12.5.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 193/45
the Pyrenees for more than seven thousand years.
Because of the steep slopes in the mountains and foothills, most land parcels are suited to grazing, particularly in summer.
Rearing livestock by grazing is the solution most adapted to making best use of these pastures.
That is why a high proportion of farms in the Pyrenees are ruminant (especially cattle and sheep) farms.
This system functions only if breeds adapted to the local area are used.
Sheep farming can be found throughout the Pyrenean mountain range where grass grows throughout the year, thanks to the mild and humid climate.
The differences in climatic and, especially, rainfall gradients between different parts of the area explain how three different dairy-type breeds and seven suckler breeds well-adapted to specific local conditions have developed and differentiated from one another there.
The terrain results in an altitudinal zonation of vegetation which is made use of in line with the seasons.
This is characteristic of sheep husbandry there.
Historically, the pastoral ecosystem has centred around the migrations of the grazing stock in order to bring about a rational use of mountain grasses, complemented in particular with fodder and grains.
The ewes of Pyrenean breeds are hardy, well-adapted to climatic variations and to summer grazing in mountain pastures.
Such ewes still predominate in the geographical area nowadays.
Owing to their hardiness, they have a body type adapted to walking, with long and slender trotters and a rather light body.
The fattening of the lambs is also a traditional practice in the Pyrenees, most often in suckler systems where the sole source of revenue is lamb sales.
To achieve the best results, the lambs must therefore be fattened on the spot.
Nevertheless, because of the considerable distances between holdings in mountain areas and the lack of potential for producing finisher feed in those areas, some slaughter lambs are traditionally ‘finished’ outside their holding of birth, in a finishing centre.
‘Agneau des Pyrénées’ is produced by methods and know-how that are linked to the territory: The geographical area has a specific terrain and climate which are well-suited to livestock (especially sheep) farming.
Taken as a whole, both their high mountains and foothills, the Pyrenees are conducive to the development of livestock farming in general and of sheep farming in particular.
Their varied terrain and climate have created a situation where mountainous and hilly areas can complement one another.
The ewes feed for at least seven months of the year on pastures up in the mountains and on grassy hillsides.
As they are hardy, these breeds, through their ability to adapt to the soil and climatic constraints of the Pyrenees, have enabled agricultural holdings to persist in challenging areas as part of viable agro-pastoral systems.
The altitudinal zonation of vegetation is made use of in line with the seasons and characterises the way sheep farming is managed in the Pyrenees.
The use of local and hardy Pyrenean breeds has led to practices consistent with exploiting the different characteristics of this area (widely dispersed farms: problems of isolation, accessibility of fodder resources, difficulties in gathering the sheep together).
The particular features and diversity of environmental conditions in the Pyrenees have led to the development of ten sheep breeds.
Each of these ten breeds, all perfectly adapted to their local area and to livestock management systems in the Pyrenees, have led to the production of distinctive lambs with weak conformation.
The milk ewes are milked, so they must be separated from their lamb while it is still young.
Grass growth in this area results in their milk being particularly rich and meeting all the lambs’ nutritional needs.
The lambs are fed solely on their mother’s milk through suckling by the dam.
The meat of this suckling lamb is in fact pale to light pink.
The suckler ewes are not milked and therefore spend the majority of their time with their lambs for at least sixty days, which is enough for the lamb’s ruminant digestive system to develop and for it to transition from milk feeding to feed based on fodder and grains.
This two-stage feeding regime, coupled with the age of the lamb – neither two young nor too old – enables a pink-coloured meat to be obtained.
The farmers have preserved their husbandry systems, allowing for these two recognised and appreciated types of lamb to be produced: