Mongolian sheep
By their number and production, sheep have a leading place in Mongolian
livestock husbandry. The sheep population of Mongolia is estimated at
over 10.6 million head.
Mongolian sheep are relatively small and late maturing. They are known
for their resistance to winter cold and fast recuperation during summer
and autumn. They are on pasture throughout the year. The spring weight
of sheep are increased by 23.2-32.4% or by 13-19.6 kg during summer
and autumn but 25-30% of autumn weight are lost during winter-spring
time. They have short fat tail and coarse wool containing true wool,
down hair, intermediate fibres and guard hair.
Mongolian sheep are kept mainly for mutton. Mutton is tasty and has
high quality. The average slaughter weight is 23.5 kg ; The slaughter
yield is 48.1% . Rams produce 1.52 kg, ewes 1.23 kg and yearlings 1.0
kg of wool per head with clean wool yield of 60.9%. The wool is very
suitable for making felt and feld goods. The sheep skin is thick, strong
and warm. 1.5 year old sheep give skin of 113 square decimetre weighing
3.2 kg. The weight and square of sheepskin increase according to age
of sheep.
Ewes are milked in June and July for 30-45 days and give 29.7 kg of
milk, 6.35% of fat. About 70% of total dry matter is protein that
is rich
with amino-acids (92.69%).
Rams are used for Mature for 5-6 years and ewes for 6-7 years. They
produce 103-105 lambs per hundred ewes.
15 thousand tons of wool is processed annually in Mongolia, and carpets,
felt, felt boots, thick cloth, blanket and knitted wear are made .
There is much room for exporting of cheap coarse and semi- coarse wool.
1.7 million head of purebreed and cross sheep belonging to coarse and
semi-coarse wooled, fine and semi-fine fleeced breed, breed groups
and
strains are bred in Mongolia. Some of them are represented below.
- Mongol
(khalkh)
- Baidrag
- Bayad
- Gobi-Altai
- Vzemchin
- Sartuul
- Darhad
- Barga
- Sutai
omog
- Hotont
- Tamir
- Kerei
- Torguud
- Altanbulag
- Khangai
- Orhon
- Taliin
tsagaan
- Yeroo
- Jargalant
- Symber
Sheep
distribution 
