Saving the black variety of the Red face Tsigai - documenting efforts to rescue an endangered breed

The black wooled Tsigai individuals, appears in red faced herds, due to the "W" gene recessive allele "w", in a homozygous state. In order to clarify of which sheep is about our discussion, the present paper aims to display a concise phenotypic and behavioral description of the black wooled Tsigai, to avoid any mix up with any other black wooled or black faced sheep breed. Our black wooled Tsigai, as an ancient animal typically have a stable, steady gait and is constantly in motion while grazing. They are able to walk tens of kilometers a day on poor grassland mountain pastures, searching for food. They have a very strong herd spirit. Their temperament is lively, attentive, yet easy to get used to and well handled. Concerning production performances, these also indicate an ancient character: the average milk yield of sheep is 60-80 L lactation-1, with 6-7% fat and 6% protein content.