The Lacaune is a breed of domestic sheep originating near Lacaune in southern France. The native region of these sheep is the Tarn and Aveyron departments and surrounding areas. This region is collectively known as the “Roquefort Sector” which references the milk collection area. The Lacaune is the most widely used dairying sheep breed in France, with a population of about 800,000 ewes. Notably, it is the predominant breed used in the production of Roquefort cheese in France.

History

Sheep first came to that region of France around 4,000 to 6,000 years ago. The land was rough and desolate but the sheep could adapt well to it. In the mid-19th century, farmers began to add genetics from other local breeds to produce a hardy breed of sheep that produced rich milk and good meat. This was the development of the dual-purpose breed of the original Lacaune. The Lacaune has been used as a milking sheep in France for a very long time, but milking wasn’t the dominant feature of the breed until recently. In the late 1960s, the average milk yield per ewe was only about 70 litres during the human milking period (and excluding the lamb suckling period) per annum.

Remarkably, by the late 1990s, the milk yield had quadrupled to 280 litres per annum. The Lacaune is now one of the world’s high-yielding milk breeds. This was the result of a large-scale, rigorous selection program organized by a French government agency. This program included artificial insemination of several million ewes over the years, a vast array of government support for recording the performance of the progeny on many farms concerning the milk yield and other outcomes, improved knowledge about animal management and nutrition for sheep milk production, and the willingness of many farmers to participate in the program and take advantage of what was being learned. The combination of these and other factors brought about an improvement of 6.3% per year in milk yield per ewe in the breed over the 30 years. The 6.3% gain is decomposable to “a phenotypic gain of 3.9% (better management and nutrition) and a genetic gain of 2.4%. Since 1995 the phenotypic gain has been negligible.”

The success of the large-scale breeding program has not resulted in the extinction of the pre-existing, lower-milk-yielding Lacaunes.

Milk and cheese

The milk of the Lacaune is described usually as wholesome with a high butterfat and protein content and rich flavour. The butterfat content of the milk makes it good for producing many different types of cheese.

The main use of the Lacaune sheep is for the production of Roquefort cheese. Theirs is the only milk is used to produce the cheese. Roquefort is a blue cheese that is usually made from the unpasteurized milk of Lacaune sheep. The semi-soft cheese usually has a creamy and crumbly texture.