New study of the sheep Canary of hair that guarantees its preservation and improvement.

The current document includes the genetic evaluations of animals from four farms in the Islands.

The Association of Canarian Sheep Breeders of Hair (OVICAN) presented the new catalog of stallions of this cattle breed, the only one in the Canary Islands that has a registry of these characteristics.

The study starts from exhaustive genetic studies, contributes to conservation, improvement and promotion of these animals, in addition to constituting a guarantee for the farmer that he acquires genetically proven animals whose qualities are transmitted to the following generations and, Therefore, improve the productivity and performance of farms.

This post, which expands on 2009, ES fruit of the work carried out by the Universities of La Laguna and Córdoba, with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and waters of the Canary Islands, the Cabildo Insular de Tenerife and the Canary Institute of Agrarian Research (ICIA) and, mainly, of the ranchers.

As a result of this collaboration, consolidate the breed's genetic improvement scheme, allowing to know how is its evolution, opens new ways of commercialization for these animals and strengthens its expansion throughout the Peninsula, where it is already present, specifically in a farm in Salamanca.

The text of 2009 It was the first genetic study in the world on hair sheep in which animals from seven different herds were compared using molecular genetic techniques..

The current document includes the genetic evaluations of animals from four farms in the Islands, two more than in the previous catalog, and responds to an even greater effort in genealogical control with molecular techniques and a considerable increase in phenotypic information.

During the presentation of this text, the general director of Livestock, David de Vera, expressed the commitment of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing and Waters continue to support the conservation of indigenous livestock breeds and highlighted the growth that the Canarian sheep with hair is experiencing, “on the rise, and whose value is being recognized outside the Archipelago, where it is being perceived as a productive breed of great livestock use”.

On the other hand, Juan Vicente Delgado, researcher at the Genetics Department of the University of Córdoba and technical director of the selection scheme for this breed, He recognized the work of Canarian professionals in this area and pointed out that in increasingly globalized markets it is necessary to compete in quality rather than quantity, so it is necessary to bet on modernization, which means improving health, technology, production systems and also genetics.

Luis Alberto Bermejo, researcher at the Department of Agrarian Engineering, Nautical, Civil and Maritime of the ULL, highlighted the involvement of breeders in this project and the confidence placed in this improvement scheme, as well as the administrations and entities involved in this action aimed at the protection and improvement of the breed.

The canarian sheep with fur presents a census composed of 3.500 animals distributed in 19 livestock located mainly in Tenerife, where are the 75% of the heads, and in Gran Canaria, La Palma and Lanzarote. This breed has traditionally been associated with intensive tropical cultivation under plastic, mainly banana and vegetables, whose animals supply the manure to the farm with which they are associated.

Its good adaptation to warm areas, the no need for shearing and the use of important agricultural by-products in the Islands such as those of banana and tomato cultivation, have been the main attractions of this breed. Although initially it was only valued for the quality of its manure, currently it has also been revealed as a good meat producer.