The Karachay breed of rams and sheep is considered unique. These are animals with spiral horns, a curved tail tip and black fur that have grazed in the highlands of the North Caucasus for centuries. Sheep and rams are raised for meat, wool, milk, and fat tail. Animals adapt well to cold climates, but, on the contrary, cannot stand heat.
History of the breed
Sheep of the Karachay breed come from the North Caucasus, or rather, from the upper reaches of the Kuban, from Karachay. Since time immemorial, local residents of the highlands have been engaged in sheep farming.The Karachay breed was created in a natural way; over many centuries, animals with the best weight and wool indicators were selected for breeding.
In Europe, they first learned about sheep from Karachay at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1870, the French writer Bulwer Lytton, in one of his books, wrote about the high taste of Karachay lamb, which was prepared in the Veri restaurant in Paris. In the USSR, these animals were bred mainly for wool, leather and sheepskin. Nowadays, the Karachay breed is raised by residents of Karachay-Cherkessia, North Ossetia, and Kabardino-Balkaria.
Most often in the mountains of the North Caucasus you can find animals with black wool, spiral-shaped horns and a Z-shaped tail tip. Karachay sheep are well adapted to high-mountain climates. For a long time, this breed grazed in mountainous areas and ate medicinal herbs.
In their homeland, Karachay sheep are considered the healthiest animals. They are not afraid of either frost or rain. Sheep do not suffer from colds and diseases of the hooves and limbs. They can graze in the meadow and be in the open air throughout the warm season, until snow falls.
This breed has good immunity. Animals are bred for meat, wool and milk. This is a meat, dairy and wool breed at the same time. True, sheep's wool is coarse and is used in the coarse cloth industry. But the milk is sweetish, odorless and very fatty (fat content - from 6% to 8%). Cottage cheese, cheese, and feta cheese are made from it. The meat tastes like hazelnuts, very tender, juicy, sweet.
Appearance and characteristics
The Karachay breed belongs to the coarse-haired type. Their coat is thick, rough to the touch, medium length, wavy.It contains 25 percent awn and 75 percent down. Animals are shorn 2 times a year, up to 3 kg of wool is shorn from one ram, and up to 2.6 kg of wool from a female. The standard color of this breed is black. True, there are Karachay sheep with brownish, gray, reddish and even white wool.
This breed has a strong build, although the animals are small in appearance. Adult rams weigh mainly 60-70 kg, rarely 80-90 kg, sheep - 40-50 kg. More often, animals are bred for meat and fat tail fat (fat deposits in the tail area). Sheep are raised for up to 9-12 months. With age, meat becomes tougher. The weight of lambs at birth is 3.6-4 kg. At 6 months the animals already weigh 30 kilograms. The slaughter yield of meat is about 50 percent. At 12 months, the weight of rams can reach 40-50 kg, and if they are sent for slaughter, they will get almost 20-25 kg of delicious and tender meat.
Representatives of the Karachay breed have a small, elongated head with a convex bridge of the nose. The horns of rams are long, spiral-shaped, while those of females are small, growing upward and to the sides. The neck is short but muscular. The height of the animals at the withers is 50-60 cm. The length of the body is 1.4-1.6 meters. This breed can be recognized by its long tail, 44 cm long, the tip of which is shaped like the Latin letter Z.
Females reach sexual maturity at 6 months, although they mature only at 1-1.5 years. They give birth to 1-3 lambs at a time. The cubs are fed milk. In the first weeks, this product should be used as feed for lambs. From the second and third month, sheep can be milked. They give from 1 to 3 liters of milk per day with a fat content of 6-8, sometimes 9.6 percent.
There are several varieties of the Karachay breed. The Caramuse is bred for its black and silky wool.Kekbash are large, grey-white sheep raised for their meat. Tumak is a hornless breed with black, curly hair with a high fluff content (almost 80 percent) and tasty meat.
Pros and cons of Karachay sheep
Subtleties of maintenance and care
Karachay sheep need a spacious area for grazing. It is advisable to breed a herd of 3-5 animals if there is a pasture area of 1 hectare. After all, one sheep eats from 6 to 8 kg of grass per day, and you also need to prepare hay for the winter. It is advisable to have a body of water nearby. One sheep drinks up to 6 liters of water per day.
To keep these animals you need a room where they will be at night, in heavy rain and in winter, when the pasture is covered with snow. In sheepfolds or sheds, it is necessary to equip ventilation, place windows near the ceiling, lay a straw bedding on the floor, install a manger for hay, feeders for vegetables, and drinking bowls for water. The recommended temperature for keeping indoors throughout the year should be 10-18 degrees Celsius. There should be 2-3 square meters per animal. meters of area.
