524 Journal of the Department op Agriculture. 



six-toothed rams 138 lb.; and fuU-moutli rams 144 lb., the 

 hig-hesi weight being 156 lb. If run on permanent pasture the 

 weights would be much g-reater, but as it is our intention to keep 

 these sheep under conditions as near those which exist on the 

 majority of farms, the above weights are a truer indication of the 

 size attained by them. The heaviest karakul the writer has seen was 

 a ram sold in 1916, which weighed 206 lb. (For the convenience of 

 reader^ the above weights are repeated with those given when dealing 

 with g]-ade karakuls. This enables a ready comparison to be made.) 



Tvarakuls are great walkers and good climbers, going into stony 

 kopjes much higher than the merinos or other sheep on Grootfontein. 

 They cover the ground over which they are grazing rapidly, and, if 

 ill a flock with other sheep, soon separate themselves out and leave the 

 otiiers behind. If put into a lucerne paddock they graze up and 

 down it, seldom remaining long in one place. They are markedly 

 unsociable, and prefer the company of their own kind when mixed 

 witli other sheep, as indicated above. The ewes are most devoted 

 mothers, even young ewes with their first lambs looking after their 

 offspring most carefully, usually coming straight up to any one who 

 has caught a lamb. As they are very heavy milkers they must be 

 watched should they lose a lamb through any cause, as it is necessary 

 to miJk them dry a few times to prevent udder trouble. 



As regards their food, they eat anytJiing that can be eaten, 

 and will thrive where many another breed would succumb to hunger. 

 Thev are particularh^ fond of dry grazing, not necessarily droughty 

 grazing, but dry grass, bush, etc. They have been seen on Groot- 

 fontein to relish and look for dried maize leaves which were ignored 

 by the merinos in the flock. There does not appear to be a great 

 craving for green grazing, and a flock of ewes have been seen to 

 walk through a paddock of lucerne without attempting to feed. 



Until the opportunity for further investigation occurs it would 

 perhaps be too much to say that karakuls do not thrive on an entirely 

 green diet, but certainly, when in 1916-lT the stud rams were run 

 on lucerne and grass, one of them, while appearing in normal health 

 and vigour throughout the period, lost 20 lb. in weight in about 

 four months. , 



Karakul sheep have a great appetite for salt and should be freelj' 

 supplied with this substance. 



In the State-owned flocks the ewes are bred from only once a 

 year. On Grootfontein the rams are paddocked with their ewes in late 

 March or April, and the lambs are dropped in August to September. 

 The ewes appear to come into use best at this time of the year, and an 

 attempt made in 1917 to obtain autumn lambs resulted in very few- 

 lambs indeed. In the Protectorate flock there are two lambing seasons 

 a year, namely, in April and November. This is necessary as the 

 flock is too large to enable the officer in charge to do justice to all 

 the lambs should they all be born in a month or six weeks. The rams 

 run with the ewes for six weeks and are then removed. 



As the lambs have to be killed to obtain the pelts the writer has 

 often been asked how the flock increases in size. Two methods of 

 getting over this difficulty are possible. In the first, only the ram 

 lambs, except those retained for stud, are killed for pelts, and only 

 those ewe lambs which are considered undesirable as breeding stock. 

 In the second, two lambings a year, or three in two years, should be 



