Karakul sheep considered one of the oldest Central Asian breeds. For a long time there have been disputes about the origin of this breed. Professor Kushelov believes that it took more than one millennium to develop it. Excavations in Turkmenistan have shown that sheep, very similar to Karakul sheep, lived on that land several thousand years before our era.

Some researchers believe that sheep were brought to the Central Asian lands by Arab conquerors. Local residents paid attention to the valuable fur of animals, and directed their efforts to careful selection and fattening of sheep. And so it appeared Karakul breed. The theory is supported by the fact that the locals call Karakul sheep"Arab". There are a lot of opinions and hypotheses about the origin of the breed.

There are also more prosaic versions: for example, that the Karakul breed was bred on the territory of Uzbekistan, by crossing the fat-tailed with the Arab. Even about the name of the breed "karakul" there are disputes: some believe that the name is associated with Lake Karakul, located in the Pamirs, others explain the name of the breed as a translation from Assyrian, which means "black goat".

Whatever the origin of this breed, its contemporaries are bred in many countries: Russia, America, Ukraine, but mainly in Central Asia-Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Arab countries and even Africa. Karakul sheep are perfectly adapted to hot and arid climates.

The main reason why this breed has gained such fame and widespread breeding is the great value of the skins of lambs - astrakhan. Fur manufacturers call this product - astrakhan fur. Smushki is obtained by killing lambs in the first days of their life. Skins are in great demand and directly depend on the age of the offspring. Smushki come in a wide variety of colors - from light gray to milky, steel, pearl and even black, which makes them even more valuable.

Karakul sheep have a lean body with a strong constitution, are very hardy and unpretentious. Able to eat, more than half of the plant species growing in their pastures. Sheep milk is obtained from queens whose lambs have been selected for the production of smushkas. Individuals that are not suitable for high-quality smushka (at the age of 7-8 months) are left for the sale of meat products.

Karakul breed belongs to the long-tailed sheep, it has a tail curved with the English letter “S”, it mainly grows to the hock.

2 times a year, in spring and autumn. Their coat is long, can reach 20 cm, coarse, not always uniform (in adult representatives of the breed). On average, the queens range from 2.5 to 3.5. kg per year, subject to good feeding. Sheep give up to 5 kg of wool.

Live weight karakul rams from 60-70 kg, queens 40-50 kg. Criteria such as weight, constitution, coat and even fertility are very dependent on the conditions of maintenance, care and feed. All figures are subject to change. The breed is considered to be quite high-milk, on average, the uterus can produce up to 30 liters of milk, the fat content ranges from 7 to 8%. The Karakul breed is distinguished by good heredity; when crossed, it transmits the best qualities of its breed, for which it is so valued all over the world.

Among the shortcomings, experts distinguish that when keeping sheep in a damp climate, with a lot of rainfall and saturated pastures, the sheep become smaller. Dry climates are best suited for keeping them.

Sheep breeding, karakul sheep, karakul, karakul breed of sheep

The development of sheep breeding in Ukraine is inextricably linked with the breeding of Karakul sheep, which are among the ancient native breeds of Central Asia. The opinions of different authors about their origin are contradictory and not always justified. Professor P.M. Kuleshov wrote: "I consider the Karakul sheep an ancient breed, the development of which took thousands of years of work."

Excavations in Anau (Turkmenistan) proved that as early as 6 thousand years BC, fat-tailed sheep were bred here, which, in their zoological characteristics, are very close to Karakul sheep. But what kind of hairline the lambs of these ancient sheep, discovered during excavations, owned, remains still unknown. Some authors believe that sheep, whose lambs had skins with valuable fur qualities, were brought to Central Asia in the 7th century during the conquest of this country by the Arabs. For many years, the peoples of Central Asia used the purposeful selection of these sheep, as a result of which, in the presence of appropriate forage conditions, the Karakul sheep was created.

Some associate the name "karakul" with the name of the oasis and the city of Karakul, located in the Bukhara region, others - with Lake Karakul.

The idea to improve local sheep breeding in Ukraine with Karakul sheep belongs to the Poltava Society Agriculture, which in 1882 acquired them in the Trans-Caspian Territory about 200 heads. The Karakul breed of sheep in Ukraine received great development in the period 1930-1941 in the farms of Kherson, Odessa, Nikolaev, Kirovograd, Poltava, Crimean and other regions. According to the re-registration in 1939, there were about 900 thousand Karakul sheep. Restoration of breeding Karakul sheep after the Great Patriotic War in the farms of Ukraine took place at the same rapid pace as in other types of farm animals: the number of these sheep already in 1952 reached the pre-war level. However, in connection with the further intensification of agriculture and the need to expand the production of fine and semi-fine wool, it became necessary to somewhat reduce the breeding areas of Karakul sheep. Now this breed is bred in the farms of Kherson, Odessa and Chernivtsi regions.

Purebred Karakul sheep are quite hardy and energetic, with a satisfactory physique, and small. The live weight of breeding sheep is 50-60 kg, ewes - 40-45 kg, unwashed wool sheared, respectively - 3.0-4.0 kg and 2.5-2.8 kg. Fertility - 100-105 lambs per 100 ewes.

Ewes have a pear-shaped body, a slightly elongated head with a convex profile, covered with smooth, hard, awned, shiny hair; the ears are large, drooping, sometimes of medium size, swept and even very short with a barely noticeable auricle. Rams have well-developed horns of a spiral shape, there are also polled ones. Ewes are usually polled, but horned ones are also found. The tail is fat, at the end it has a thin process, sometimes it is straight, in the form of a wedge. The length of the tail varies: short if it does not reach the hock; long - if it hangs below the joint. By color, Karakul sheep are divided into black, gray, brown, etc. However, black sheep are the most common. After birth, the black color of astrakhan does not last long: until the age of one year, the hair of lambs becomes reddish, and at the age of 2-3 years it turns gray, with the exception of the head and limbs, which retain a black color.

The silkiness of hair is not only a valuable commercial quality of astrakhan, but also an important breed trait. It depends on the thickness of the hair and the presence of grease. There are strongly silky, silky, insufficiently silky, coarse and dry hair. The shine of the hairline, that is, the property of the hair to reflect the rays of light, is strong, normal, insufficient, vitreous, matte. Normal gloss is desirable.

Askanian crossbreds

Askanian crossbreds- Ukrainian type of meat-wool sheep of Askanian breeding. Created by reproducible crossing of Askanian fine-wooled and Tsigai ewes with English Lincoln rams. The livestock makes up 1% of the total number of sheep in Ukraine. Sheared clean wool in the range of 3.5-4.5 kg. The live weight of rams-producers reaches 120-130 kg, ewes - 6575 kg; the shearing of pure wool is 8-11 and 4-6 kg, respectively, the length of the wool is 18-20 and 14-16 cm, the yield of pure fiber is 60-70%. Sheep and uterus are polled. The average daily gain of lambs is 200-250 g, young stock, which in summer reaches 85-90% of the live weight of adult sheep, is 120-150 g.

Productive features: non-uniform naggiv coarse wool, consisting mainly of fluff (50-75%), transitional hair (20-25%) and a small amount of awn - (5-25%), without dry and dead hair. The fleece has a braided structure. The length of the down is 8-15 cm, and the transitional hair and awns are 14-25 cm. The live weight of sires is from 75-90 to 120-130 kg, ewes - from 5060 to 70-80 kg, the unwashed wool shear is 3.5-5.0 and 2-3 kg, respectively, and the yield of pure fiber is 65-70 %. There are 12 sheep breeds of sheep in the world (Saraja, Tajik, Kivirdzhik, Alai, Balbas, Khorosanska, Armenian, etc.). There are no such breeds in Ukraine, but in the Carpathians, sheep with coarse wool are common, obtained by crossing local coarse ewes with rams of the Tsigai breed. Sheep weight - 45-50 kg, queens - 35-40 kg, unwashed wool sheared 3-3.5 and 1.5-2.5 kg, respectively, flower length 17-21 cm, down - 9-12 cm. Fleece without dead and dry hair. These are small sheep with excellent world-class carpet wool.

Productive features of coarse sheep: heterogeneous coarse wool with a moderate content of fluff (30-50%), transitional hair (2-30%), a significant amount of awn (25-65%) and dry and dead hair (5-20%). The fleece is of a braided structure, the flowers are somewhat wavy and long (18-25 cm or more) or almost straight and short (6-15 cm). The lowest density of wool, the most inconsistent wool coat of sheep in flower and according to the rune according to Tonina, the length and density of wool. The worst overgrown body of animals with RUNN wool, the lowest fat content in wool, a high yield of pure fiber, small cuts of unwashed and clean wool. The live weight of sires is from 4,045 to 120-130 kg or more, ewes - from 30-35 to 75-90 kg or more, the cut of unwashed wool is, respectively, in the range of 1.53.5 and 1-2.5 kg. The output of pure fiber is 60-80%. They have the highest diversity in coat color (all colors), morphological features of the tail (all types), in terms of precocity of young animals, lamb quality, multiple pregnancies and milkiness of queens. These sheep are distinguished by high adaptive abilities, therefore they are bred mainly in extreme climatic conditions of mountain zones, arid steppes, semi-deserts and deserts. There are 260 coarse sheep in the world, including 3 in Ukraine. Production directions coarse sheep breeding - lamb (Karakul breed, Sokolskaya), fur coat (Romanovskaya, rooster-chno-thin-tailed), meat-greasy (Hissar breed, edilbaevska, dzhaidara, etc.), meat-wool-milk (Ukrainian girskokar-patskoy, Tushinskaya, Lezgian, Karachaevsk, Karabakh, etc.), dairy (Friesland, Kolbred, Cambridge, Texel and others).

Karakul breed

Karakul breed created by the ancient peoples of the interfluve and south of the basin of the Syrdarya and Amudarya rivers (modern Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan). They came to Ukraine at the end of the last century. By crossing Karakul and Romanov sheep at the M.F. Ivanov "Askania-Nova" the Ascanian multiparous type of Karakul sheep was created. They are zoned in Odessa, Chernivtsi, Poltava and Kherson regions. The number of sheep of the Karakul breed is 3% of the total number of sheep in Ukraine. The leading farms are the breeding farm "Markeev" of Kherson and breeding farms named after. Blagoev, Odessa region. The live weight of rams is 65-80 kg, ewes - 45-50 kg, unwashed wool is cut 3-4 and 2.5-2.6 kg, respectively, flower length is about 15-20 cm. Sheep are horned, uterus are polled. Karakul sheep of the prolific type have a large live weight (sheep reach 90-100 kg, ewes - 55-60 kg), higher and wool sheared (by 8-10%). The live weight of lambs at birth is 3.5-5 kg. The multiplicity of queens of the new type is within 170-180%. In the best farms, the yield of first-class astrakhans is 50-80%. Black and gray Karakul sheep are bred in Ukraine.

Created in the Poltava region by long-term selection with the possible use of sheep of the Karakul breed and Crimean Malich. Title with. Sokilka, Kobylyatsky district. Distributed in the Poltava, partly in the Dnepropetrovsk regions. The livestock is almost 3% of the total number of sheep in Ukraine. The live weight of rams is 60-65 kg, ewes - 40-45 kg, unwashed wool is cut 3.5-4 and 2-3 kg, respectively. The length of the flower is about 2025 cm. The rams are horned, the uterus is polled. The live weight of lambs at birth is 3.5-4 kg. From sheep Sokolsky breeds receive 55-60% gray and 40-45% black astrakhan. The dominant gene Shiraze (gray) in the homozygous state leads to chronic tympania and the death of lambs at 3-4 months if they were not used to obtain a smushka at the age of 1-3 days. To prevent this phenomenon, the system of early diagnosis of albinoids should be improved and the heterogeneous system of breeding gray and black lamb sheep should be more widely practiced.

Ukrainian Mountain Carpathian breed

Ukrainian Mountain Carpathian The breed of sheep was created on the basis of crossbreeding of the Vidridia of the local Rough-New Gorno-Carpathian sheep with the semi-fine-fleeced Tsigai. It accounts for 3% of the total number of sheep in Ukraine. In the best herds, the live weight of rams is 60-80 kg, ewes - 40-45 kg. The cut of unwashed wool is 4-5 and 2.7-3.8 kg, respectively, the yield of pure fiber is 60-80%, the length of the wool is about 18-20 cm or more. Sheep are horned, wombs are polled. For lactation (70-80 days) from ewes receive from 25-30 to 50 kg of marketable milk. This breed of sheep is well adapted to the humid cold climate of the Carpathians.

