La Crau, land of sheep

The Crau is a grazed land, there are about 100,000 sheep that roam the lowland between mid-October and April, most are Arles Merinos. This local sheep breed comes from a cross between the rustic Crau breed and merino. Arles Merino is bred for lambs and its wool is elastic, light and warm. The landscape is composed of many sheepfolds, some of which date from the Gallo-Roman era. Livestock farming has been important for millennia.