The Sopravissana is one of the seventeen autochthonous Italian sheep breeds for which a genealogical herd-book is kept by the Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia, the Italian national association of sheep-breeders.[3] The breed numbered about 1,200,000 in 1960, and 765,000 in 1970; by 1995 the number had fallen to about 6000.[1] In 2013 total numbers recorded for the breed were 5699.[5]
The Sopravissana is a triple-purpose breed, reared for meat, milk and wool. Modern breeding is aimed at improvement of its qualities as a meat breed, and at improving prolificacy by increasing the twinning rate and reducing the parturition interval.[1]: 285
^ abcdefgDaniele Bigi, Alessio Zanon (2008). Atlante delle razze autoctone: Bovini, equini, ovicaprini, suini allevati in Italia (in Italian). Milan: Edagricole. ISBN9788850652594. p. 284–285.
^ abcBreed data sheet: Sopravissana/Italy. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed June 2017.
^ abcLe razze ovine e caprine in Italia (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Ufficio centrale libri genealogici e registri anagrafici razze ovine e caprine. p. 25. Accessed September 2013.