The Karakul breed of sheep is one of the most ancient in the world. Its homeland is considered to be the environs of modern Uzbekistan. Records of which breeds became its progenitors have not been preserved anywhere, but scientists tend to believe that the genes of Arabian long-fat-tailed and fat-tailed sheep were taken as the basis. To date, both meat with milk and wool, and even astrakhan intestines are widely used. But the most valuable product is smushka, the skin of newborn lambs.

Sheep have a strong pear-shaped body, long limbs, strong hooves. They are characterized by high tolerance to temperature changes and unpretentiousness in feed. The growth of animals reaches 78 cm, the weight of females is 40 - 50 kg, males - up to 70 kg, newborn animals - up to 4.5 kg. Most often, only rams wear horns, while the uterus is absolutely hornless. The tail of Karakul sheep is double-curved in the shape of the letter S, therefore it reaches the hocks. If there is no curvature, the tail is lowered even lower. The ears of adults are large, often hanging over an oblong hook-nosed head.

Sheep are covered with wool up to 20 cm long. By its nature, it is heterogeneous and tough. The head and limbs are black in color and short haired. With the onset of a year and a half, the coat gradually begins to lose its pigmentation and becomes gray. The peak of depigmentation is usually associated with the manifestation of the highest quality properties of the smushka. This factor is often taken into account when assessing young animals. The selection of rams occurs at the age of up to 3 days and in the third week of life. If an individual has a depigmented coat, it is not taken to the tribe.

Features of the suit of the Karakul breed

The color of the breed is of the following types:

• black (about 60% of the breed);
• gray (up to 25%);
• sur (no more than 10%);
• other colors: white, brown, pink (up to 5%).

The sur color type was actively developed by breeders. Depending on the distribution of color along the length of the coat, he received an additional three subspecies:

Bukhara. It is characterized by a dark base at the roots of the hair and a golden or silver tint closer to the tips. The suit was obtained on the basis of a dark color and, depending on the contrast of the distribution of shades along the length, is further subdivided into gold, silver, diamond and lilac sur.

Karakalpak. The base of the coat is black or dark brown. The upper part is much lighter and can be steel, fire or white.

Surkhandarya. It has a brown color at the base, which abruptly changes to a light beige shade at the ends of the hair. The contrast of shades divides the suit into amber, bronze, platinum, sand and anthracite.

Breed productivity

Sheep breeders use 40% of the lambs born for the skin. The uterus after weaning newborns is able to give up to 30 kg of milk during the lactation period. Its fat content is 5 - 7%. Milking is required not only for the sake of obtaining a product, but also in order to prevent diseases of the mammary glands. During her life, one queen is able to bring a farmer up to 150 lambs.

Sheep are sheared twice a year. Depending on the season of collection, it can be:

• spring (taken in spring);
• autumn (taken in autumn);
• poyarok (taken from young animals of six months of age).
• in a year, a farmer can cut up to 3 kg of wool from one sheep, and up to 5 kg from a ram.

Benefits of Breeding

Due to the fact that the breed developed in harsh conditions, its characteristics in many respects surpass sheep of other breeds. The main benefits include:

• high adaptive abilities;
• unpretentiousness in nutrition and to the conditions of detention;
• strong skeleton;
• heat transfer properties allow to withstand high temperatures up to +40 degrees;
• high survival rate of young animals in extreme conditions;
• the versatility of the products obtained (not only meat, but also milk, wool, hides, abomasum);
• wool of lambs is of high value in the fur industry;
• the variety of color types also increases the value of animal skins.

Disadvantages of breeding

Despite the high productivity rates, the breed has one significant drawback. Breeding Karakul sheep in a humid climate leads to a decrease in their performance. Juicy pastures and regular rainfall lead to the reduction of livestock. This is due to the fact that the primary area of ​​sheep breeding was in semi-desert regions with poor grazing conditions. Breed for many years of breeding in such favorable conditions well adapted to drought.

Feeding sheep, subject to breeding in Russia

If the farmer nevertheless decided to breed astrakhan breed in the conditions of the Russian climate, not only the conditions of keeping the animal, but also its diet should be adapted. It remains natural that in summer period most of the feed should be grass, and in winter - hay and straw. Of the cereals, it is best to add oats, rye, corn and wheat to the feed. They should be alternated with each other and not given all the grains together. Among the legumes, alfalfa and sainfoin will be the most acceptable herbs, as they partially resemble in taste and structure the vegetation of the arid regions in the karakul breeding area. Root crops and melons can easily fill the need for vitamins. Vegetables can also be harvested for the winter. Sheep do not disdain and tops from them.

