Karakul Sheep. 6:u 



constitutional variations." It appears to the writer, as lie has already 

 clearly indicated, that this variation is due mostly to the breeding of 

 the parents ; certainly vfhen such big variations occur as between 

 " A " and " B " types. In all cases when we know the breeding of 

 two sheep for a few generations back we can predict approximately 

 what the lamb's pelt will be like. Of course no two lambs are alike, 

 but type of curl, lustre, and quality can be jjredicted under the con- 

 ditions mentioned. It has already been shown that big A^ariations 

 in lambs from an " A " type ram can often be explained by the fact 

 that although he, himself, is of "A" type, one of his parents was 

 not, and even in a pure-bred ''A " ram, one of whose parents was a 

 " watered silk," and the other a tight-curled lamb, both kinds of curl 

 are transmitted by him. Such a ram, " L. Russel," is at present at 

 stud at Grootfontein. He was a first A Special, medium tight curl. 

 His sire was " Langman," who gets many "watered silk " lambs, and 

 his dam was a first A of good definite curl. Many of his progeny are 

 curly, tut a fair number are too open, due to the "watered silk" 

 blood he has in him. The curl of tlie ewe must, of course, also be 

 taken into consideration, but the ram appears to have much the 

 greater influence on the pelt. 



As more is known about these sheep more will be published. For 

 the present what has been written is what has been found and proved 

 to be true, and will not cause any breeder to lose ground or time in 

 obtaining good results. Other investigations, such as the value of 

 rams with good tight curl and good lusti'e but with some " B " in 

 them, are being conducted in the near future at Grootfontein. (Such 

 a ram as a lamb is figured in Plate 14. Note the hard hair below 

 the hock.) It may be that such an animal will be of great value 

 when put to soft open curled ewes, but until this has been proved 

 breeders are advised to keep away from B-type rams even if they can 

 be bought for £2 and are classed IB. 



As, for some years to come, karakul sheep will be more or less a 

 side-line with breeders and will probably not have the time devoted to 

 them required to make full descriptions of the lambs, and as many 

 will be unwilling to keep several rams to suit the weaknesses of small 

 numbers of ewes, breeders should use only A-type rams and mate 

 everything to them. Nothing can be lost by so doing, except perhaps 

 that some corkscrew may appear in some of the lambs. If such is 

 the case, a shorter stapled ram should be used on the dams of such 

 lambs and on the lambs themselves, as corkscrew appears to be the 

 result of too great length of staple. 



As the purchasers of pure-bred karakuls are in a position to obtain 

 the pedigrees of the rams and ewes they have purchased, it might be 

 mentioned for their information and to enable them to avoid intro- 

 ducing too much blood from one ram, that both in the Protectorate 

 and at Grootfontein a certain system of naming rams is followed. 

 It is this : When a ram is used at stud it is named, the name begin- 

 ning with the same letter as his sires, or having this letter placed in 

 front of it. Thus the stud sons of "Jacob" are named "James," 

 "Jubilee," "Jacobus," etc.; or, again, " Nineteen's " stud sons 

 are " Nimrod " and " N. Lustre " ; and " Langman 's " are " Llama " 

 and " L. Russel." The rams from which male lines can at present 

 be established are: "Jacob," "Nineteen," "Langman," " Swart- 

 booi," "Owen," "Robert," "George," "Blackie," "Edward," 