It is necessary to maintain cleanliness in the sheepfold. The litter is changed as it gets dirty, once every 1-2 days.For the winter, 100 kg of bedding material (straw, sawdust) is prepared per sheep.
What is the breed fed?
Karachay sheep can graze on pasture throughout the warm season. In summer, the main food of these animals is legumes, cereal grass and vegetable tops (beets, carrots). Sheep can be given grains during the heading period (oats, rye, wheat). In summer, representatives of the Karachay breed can be in the meadow 13-15 hours a day. They are given water twice a day. At night they are driven indoors.
In winter, the animals' diet should include hay, silage, vegetables, and grain. Sheep readily eat finely chopped carrots, fodder and sugar beets, pumpkin, and zucchini. One adult eats 1-2 kg of vegetables and 2-3 kg of silage per day. True, the main food in winter is hay (2-4 kg per day). It is advisable that it be mowed at the beginning of flowering and dried in the sun. For the winter, it is recommended to prepare hay from clover, alfalfa, and cereal grasses. During the cold period, sheep can be given oat, pea, barley, and millet straw (0.8-1 kg per day).
When kept in stalls, sheep are fed 2-3 times a day. Give water between feedings. To maintain immunity in winter, it is recommended to inject or mix pharmaceutical vitamins and minerals into food. Sheep need to be given salt all year round (10-15 g per animal per day). The lack of minerals is compensated with the help of bone meal and chalk.
Reproduction
Females of the Karachay breed reach sexual maturity at 6 months. True, it is better to cover them later, at the age of 1-1.5 years.Mating is carried out no more than once every 12 months.
Okot
Females are covered in October-September. Pregnancy lasts 5 months and occurs in winter. Pregnant sheep must be provided with adequate nutrition, rich in vitamins and minerals, otherwise non-viable young will be born. In spring, lambs are born. Before lambing, the room must be cleaned and dry bedding laid on the floor. The recommended air temperature in the sheepfold is 18 degrees Celsius.
The female also needs to be prepared for lambing: the hair from behind and around the udder is cut off, and fed with light food. Before lambing, the sheep's udder enlarges, the genitals swell, and the belly sags.
Childbirth can take place independently or in the presence of a person. The female gives birth to one baby at a time, less often two or three. After the lamb emerges, its umbilical cord is cut and its nose is cleared of mucus. It is recommended to lightly milk a sheep after giving birth. This is done so that the uterus contracts faster. The afterbirth will come out on its own in a few hours. It needs to be buried immediately. Pulling out the afterbirth is prohibited. Immediately after lambing, the female can be given water with sugar, and after 2 hours she can be fed.
Raising lambs
Once born, the cubs must suckle from their mother's milk every 2-3 hours. They are kept under the female until they are 3 months old. Lambs quickly recover and grow, feeding on rich milk. In the first month of life, they gain 300 grams of weight per day. Being near the female, the lambs begin to taste the hay. In the summer they can be gradually transferred to grass. It is advisable not to suddenly change the animal’s diet. An unexpected change in feed can lead to digestive problems.
Frequent illnesses
Representatives of the Karachay breed do not suffer from colds.If animals are grazed in the historical areas of their residence, then they are not afraid of any diseases. After all, in high mountain areas, sheep have no opportunity to catch any infection.
In most farms, ideal conditions cannot be created for these animals. It is advisable to monitor the quality of feed, do not give them a lot of legumes and water, so that bloating does not occur due to the accumulation of gases in it. This disease is treated with a tube inserted into the esophagus. Incorrect or poor-quality feeding can cause poisoning, metabolic diseases and non-viability of lambs.
Sheep that graze with other animals can become infected with various infectious diseases. As a preventative measure, animals are vaccinated against bradzot, lamb dysentery, enterotoxemia, foot-and-mouth disease, anthrax, and rabies. Your local veterinarian can advise you in more detail about vaccination. In addition, animals need to be given medications for helminths and fleas twice a year.
Breeding areas
Karachay sheep have long been raised in the North Caucasus. Currently, a huge herd of animals is bred in the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria (breeding farm named after Attoev, “Balkaria”), as well as in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic (breeding farm “Skhauat”).
This breed is very popular in North Ossetia. Recently, farmers from various regions of Russia began to breed Karachay sheep.