AT winter time You can fill the need for nutrition with silage and concentrated feed. You can prepare them yourself ahead of time. For example, for the preparation of compound feed you will need:

• wheat, oats and barley - 25% of the total weight of the feed;
• cake from oilseeds - 13%;
• salt - 1%;
• dicalcium phosphate - 1%

All ingredients must be ground. If you have an extruder at home, the mixture can be turned into special granules that will prevent dust from crushed feed from entering the lungs of livestock.

What not to feed astrakhan sheep

The grasses grown in the swamps (reeds, horsetail, sedge) and acidic cereals are too hard and poorly digested by sheep. It is also not recommended to feed the livestock with beets. This can lead to diabetes in animals. Bread is contraindicated for young animals, since it contains yeast and has a bad effect on the work of the gastrointestinal tract. All vegetables and fruits must be cut before feeding, regardless of who the product is intended for - adult livestock or lambs.

Types of karakul

Broadtail is most often used for the production of outerwear and hats. Its quality depends on many parameters, including the place of production. Breeders different countries long time work on the commodity characteristics of the fur. Their task is to create the most similar species in terms of parameters, which can ensure the uniformity of the produced skins. In the world market, the leading positions are occupied by three types of broadtail:

Uzbek karakul (valek). It has a thin base and a specific pattern in the form of curls that form rolls of different diameters and sizes. Fur of this quality does not have a high value, therefore it is widely used in mass production.

Afghan karakul (Astragan). It is characterized by coarser and denser skins. The pattern is flat, but the pile has an intense and normal sheen. Such fur is more wearable, which significantly increases its value in the market.

African (swakara). Rolls are twisted neatly tight tight rings. The pattern is flat and clear. Welding has a relatively high strength. It is also lightweight and flexible. These qualities allow the use of skins for any type of fur clothing. The most expensive is Namibian-made astrakhan.

Doodle quality assessment

The main quality of karakul is the degree of silkiness of wool. It determines not only the cost of the fur sold, but is also a sign of the breed. Depending on the thickness of the hair and the allocation of fat, there are:

• richly silky astrakhan;
• silky;
• not silky enough;
• rude;
• dry.

The specifics of breeding karakul livestock

Afghanistan is one of the leaders in breeding the Karakul breed. On the example of this country, we will consider the features of breeding flocks. Large farms have up to 2000 heads, medium - about 300, but there are also small farms with a flock of up to 30 individuals. Such a variety of livestock numbers does not make it possible to regulate breeding work with the breed at the state level. Each sheep breeder in the conduct of his farm is most often guided by his own accumulated experience.

Competition among producers has given rise to the peculiarities of species selection within the boundaries of each farm. The secrets of crossing breeds are kept secret and are inherited.

The number of gray sheep is 60% of the total livestock. This is due to the demand in the market for gray astrakhan fur. Breeding sheep of a rare color, although capable of bringing a lot of profit, is unpopular due to the difficulty of breeding them.

Effective use of females. With year-round content in the pasture, the uterus can live up to 10 years. During this time, she is able to bring 130 - 150 lambs to the sheep breeder. This is the main reason why most Afghan farms contains mostly queens. Their number usually reaches 80%.

The wombs after lambing, from which the lambs were taken for furry, are subjected to another fertilization in March. Under favorable conditions, males launched into the flock are able to fertilize up to 20% of the queens. By the end of September, they bring repeated young.

Afghan farms practice obtaining fur not only from lambs, but also from old individuals culled because of the poor quality of their teeth. In the autumn, I let them into free mating, and the resulting young are slaughtered.

Breeding area

The current population of the breed is more than 30 million individuals in the world. They are bred not only in their homeland in Uzbekistan, but also in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and other Central Asian countries. In addition, the Karakul breed is relevant in Ukraine. It is bred in Poltava, Odessa and Kherson regions. Less popular, but still significant, is the breeding of livestock in the USA, Africa and Europe. In general, the high productive qualities of the breed were appreciated by farmers in 50 countries around the world.

