ASIATIC BREEDS OF SHEEP 



Considered From the Standpoint of Tail Formation 



C. C. Young 

 Denver, Colorado 



WHEN we consider the Asiatic 

 breeds of sheep from the 

 standpoint of tail development, 

 it is possible to divide them into five 

 groups — longtails. shorttails. broad- 

 tails, fatrumps, and fattails. The most 

 important to us are, of course, the 

 longtail sheep, of vv^hich there are very 

 few in Asia, but when we do find them 

 there they are not unlike our longtail 

 sheep in this country, possessing from 

 sixteen to twenty-four vertebrae and 

 more in their tails. 



The shorttail sheep, of which we 

 have none in this country, have gener- 

 ally from three to five vertebrae in 

 their tails. 



Next in importance is the fatrump 

 (Ovis Steatopyga) which often has no 

 tail at all, but has two huge fat pillows 

 that fit on the buttocks, and on cutting 

 into these are often found embedded 

 remnants of a tail consisting of two 

 or three small vertebrae. Not infre- 

 quently there is a tail from two to 

 three inches long and the thickness of 

 a man's finger which protrudes from 

 about the center of the fat lobules at 

 their juncture, and which is generally 

 covered with a very course hair vary- 

 ing in color. Most of the fatrump 

 breeds are red in color, and this the 

 reader must remember as I will speak 

 of this particular pigment again. 



Three different fatrump breeds have 

 been brought into the United States : 

 the Achuri from Persia by Bailey, the 

 Khirgiz from West Turkestan by 

 Hanson and the Kalmick from Central 

 Asia by myself. 



Where I crossed fatrumps to long- 

 tails I was able to produce broadtails 

 (Ovis Platyura) of which there are a 

 great many varieties. Indeed it is not 

 an unusual thing to find, in this coun- 



try, typical broadtail sheep that result 

 from a cross of our native longtail 

 sheep on the Achuri, commonly known 

 in this country under the name of 

 "Persian." Professor Hanson, of 

 South Dakota, was able to produce 

 typical broadtail sheep by crossing 

 Khirgiz fatrumps on certain domestic 

 longtail sheep. The Tartar, Mongol, 

 Chulmi, Tshuiskoe, Kalmick, Buriat, 

 Achuri, Dedick, Tshuntuk and many 

 other Asiatic sheep are of the fatrump 

 group. 



There are a great many broadtail 

 breeds in Central Asia and Asia Minor 

 and in Southeast Europe, but none of 

 them produce tight curls except the 

 Karakuls. The Malitch of the Crimea, 

 the Karachaev and Osetin of the Cau- 

 casus often produce very lustrous but 

 open curls, except where they have been 

 bred to Karakuls. The only two broad- 

 tail breeds that were ever imported to 

 the United States, namely the Karakul 

 and the Karachaev were brought here 

 by myself. The latter often possess 

 more than two horns. In the broad- 

 tail breeds we have generally the same 

 number of vertebrae in the tail, as is 

 the case with the longtails, but on each 

 side of the upper three-fourths of it 

 we find a broad triangular flap con- 

 sisting mostly of adipose tissue, which 

 gives it the appearance of a very broad 

 tail, hence the name Ovis platyura. 



The fattail breeds are not numerous 

 and we have none of them in the 

 United States. They must not be 

 confused with the broadtail or fat- 

 rump breeds which are sometimes 

 called, in this country, fattails. The 

 fattail is a longtail which has up to 

 forty-two vertebrae in its tail, which 

 often drags on the ground. Through- 

 out its entire length the tail is about as 



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