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[wpdreams_ajaxsearchlite] Don't see the breed your're looking for? Click here and let us know!Santa Inês sheep
Place of Origin | Brazil |
Origin | The Santa Inês, also known as Pelo de Boi de Bahia, is a breed of sheep from Brazil. As woolless hair sheep, the breed is primarily raised for meat, and is the one of the largest and most productive hair sheep breeds common to Brazil. It is thought to have derived from crosses of the Morada Nova, Bergamasca, and native coarse-wooled sheep. There do seem to be striking differences between the Santa Inês and the Sahelian types of hair sheep from the arid regions of west Africa. Santa Inêz are well-adapted for tropical climates, such as with higher parasite resistance than other meat sheep breeds. |
Purpose | Meat |
Characteristics | Their colours range from red, black and white and can be spotted or solid. They have large bodies, are long-legged and have large pendulous ears and are polled. The rams do not have a throat ruff. They have a low litter size of 1.25. Mature weights of the ewes in the field fall between 40 and 50 kg (88 - 110 lb), and if well fed, the rams can weigh as much as 100 kg (220 lb). The Santa Inês comes the closest to serving as a terminal sire breed in a crossbreeding system as any native hair breed of the American tropics. Unfortunately, because of their larger body size many producers of northeast Brazil are using Santa Inês to replace the smaller sized breeds with lower maintenance costs and larger litter sizes. |