Most farmers raise sheep for wool or meat. Therefore, it is important to choose the right breed of animal. A popular choice is the Caucasian and North Caucasian breeds of sheep. Work on breeding was started by livestock specialists of the Stavropol Territory in the 30s of the last century. It should be noted that when growing the North Caucasian breed, some sheep farmers note low fertility of animals.
Description and characteristics of the breed
Animals of the Caucasian breed are distinguished by their proportional physique, elongated and rounded body. Adult males gain weight up to 120 kg, females - up to 70. Rams grow at the withers up to 75-77 cm, females - up to 70 cm.
The breed also shows good performance in terms of wool: 8-9 kg of wool is sheared from a ram, 7-8 kg from a sheep, the length of the fibers is 10 and 8 cm, respectively. The fleece is usually a pastel cream color with a whitish tint. The yield of pure wool is 55-56%.
Pros and cons of Caucasian and North Caucasian sheep
Due to the high quality of the fleece, sheep wool is used to produce clothing. The popularity of the breed is also explained by other positive qualities:
- individuals grow large in size and quickly gain weight (one-year-old females weigh 65-70 kg, males gain weight up to 120 kg);
- from one carcass a large meat yield of 55-60% is obtained;
- high fertility of Caucasian females (100 females give birth to 140 lambs per year);
- Animals of the North Caucasian breed grow and develop well in arid climates.
A negative quality of Caucasian sheep is that the wool grows unevenly on individual parts of the body. Most often on the head and abdomen. Lambs of the North Caucasian breed are sometimes born with sparse wool.
Maintenance and care
During the hot summer period, in grazing areas it is necessary to provide animals with a resting place and access to fresh, clean water. In winter, insulated rooms without drafts are suitable for keeping sheep.On frosty days, the temperature in the sheepfold should not fall below 12-14 °C. Wooden panels are used to form individual pens.
A prerequisite is the presence of a hard floor (on a soft surface, animals may experience problems with ligaments). The best option is to cover the concrete floor with plank flooring. To make it easier to maintain cleanliness, the floor is laid with a slight slope to allow natural waste drainage.
Nutrition rules
It is recommended to allocate a separate feeder for each sheep in the sheepfold. The drinking bowls are set to be voluminous, since an adult can drink up to 10 liters of water per day. The diet is divided into summer and winter. In the warm season, the basis of nutrition is green grass from pastures. In winter, dry food and succulent food are combined.
Approximate daily diet for an adult animal: 2-2.5 kg of silage, 1.5-2 kg of hay, 0.5-1 kg of feed.
Naturally, the portions of adult animals and lactating females are larger than those of young animals. Free access to minerals must be ensured. To do this, separate feeders are filled with chalk, bone meal and table salt.
Where do they breed?
Caucasian sheep are mainly raised by farmers from Ukraine, Armenia, and the North Caucasus. When breeding a herd, sheep farmers practice identifying several lines of the breed: those with high wool shearing, extensive weight gain, and high fertility.
Diseases and prevention
The greatest danger to animals are infectious diseases that are quickly transmitted from individual to individual (scrapie, bluetongue). Brucellosis deserves attention because the infection is transmitted to people. The disease progresses slowly; sick sheep are sent to slaughter.Common measures to prevent infections are high-quality nutrition, isolation of sick individuals, quarantine of new sheep.
During the spring and autumn periods, the likelihood of animals becoming infected with piroplasmosis, caused by tick bites, increases. To avoid disease, you need to periodically inspect animals, graze sheep on clean pastures, and treat the perimeter of grazing areas with special means.
Breeding sheep of the Caucasian breed does not cause excessive trouble. Unpretentiousness to living conditions, transmission of breeding properties to offspring are the distinctive features of the breed. A special advantage of Caucasian sheep is their high productivity in terms of meat and clean wool.
