On Sheep, the Symbol of Eid al-Adha

It is Eid al-Adha, maybe you have bought a sacrifice and slaughtered it, may Allah accept it if you were able to do so.

There are some people who enter the sacrifice with a big head, but when it comes to sacrifice, the majority slaughter rams.

This year, the prices of rams for sacrifice are quite high, but I think those who had the means were able to slaughter them.

After all, although it is not obligatory, it is a sunnah according to some and a wajib according to others.

***

I will not enter into this discussion, I will come to the subject of this article by saying may Allah accept everyone who can sacrifice. 

So, do those who buy small cattle for sacrifice know what kind of ram they are buying? Does anyone know this? 

What do you mean? The ram we know is the ram we buy, what breed will it be?

I mean, was the ram you bought merino? Or was it another breed? Do you know that? 

What kind of rams are there?

In fact, many sheep breeds are produced in our country. 

For example, another breed that immediately comes to my mind is Karaman sheep.

Karaman's sheep, then comes the game, so we know from our history that Karaman has sheep besides Merino sheep. 

***

By the way, Merino is actually a breed of sheep with white and fine fleece developed in Spain. It is said that its origins date back to North Africa. Arabs brought them to Spain from North Africa.

From Spain, it spread all over Europe.

In the last days of the Ottoman Empire, merinos were brought from Germany and the Anatolian breeds started to be crossbred with merinos. However, at that time, a conscious study could not be carried out.

The actual crossbreeding programme was carried out in the Republican period. In other words, the studies carried out in the Ottoman period started to be carried out with much more scientific methods in the Republican period.

Today, the famous merino sheep in Turkey are mostly known as Karacabey merino. 

***

Yes, the aim of this crossbreeding programme is to ensure that the local sheep, which are resistant to the climatic conditions of Anatolia, but which do not produce enough meat, do not produce enough milk and do not have abundant wool, are changed in accordance with the needs. 

It can be said that this programme, which has been carried out for many years, has been successful in this regard.

***

However, it is also a fact that the current government's enthusiasm for importing meat and livestock has taken us backwards in terms of animal husbandry. 

Let alone the difficulties of raising animals, let alone the economic difficulties, today there is not even a similar programme implemented by the state on species change as in the early days of the Republic.

***

Yes, what are the breeds or types of sheep you can find in Turkey today?

Actually, sheep are divided into three main groups.

1. Fleece yield orientated sheep

2. Meat and fleece yield orientated sheep

3. Milk and fertility oriented ewes

When we talk about wool and fleece productivity, we are talking about sheep with abundant wool.

These sheep are especially merino type sheep. 

Karacabey merino, Malya sheep, Anatolian merino and Konya merino come to mind when it comes to species with high fleece yield in Turkey.

Karacabey merino sheep were obtained by crossbreeding German meat merino sheep with local Kıvırcık sheep by a method known as cross-breeding.

Malya sheep, Anatolian merino and Konya merino were also obtained as a result of crossbreeding German Meat merino and local Akkaraman sheep in different ways.

***

Meat and fleece sheep were produced by cross-breeding indigenous sheep with other sheep breeds brought from Europe.

The main breeds utilised for the breeding of domestic sheep breeds in terms of meat and fleece yield are named as Rambouıllet, Ile de France and Texel.

By utilising some of these breeds, sheep types such as Ramlıç (Çifteler) and Menemen were created.

Ramçıl sheep, also known as Çifteler Dağlıç, is a type of sheep that combines the high survival power of Anatolian sheep in climatic conditions with the good meat and fleece yield characteristics of the Rambouıllet breed.

Menemen was created by crossbreeding Ile de France rams with Tahirova sheep.

Finally, in 1987, some meat breeds such as Border Leicester, Hampshire, Dorset Down, Lincoln and German Black Headed Messenger sheep were brought to our country.

These breeds are sheep that are produced for meat rather than mountains.

We say 1987, that is to say, the studies on these issues were carried out quite a long time ago. There is no information on the internet about the current stage of studies on this subject.

***

Lastly, let us look at the milk and fertility oriented sheep.

Tahirova, Sönmez, Acıpayam and Türkgeldi types are the main types of milk and fertility oriented sheep especially in Western Anatolia. Asaf type, which is used as an intermediate level, is also considered in this group. 

Tahirova is a combination crossbreeding of D. Friz sheep and Kıvırcık sheep.

