Conservation of the Alpines Steinschaf

The Alpines Steinschaf is an old and traditional sheep breed living in the Alps for several hundred years. In 1985 only a few small flocks of this breed could be identified in special alpine regions in Germany. A breeding programme was established by some interested breeders and official breeding organisations. To maintain rare breeds for the future, it is necessary to develop special programmes for their use and marketing. In 2004 the breeders in Germany and Austria created a programme to market high quality products made of Alpines Steinschaf wool. The project ran very successfully, and the population of the Alpines Steinschaf has been increasing annually since then.