The Rava is a French sheep breed originating from the Massif Central, more specifically from the Chaîne des Puys in the Puy-de-Dôme region.

It is characterized by its white fleece with long locks and coarse, garlicky wool, and its bare head marked with black spots.

In fact, when sent to summer pastures in the Auvergne Volcanoes Regional Nature Park, it helps to maintain the landscape at a lower cost.

[5] Another meaning of the Occitan word ravat is interesting to consider, namely that of an animal, the badger:[4] indeed, the term badger in this particular case refers to sheep breeds with a particular black-and-white facial variegation, known in English as badger-faced sheep,[6] even if the irregular variegation of today's Rava is different from that of its British congeners in which the badger-face character has been fixed.

[7] The geographical map published by Quittet[8] in 1965 shows the breed's area of dominance and presence in the Puy-de-Dôme at that time.

[9] André Sanson, a zootechnician and morphologist in the second half of the 19th century, is the author of a classification of sheep breeds whose groupings have retained a certain relevance.

[10] He described a "Central Plateau breed", zoologically designated Ovis aries arvernensis, into which he distinguished several varieties: the Auvergne, including different types such as the Rava, which is presented as a type or sub-variety in the Puy-de-Dôme, the Marchoise in Creuse, the Limousine in Haute-Vienne, the Saintongeoise in Charentes and the Bizet in Haute-Loire (the Noire du Velay, formerly known as the Mouton de Bains, is ignored).

[10] Comparing the spread of this ethnic group with the migrations of Celtic peoples has not been verified, and is not based on any serious foundation, even though the interest this mention may arouse has led to references to it in notices presenting these breeds.

[9][11] This situation almost changed in the 1950s, when it was decided to crossbreed sheep with rams of beef breeds to improve lamb conformation, without keeping sufficient numbers of replacement females.

[9] The Rava breeders' association, created in 1971, played an important role in this revival and in the selection of the breed, which then began to organize itself.

[16] In a general context of declining sheep farming in France since 1980, it is also one of the breeds whose selection base has been relatively well maintained: Rava's main characteristic is its hardiness, which is related to its ability to adapt to its very restrictive breeding environment: quality feed resources in very limited quantities, often coarse fodder, long wintering periods.

It is one of the hardy French sheep breeds best adapted to making the most of the most diverse and unconventional roughages provided by the local natural flora, from tree foliage to herbaceous plants.

[11][12] If food is scarce, the Rava is renowned for mobilizing its body reserves with great ease, before replenishing them in more favorable periods.

[9] Weight at standard age 30 days is an indicator of the sheep' dairy potential, estimated through lamb growth over this period: Rava is a fairly prolific breed.

From May to October, the sheep are sent to summer pastures at altitudes ranging from 1,200 to 1,500 m.[11] Rava lambs are supplied to the South-East of France, and are mostly slaughtered in Lyon or Vaucluse.

[9] Originating in the foothills of the Chaîne des Puys in the Puy-de-Dôme, the breed's distribution has changed very little since then, and it's still in this part of the Massif Central that it's most present.

[20] The Rava is a breed emblematic of its region of origin, and is often evoked with its characteristic black and white head in turn-of-the-century descriptions of Auvergne.