still rare in the U.K., and is used primarily as a terminal sire.