Our Karakuls are unique indeed! They most primitive of all breeds of sheep and said by some to be descendents of the first domesticated sheep. Their fleeces are a hair and down combination and the males may or may not have beautiful curled horns. Of all the breeds they tend to stick together in a group – like they have Velcro holding them all together. Each animal always seems to know where the other karakuls are at. When one moves they all do, their noses on the ground in the characteristic ground sniffing movement. This makes them a joy to move as you never have a single animal breaking away from the others. They too are always watching us and I am convinced they are the most intelligent of all my sheep!

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The Karakuls can easily be identified by their characteristic fat tail, a fat deposit similar to the hump on a camel. When docking a lamb’s tail, one needs to be careful that one leaves at least one joint on the female’s tail. This allows her control of the tail so she can lift her tail for the male during breeding. And always keep a double fence around your Karakul rams as they will breed a ewe through the fence! This last year one of my ewes had a CVM lamb (as she should have had) and a Karakul-CVM cross! Little hussy!

 

For more infomation visit: https://karakulshepherds.org/