The Bergamasca is a breed

Breed

A breed is a group of domestic animals or plants with a homogeneous appearance, behavior, and other characteristics that distinguish it from other animals or plants of the same species. Despite the centrality of the idea of "breeds" to animal husbandry, there is no scientifically accepted...

 of domesticated sheep originating from northern Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. This breed is the foundation of the other Lop-eared Alpine breeds and of Fabrianese, Pavullese, Perugian Lowland and Zakynthos. It is a triple purpose breed raised for their milk

Milk

Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...

, meat and coarse wool

Wool

Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....

. From 1993 to 1997, the population has been decreasing from greater than 95,000 to 4,235 respectively.

Characteristics

This breed displays white and is unicolored. Rams weigh 105 kg (231.5 lb) and grow to 90 cm (35.4 in) at the withers on average. At maturity on average, ewes weigh 82 kg (180.8 lb) and grow to 80 cm (31.5 in) at the withers. Ewes lactate for approximately six months while producing about 250 kg (551.2 lb) of milk with 6% fat.