Breeding Karakul Sheep

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. HE Karakul sheep industry is administration of the emir's empire, one of the most recent enter- which has an absolute monopoly of the T prises in live stock in the United Persian lamb and Astrakhan fur in- States, but few branches of this dustry. department of breeding are attracting The Russian government also pro- more attention today. I propose, there- hibits the importation of Karakul fore, to give in this paper a history of sheep, and as the United States gov- the introduction of Karakul sheep into ernment generally does not permit the North America, an account of the importation of live stock from Asia we present status of the industry, and my have found it an almost impossible task belief as to the origin of the six classes to start the industry on this continent, which, in Central Asia, are recognized although our efforts extend over a period as making up the breeds known to the of fifteen years. Russians as Karakul and to the Bok- harans as Arabi. THE FIRST IMPORTATION. The industry in the United States In the beginning of 1909, five rams dates back only to 1908, when a letter and ten ewes arrived in New York on a of introduction from President Roose- Saturday boat, which was scheduled to velt to the United States Ambassador at return on Monday, and had it not been St. Petersburg enabled me to interest for the prompt intercession of the Hon. his excellency A. S. YermalofT, ex- J. A. Tawney, whom we happened to minister of agriculture of the Russian reach at the last moment, and who empire, and now a life member of his secured the cooperation of the federal majesty's council. Through his influ- authorities at Washington, my Karakuls ence I secured the cooperation of the would have been slaughtered or returned Poltava Agricultural Society, which on the same boat. obtained for me fifteen head of Karakuls The sheep were in quarantine for a in Bokhara.1 long time, and for three months were The laws of the Khanate of Bokhara kept in an absolutely dark barn, in prohibit the exportation of these order to lower their power of resistance, valuable fur bearing animals by for- and to make it possible to trace in the eigners, but a few flocks have been blood the parasite of surra. When gotten out by certain Russian societies, flash light photographs reached us, who have received the support of the showing the animals to be in a very Russian Foreign and Agricultural De- emaciated condition, we at once applied partments. Although Bokhara is a to Mr. Roosevelt, who ordered their quasi-dependency of Russia, the czar release. does not interfere in the international I returned in May last from a year'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 YOUNG: BREEDING KARAKUL SHEEP 171 A FULL-BLOOD KARAKUL RAM. Teddy junior, shown above, is a son of Teddy senior, the famous ram of Dr. Young's first importation, who, after being kept at Wichita Falls and Middlewater, Texas, is now at Pnnce Edward Island. Teddy junior died at the United States Department of Agriculture's experimental farm near Washington, D. C, last year, when accidentally kicked by a zebra. (Figure 11.) trip to Central Asia, and succeeded in Bessarabian Tshushkas (grade Kara- bringing with me another herd consist- kuls) near the Black Sea for a great ing of seventeen Karakul sheep, one many years, and who criticised me four-horned, fur-bearing Karachaev severely for risking thousands of dollars ram, and one enormous red Kalmik fat- on a few sheep, remarked that I had rump ram. The quarantine regulations probably thrown my money away, as in were less rigidly enforced, but the dip- his opinion the climatic conditions of ping of the sheep in cold weather cost Bokhara were essential to the best me the life of the best ram of the lot. lamb fur raising. When the sheep of my first importa- As the two ewes that produced the tion finally reached our ranch, near best lambs seemed in a little better Wichita Falls, Texas, we noticed that physical condition than the rest, we the fourteen accompanying lambs concluded that in another year when which were born in transit did not have all the sheep would be in better physical the expected lustre and tightness of condition, the result would probably be curl,-the only exception being two of more satisfactory. them, which fully measured up to our During the entire year the sheep expectations. were well fed, and in the summer My father, who has been raising months they enjoyed the best of pasture, 172 THE JOURNAL OF HEREDITY but when spring came, notwithstanding had but little fine underwool, which the fact that the ewes had been bred was bred to a" son of Teddy, himself not to the ram which seemed in the best entirely free from fine wool, gave us a physical condition, the lambs did not fair lamb, which was exhibited in show the improvement from a fur Omaha in 1911 by Joseph F. Simonson. standpoint which we expected, except A number of other tests finally con- those lambs which came from the two vinced me that a very small amount of ewes that the previous year gave us two fine wool can be overcome, and con- good lambs. siderable fine wool in ewes can be neutralized, where the ram is entirely FLEECES DETERIORATE. free from the short fine underwool. A careful examination of the curls of, Two crosses suffice to breed it out the lambs of the two good ewes showed, entirely. however, that there was less lustre than the year before, and less tightness DIFFERENCE IN CROSSES. of curls, and my father remarked that Where we crossed Merinos and we would probably find that the same Shropshires with Teddy, a very inferior Karakul sheep which gave us excellent skin was produced,1 in which there was result in Bokhara would fail us in Texas, great lack of lustre, and a very imperfect where the climatic conditions were curl formation, giving the skin a matty different, especially as far as rainfall appearance, valueless from a fur stand- is concerned. point, but excellent results were ob- The third year showed considerable tained when the same ram was bred improvement, especially with the two to such of our lustrous longwools as good'ewes, which gave excellent results. Lincolns, and such red Persian fat- We then began to study the original rumps as were entirely free from short five rams and noticed that the character wool, and possessed very coarse wool. of the wool was not the same, and. that Where Teddy was bred to longwool Teddy, named in honor of Roosevelt, ewes, free from fine wool, and the skins and another ram had coarse long wool, of the lambs were obtained the first whereas the others had two classes of few days after birth, they showed wool fibers—a long coarse gray wool, tight curls uniform in size and posesssing in which was hidden a fine lustreless the required lustre. Such half-blood short reddish wool resembling micro- skins were valued by Pretorius and scopically that of our Merinos. To our Thorer, assisted by Henry Basch of great surprise we found that the two New York, to whom we were referred good ewes also were free from the fine by the Department of Agriculture, at underwool. The next year, we satisfied from $8 to $12 per skin. In all cases ourselves absolutely that the fine wool where the prices ranged from $3 to $4 present in most of the sheep was the skins showed lack of lustre and curl entirely responsible for their inferior fur- formation, which was easily traced producing qualities. We named sheep to fine wool, either in the Karakul rams which contained this fine wool "Karakul or grade native longwools. The Finewools" but later, when we found Middlewater Cattle Company, which that this fine wool came into the strain purchased all the so-called Persian through the admixture of some fine- sheep of Col. Charles Goodnight, found wool-bearing Afghans, we changed the that these were valueless, except where name to "Karakul-Afghan." the ewes were free from fine underwool, It was quite by accident that I found and only where Teddy was employed out that by breeding Teddy to the were the results satisfactory—in fact, Karakul ewes fairly good results were most of the SI2 skins were halfblood obtained, especially from those ewes Karakul-Persians. that had less fine wool in them; and in The red Persian fatrump, erroneously one case a Karakul-Afghan ewe that called broadtail, and sometimes fattail, "The second cross is greatly improved. THE CURLIEST LAMB BORN. Full-blood Karakul lamb four days old. The father is Teddy senior, the property of the Middle- water Cattle Company; the mother is a full-blood Karakul ewe, but has some fine wool in her fleece. Little of this is evident in the lamb, however, bearing out Dr. Young's contention that a small amount of fine wool in the ewe can be neutralized by a prepotent, decidedly coarse-wool ram.

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