In order to obtain the Sönmez type, firstly Sakız rams and Tahirova ewes were crossbred, and the hybrid offspring obtained were mated with Tahirova rams in the second stage.

In other words, these works require a multi-step control, don't just call it animal husbandry, this subject also requires expertise.

Similarly, Acıpayam sheep were obtained by crossbreeding D. Friz, Ivesi and Dağlıç breeds in stages.

Finally, Tahirova rams were given to Türkgeldi Kıvırcik ewes to create Türkgeldi type and F1 males and F1 females were mated with Tahirova again and TAG (Tahirova first backcross) progeny were obtained.

***

Anatolia's own breeds are:

* Akkaraman of Central Anatolia and neighbouring regions, 

* Morkaraman of Eastern Anatolia Region, 

* Kangal Akkaramanan grown in Sivas region, 

* Shavak Akkaraman growing in Tunceli, Elazığ and Erzincan regions, 

* İvesi sheep raised in the South Eastern Anatolia region, 

* The Dağlıç of Central Western Anatolia, 

* Curly of Thrace, Marmara and North Aegean, 

* Çeşme, İzmir, Aydın, the Chios of the Marmara and Aegean coasts, 

* Karayaka sheep, which are raised in the coastal and mountainous parts of the Black Sea from Sinop to Trabzon, and also around Tokat and Amasya, where the Central Black Sea intersects with Central Anatolia, 

* Zom sheep bred in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia, 

* Karakaş sheep bred in Van, Batman, Siirt, Bitlis, Bingöl, Malatya, Malatya and Elazığ, Diyarbakır provinces, especially in Çermik, Çüngüş and Ergani districts, 

* Esme sheep, which is widely bred in other districts of Uşak province, especially in Esme district of Uşak province, 

* Norduz sheep of the Norduz region of Gürpınar district of Van Province, 

* Gökçeada sheep bred in Gökçeada, Çanakkale and North West Anatolia, 

* Hemşin sheep grown in the provinces of Artvin and Rize in the Eastern Black Sea Region, 

* Herik sheep of Amasya province and districts, 

* Tuj sheep of Kars province, Çıldır district and Ardahan, Iğdır provinces, 

* Karagül bay of Tokat province and its surroundings, 

* South Karaman sheep of Antalya, Mersin, Hatay and Gaziantep provinces,

* Aydın province, Çine and Bozdoğan districts and Çine Çapari of Madran Mountain

* The Pırlak sheep of the Central West Anatolia region extending from Kütahya, Afyon and Uşak to Manisa and the Pırlak sheep of Isparta and Burdur region in the north of the Western Mediterranean.

* Pırıt sheep, which are intensively raised in the Central District, Gönen, Senirkent, Yalvaç Districts of Isparta Province, and also produced in Burdur, Afyon, Kütahya, Uşak and Manisa Provinces

* Tahirova sheep of Marmara and Aegean Regions,

as the most popular ones.

Apart from these, the ones produced by hybridisation are:

* Merino species, namely Karacabey merino, Anatolian and Central Anatolian merino

* Ramçıl sheep produced by crossbreeding in the transition regions of Central Anatolia and Western Anatolia, 

* Crossbred Maltese sheep in Central Anatolia, especially in and around Kırşehir province, 

* Carian sheep produced by crossbreeding in Aydın, İzmir, Manisa, Uşak and Denizli provinces, 

* Polatli sheep produced by crossbreeding in and around Central Anatolia, 

* Hybrid Bafra sheep of the Central Black Sea Region, 

* Crossbred Koçeri sheep of Siirt, Mardin, Şırnak and Bitlis provinces, especially Batman, 

* Crossbred Acıpayam sheep of Denizli, Afyon, Isparta and Antalya provinces,

can be counted as

***

So there are quite a lot of sheep breeds in our country. 

Probably most of our own sheep breeds are probably the breeds we brought with us during migrations from Central Asia. 

As a result of the breakthroughs made in agriculture and animal husbandry with the Republic, great success has been achieved in poultry productivity, especially with hybridisation methods.

I think it is beneficial to continue the same studies.

Our own sheep breeds also have their own characteristics. Perhaps, with conscious crossbreeding among these breeds, some developments can be made in this field even without the need for European sheep.

Let me end this article by saying that these details are for the experts to know.

I hope that the necessary work will continue, especially before the ministry, and that there will be developments in animal husbandry across the country as before.

Love and respect to everyone from Moscow.