Groznyi Sheep

a breed of fine-wooled sheep of the fleece type, produced in the Chervlennye Buruny pedigree stock farm in Nogaiskii Raion, Dagestan ASSR between 1938 and 1951 by crossing the local Merinos with Australian sheep and then selecting and isolating the hybrid breed.

The sheep are of strong constitution and can prosper in dry steppe conditions, successfully utilizing pasture land with sparse grasses. The rams weigh 70–90 kg, and the ewes 45–50 kg. The shearing from the rams is 10–15 kg, with the greatest yield at 25 kg; ewes produce 5.5–7.5 kg, with the highest yields reaching 12.5 kg. The wool is long, thick, soft, and elastic, with a silken luster. The length of the strands is 8–10 cm, with the longest reaching 13 cm. It is of 64–70 quality. The pure wool yield is 45–55 percent. Fertility is 120–140 lambs per 100 ewes. Groznyï rams are used to improve the wool-producing qualities of other fine-wooled sheep breeds.

The Groznyï breed is found in regions of the Caspian plain, the eastern parts of the Kalmyk ASSR and the dry regions of Astrakhan Oblast. The best breeding stocks are found in the pedigreed institutes Chervlennye Buruny in the Dagestan ASSR, the Shelkovskii in the Chechen-Ingush ASSR, and the Chernozemel’skii in the Kalmyk ASSR.