BREEDING KARAKUL SHEEP 



Industry Only Six Years Old in the United States, but Attracting Much Interest- 

 Difficulties of Securing Stock — Six Classes of Karakul Recognized 

 in Asia, All Owing Their Origin and Color to the Small, 

 Black Danadar, Now Almost Extinct. 



Dr. C. C. Young, 

 Belen, Texas. 



THE Karakul sheep industry is 

 one of the most recent enter- 

 prises in live stock in the United 

 States, but few branches of this 

 department of breeding are attracting 

 more attention today. I propose, there- 

 fore, to give in this paper a history of 

 the introduction of Karakul sheep into 

 North America, an account of the 

 present status of the industry, and my 

 belief as to the origin of the six classes 

 which, in Central Asia, are recognized 

 as making up the breeds known to the 

 Russians as Karakul and to the Bok- 

 harans as AraVji. 



The industry in the United States 

 dates back only to 1908, when a letter 

 of introduction from President Roose- 

 velt to the United States Ambassador at 

 St. Petersburg enabled me to interest 

 his excellency A. S Yermaloff, ex- 

 minister of agriculture of the Russian 

 empire, and now a life member of his 

 majesty's council. Through his influ- 

 ence I secured the cooperation of the 

 Poltava Agricultural Society, which 

 obtained for me fifteen head of Karakuls 

 in Bokhara.' 



The laws of the Khanate of Bokhara 

 prohibit the exportation of these 

 valualjle fur V)caring animals by for- 

 eigners, but a few flocks have been 

 gotten out by certain Russian societies, 

 who have received the sui)i:)ort of the 

 Russian Foreign and Agricultural De- 

 partments. Although Bokhara is a 

 quasi-dcpendcncy of Russia, the czar 

 does not interfere in the international 



administration of the emir's empire, 

 which has an absolute monopoly of the 

 Persian lamb and Astrakhan fur in- 

 dustry. 



The Russian government also pro- 

 hibits the importation of Karakul 

 sheep, and as the United States gov- 

 ernment generally does not permit the 

 importation of live stock from Asia we 

 have found it an almost impossible task 

 to start the industry on this continent, 

 although our efforts extend o\'er a period 

 of fifteen years. 



THE FIRST IMPORTATION. 



In the beginning of 1909, five rams 

 and ten ewes arrived in New York on a 

 Saturday boat, which was scheduled to 

 return on Monday, and had it not been 

 for the prompt intercession of the Hon. 

 J. A. Tawney, whom we happened to 

 reach at the last moment, and who 

 secured the cooperation of the federal 

 authorities at Washington, my Karakuls 

 would have been slaughtered or relurncd 

 on the same boat. 



The sheep were in quarantine for a 

 long time, and for three months were 

 kept in an absolutely dark barn, in 

 order to lower their power of resistance, 

 and to make it possible to trace in the 

 blood the parasite of surra. When 

 flash light [)hotograi:)hs reached us, 

 showing the animals to be in a ver\- 

 emaciated condition, we at once ai)i)lied 

 to Mr. Roosevelt, who ordered llieir 

 release. 



I returned in Mav last from a vear's 



'Those interested may refer to the American Breeders' Magazine (third quarter, 1912), Literary 

 Digest (September 30, 1911), and the New York Herald (September 10, 1911 and April 20, 1913) 

 for further details about my importations. 



170 



