Sheep livestock / Urbia
Hundreds of sheep’s graze in summer in the fertile slopes of Urbia’s Saw, at Gipuzkoa’s south border, limited by Alaba. Shepherds say that at this altitude the livestock is “cleaned up” with the fresh herb and the air of the mountains.
At the end of the summer, a short migration journey brings the livestock to the valleys where on the steep slopes of Goierri sheep’s graze and, with the winter arrival, they give birth to the lambs. By that time they produce the milk that will be used for making our D.O. Idiazabal’s cheese.
They are Latxa sheep races, that inherit its name for the prop (= “latza”) of its wool. It is an agile and slender ovine class, which origins soars to the prehistory, and fundamentally are destined to produce milk. Its two varieties are distinguished for the colour of its face, “blond” or “black”, although both of them show off a white fur.
