North African Sheep Breeds: Ouled Djellal, Sardi, Barbarine

The best-known North African sheep breeds are Ouled Djellal, Algeria's most widespread breed; Rembi and Hamra of the Algerian steppe; Sardi, Timahdite and Beni Guil in Morocco; the very prolific oasis breed D'man; the fat-tailed Barbarine of Tunisia and Libya; and Touabire and Peul sheep in Mauritania. Most are thin-tailed, with the Barbarine as the main exception.

Sheep keeping in the Maghreb is an old tradition tied to the steppe, the high plateaux, the mountains and the oases, and Eid al-Adha is its biggest season. These breeds differ in many ways from Gulf and European breeds, so knowing them helps local breeders and anyone thinking about crossing or importing. Below are the generally known traits of each breed; variation inside each breed is large.

Algeria

• Ouled Djellal: the largest breed by numbers in Algeria, spread across the steppe and into western Tunisia. White, long-legged, thin-tailed sheep with white wool, valued for meat and adapted to steppe grazing. It is the reference breed in the Algerian Eid market.
• Rembi: a strong-framed steppe breed with a tawny to reddish-brown head and legs and white fleece, known for hardiness, size and resilience in rough, mountainous areas.
• Hamra: named after its reddish-brown head and legs, found in the western steppe near the Moroccan border and known for meat quality. Its numbers have fallen because of crossbreeding, and there is interest in conserving it.
• D'man: the oasis breed of south-western Algeria and southern Morocco, covered in its own section below.

For the wider farming picture, read sheep farming in Algeria and Tunisia.

Morocco

• Sardi: from west-central Morocco, white with distinctive black patches around the eyes and muzzle; rams are horned. One of the most sought-after breeds for Eid al-Adha, which keeps its price high.
• Timahdite: the Middle Atlas breed, usually brown-headed, with good wool and adaptation to cold and altitude.
• Beni Guil: the breed of the eastern high plateaux, brown-headed and known for meat quality that buyers ask for by name.
• Boujaâd: a breed from the Boujaâd area of central Morocco, known locally for its wool and adaptation to its region.
• D'man: in the Draa and Tafilalet oases.

See also sheep farming in Morocco.

D'man: the prolific oasis breed

D'man stands out from other regional breeds for its reproduction:

• Very high prolificacy: twins and triplets are common, and larger litters happen.
• Early sexual maturity compared with steppe breeds.
• Ability to breed during most of the year, allowing more than one lambing per year in good management.
• Many coat colours (black, brown, white, spotted) with wool of little value.

It needs good feeding, though: a ewe nursing three lambs is quickly drained, and lamb losses rise when care is poor. D'man is also used in crosses to raise the fertility of other breeds.

Tunisia and Libya

• Barbarine: a fat-tailed breed and the most common sheep in Tunisia, also widespread in Libya. Known for coping with hunger, drought and salty drinking water in the centre and south, and for well-liked meat.
• Queue Fine de l'Ouest (Western thin-tail): in western Tunisia, white and thin-tailed, close to the Ouled Djellal.
• Noire de Thibar: a black breed of northern Tunisia. Its black colour protects it from the photosensitisation that affects white sheep after eating certain local plants.
• Libya: dominated by the fat-tailed Barbary type adapted to desert and semi-desert grazing.

Mauritania

• Touabire (short-haired Moorish): tall, short-haired sheep in demand for Eid and Tabaski in Mauritania and Senegal.
• Peul (Fulani) sheep: medium to tall pastoral sheep that cope with long movements with the herds.
• Long-haired Moorish: usually black, with long hair traditionally used for tent cloth.

Read more in livestock farming in Mauritania.

Comparison table

Record breeds to protect and use them

Many breeds in the region face uncontrolled crossbreeding and slowly lose their traits. Records are the protection: each animal's breed, sire and dam, weights and number of lambs. In the Throf platform you record this for every head and can follow twinning in D'man ewes or weights of Ouled Djellal lambs in separate groups, so the numbers tell you which breed or cross suits your farm. For a wider view, see our sheep breeds guide.