Specialized mutton breeds that mature fast, have high prolificacy, higher body weight gains, high feed conversion, high carcass yield, and produce good quality mutton, have been developed. These are generally maintained under more intensive management, unlike the apparel wool sheep. India has from time to time imported these mutton sheep breeds mostly from the UK and other countries to improve mutton production in indigenous breeds.
Suffolk
Suffolk was developed in Suffolk, Essex, and Norfolk countries in south-eastern England. The breed originated by the mating of the Norfolk an old native strain with the rams of the dark-faced Southdown breed. They have straight legs and are of large size. Its very black face, ears, and legs are the commanding characteristics. The head and ears are entirely free from wool and black hair extends to a line on the back of the base of the ears. There is no wool below the knees and hocks. The breed is also noted for its alertness and activity. Both rams and ewes are polled although the males frequently have scurs. The fleece is moderately short, dense, and fine with 56s or 58s count. The greasy wool yield is 2-75 to 3-25 kg annually. The breed is the first and the foremost mutton breed. The carcass is full of lean meat evenly marbled and with no waste fat and the flavour is excellent. The mature rams in good condition weigh from 100 to 135 kg and ewes from 70 to 100 kg. The ewes are very prolific and excellent milkers. Suffolks imported in India have performed relatively poorly as producers, especially in reproduction, than Dorsets.
Dorset
The origin of the Dorest is clouded in obscurity, but it is well known that they developed largely through selection. The breed is native to southern England, especially to the countries of Dorset and Somerset. There are homed and polled strains of Dorsets named Dorset Horn and Polled Horn, and except for the presence or absence of horns both are identical. In the horned strain, both the rams and ewes are horned. The typical Dorset animals are of medium size having medium size heads, fairly long, clean, and full muzzle, well set on a short and strong neck. The face, ears, and legs are white in colour and practically free from wool. The cars are of medium size, thin, silky, and carried well forward. The nostrils, lips, and skin are pink. The hooves are white. They produce a carcass of medium weight, fine-boned, and of superior quality meat. The weight of fleece is 2-75 to 3.25 kg and the wool is short, close, and fine in texture of 52s to 58s quality. A mature ram in good condition weighs 80 to 110 kg and ewe from 50 to 80 kg. The lambs weigh about 18 to 22 kg at 4 months, and 30 to 35 kg at 9 months of age. The breed is prolific. It is hardy and is capable of doing well under most conditions.
Southdown
Southdown Chalk Hills of Sussex in extreme south-eastern England is the native place of this breed. They have unexcelled mutton conformation. The animals are low set, compact, wide, and deep with legs set wide apart and have broad heads with a wool cap that comes just below the eyes. The face, car,s, and legs are mouse-coloured or light brown and the skin is bright pink. The breed is polled although scurs are sometimes found on rams. The eyes are large, bright, and prominent, and the cars are of medium size and covered with short wool. The ewes are not too prolific and are only average milkers. The breed is early maturing. The fleece is short, close, fairly dense, and of fine quality. The annual greasy fleece weight is around 2-25 to 3-25 kg. Mature rams in good condition weigh about 80 to 100 kg and ewes about 55 to 70 kg. The lambs weigh about 15 kg at 3 months, 22 kg at 6 months, and 27 kg at 9 months of age. The average lambing percentage is 130.
Dual-purpose Breeds
Corriedale is the only important imported dual-purpose breed imported in India. The dual-purpose breeds combine meat production quality with wool production qualities.
Corriedale
The Corriedale breed originated in New Zealand where both mutton and wool production are sought. The development of the Corriedale was an effort to develop a dual-purpose type of sheep. Lincoln and Leicester Rams were crossed with Merino ewes. By interbreeding and careful selection, a uniform type was established that produced a good balance of mutton and wool. These sheep were named after the Corriedale estate of Otago where the experimental crossbreeding was done. The animals inherited a good mutton conformation from their long wool ancestors and derived a dense fleece of good quality from its Merino parentage. Mature rams in good condition weigh 80 to 110 kg and ewes from 55 to 85 kg. On average, they produce 4-5 to 5-5 kg of greasy wool annually. The wool is generally of 56s to 58s quality with 24.95 to 27.84 µ fiber diameter and is noted for exceptional length, brightness, softness, and for a very distinct crimp. Corriedales are outstanding for their efficiency. They produce more kg of lamb and wool per kg of body weight than other range breeds. The faces, cars, and legs of these animals are covered with white hair, although black spots are sometimes present. Both sexes are polled, although rams sometimes have horns. The ewes are considered fair in prolificacy and milking ability. In India, Corriedale has mostly been imported from Australia.
Pelt Breeds
Pelt sheep are maintained for their lamb pelts which are used for garments. They are generally of poor mutton quality and the fleece from the mature animals is of coarse carpet type and thus of relatively lower value. Karakul is the chief pelt-type breed.
Karakul
Karakul is bred primarily because of the suitability of the lamb pelts for fur garment manufacture. The majority of Karakul lamb skins are produced in Bokhara (USSR), Afghanistan, South-West Africa, Bessarabia, Shiraz (Iran), Baghdad, and Salzfelle (Iraq). The best-grade lamb skins come from Bokhara, the country where sheep is a fat-tailed, coarse carpet wool type breed. It is very well adapted to extreme climatic conditions and sparse vegetation resources. The lamb pelts are produced through the slaughtering of lambs within 24 to 48 hours of birth. The quality of pelts is determined by the ornaments, i.e. type of curls, size, tightness of curls, lustre, and weight of the pelt.
The mature Karakul animals are angular, upstanding, and of very poor mutton-type conformation. The rams have horns, but the ewes are polled. Rams weigh about 90 kg and ewes about 65 kg on average. The face, ears, and legs are black or brown. The ears are drooping.
In India, lamb pelts are in good demand in Jammu & Kashmir for conversion into various products like caps, collars, ladies’ and children’s coats, and other garments not only for the tourist and elite markets in the country but also for export. The Karakuls were first imported in 1975 by India. Their performance was studied under the hot-arid conditions at Bikaner (Rajasthan) and cold-arid conditions at Kumbhathong, Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir. They have done well under both purebred as well as in the crossbreeding program undertaken by taking three indigenous breeds, viz. Malpura, Sonadi and Marwari.