KARAKUL SHEEP 



(Of the Ovis platyura or broadtail class) 



'T'HE mformation respecting the breeding of karakul sheep for Per- 

 I sian lamb and astrakhan fur production has been, ia large part, ex- 

 tracted from a Russian Government bulletin by Mr. M. Karpov, published 

 in 1912 and entitled "Facts concernmg Karakul Breeding"; from the 

 United States Department of Agriculture which experimented for two 

 years with karakul sheep supplied by Dr. C. C. Young; from Dr. Young 

 himself; from the article of Prof. Wallace of Ediaborough University 

 in the Pastoralist magazine published in 1909; from Herr Carl Thorer 

 of Leipzig, the largest importer of karakul sheep fur in the world; from 

 Mr. Vladimir Generosoff, Russian Agricultural Commissioner in Amer- 

 ica; from Consul Emil Brass' book "Aus dem Reiche der Pelze"; from 

 the American Breeders Association; from daily personal observation of 

 the karakul sheep recently imported to Charlottetown, P.E.I., and 

 from the examination of skins produced on the ranch of the Middle- 

 water Cattle Co. of Middlewater, Texas, whose herd was recently 

 imported into Prince Edward Island. 



The khanate of Bokhara, West Turkestan, Central Asia 

 Karakuls — especially the districts of Karakul, Karshi, Kerki, and 



Tcharjui on the Amu-Darya river — ^is the origiaal home of 

 the karakul breeds of sheep which produce the furs known to commerce 

 as Persian lamb, astrakhan, baby lamb, or broadtail and gray krimmer. 

 From these centres the industry has, in recent years, extended to the 

 khanate of Khiva, lying immediately north of Bokhara; southerly 

 to Northern Persia and Afghanistan, westerly to Transcaspia, the 

 Caucasus, and the Crimea, and to the eastern provinces of West 

 Turkestan, Syr-Darya, Ferghana, and Semiryetchensk. A few small 

 outlying herds have very recently been established in southern Russia, 

 Germany, Hungary, Africa, and America. 



The karakul consists of six classes which may be roughly 

 Ka^rakuls referred to as distinct breeds. These, Dr. Young asserts, 

 are all descended from the 'danadar' — ^now practically 

 extinct — and from which they have derived their black colour, lustre 

 of wool, and tendencies to produce tightly-curled lambs. The breeds 

 that produce the most highly valued fur are : 



1. The small arabi — a small sheep with coarse, long, gray wool 

 when mature; small head, with small, erect ears and straight nose line; 

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