Breeding the Karakul breed is a great idea for beginner sheep breeders. This breed is unpretentious in terms of nutrition and conditions of detention, its wool is highly valued in the market, and meat and milk can become additional products for sale. The only drawback is the fact that it is not possible to keep the breed in the conditions of the Russian climate everywhere. This is due to the peculiarities of the local climate. Wet weather and too juicy food contribute to the rebirth of individuals: they become small, lose their inherent qualities of skins. Maintaining the breed in a form that can provide a high cost of products requires an arid climate and vegetation characteristic of desert and semi-desert regions. The creation of these conditions will ensure the maximum profitability of breed breeding relative to the cost of livestock feed.

The Karakul breed of sheep gives the best smushka in the world. This breed is bred in more than fifty countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and America. Fat-tailed and long-fat-tailed sheep served as the starting material for the creation of the breed. Karakul sheep are long-fat-tailed. But due to the fact that the end of the tail, on which there are no fatty deposits, is double S - figuratively curved, the tail often reaches only the hocks. In some Karakul sheep, the bend is absent and the tail falls below the hock. The ears of Karakul sheep are large, hanging down, the front part of the head is long, slightly hook-nosed, the limbs are thin with a strong hoofed horn. Rams are mostly horned, the uterus is usually polled. In adult sheep, regardless of color at birth, the wool is gray.

The head, ears and limbs are covered with shiny, short black hair. Graying, i.e. the appearance of depigmented hair, most often occurs from 1.5 years of age. It is believed that the highest manifestation of other valuable properties of the astrakhan is associated with intense pigmentation. Therefore, the degree of pigmentation of lambs, especially rams left for the tribe, is paid attention to when grading at the age of 1-3 days and when viewing at the age of 15-20 days. Sheep, in which the presence of white hair is noted at this age, are not left for the tribe.

Shearing sheep 2 times a year - in spring and autumn. Depending on this, wool is divided into spring, autumn and lard (from young animals 5-7 months of age). The annual shearing of wool from queens varies from year to year from 2.5 to 3.5 kg, from rams from 3 to 5 kg. Live weight of rams - 60-70 kg, queens - 40-45 kg. Newborn lambs weigh 4-4.5 kg.

Karakul sheep for a relatively short period (spring and autumn) quickly and well fatten. Abomasums are valuable additional products. High-quality abomasum is obtained from lambs fed on mother's colostrum for 1-2 days.

In Karakul sheep breeding, 40% of lambs and more of the number of births goes to the skin. It is possible to get milk from the queens - "maras" (left without lambs) (25-30 kg per head per lactation), milking is necessary for veterinary reasons in order to prevent mastitis in lactating sheep. The fecundity of Karakul sheep is high - 130-150 lambs.

The Karakul breed of sheep is characterized by a variety of types that differ in color, color, smushkovy and constitutional properties.

By color (color), Karakul sheep are black - about 58-60%, gray - 25-26, sur - about 10 and others (white, pink, brown) - about 4-5%.

Three breed types of sur-colored sheep have been created in the breed - Bukhara, Karakalpak and Surkhandarya. Severity is determined by heterochromia - an uneven color of the hair along its length: light - the upper tier and darker - the lower. The Bukhara sur is characterized by a black or dark brown base and a silvery or light golden outer layer. It is obtained on the basis of black coloring. Depending on the ratio and contrast of differently colored hair zones in the Bukhara sur, a number of varieties are distinguished - silver, golden, lilac and diamond sur.

A feature of the Surkhandarya sura is a brown or coffee-colored lower tier and a highly lightened upper tier. This sur is obtained on the basis of brown coloration. In the Surkhandarya sura, the following main colors are distinguished: bronze, platinum, amber, anthracite, sand.

When mating sheep of the Bukhara and Surkhandarya sura, annihilation (disappearance) of severity occurs. Therefore, sheep of these colors are recommended to be bred clean.

The colors of the Karakalpak sura have the following characteristics: steel - the base of the hair is black, and the upper light part is steel; fiery - the base of the hair is black, the top is white; apricot - the base of the hair is dark brown, the middle is beige, the top is white or orange.

Pink color (guligaz) is due to a certain ratio of brown and white wool fibers in the wool cover of sheep. This coloration is most often found in lambs that come from the mating of gray rams with brown (kombar) queens.