Gansu Alpine Fine-wool is a

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

of domesticated sheep from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. This breed was created by crossing Mongolian or Tibetan with Xinjiang Fine-wool and then with some fine-wool breeds from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. It is primarily raised for

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As ...

Characteristics

This breed was specifically developed to readily adapt to the harsh climate and weather conditions native to the Huangchen District of Gansu Province. Both sexes are unicolored and white. Rams are 78 cm tall at the withers, weigh 75 kg and have spiral shaped horns. Ewes are 65 cm at the withers, weigh 40 kg and have scurs or small horns. On average, ewes mature at 18 months while rams mature at 24 months. The average birthweight for rams is 4.2 kg while ewes is 4.0 kg. Ewes average 1.3 lambs per litter throughout her lifetime.

References

Sheep breeds Sheep breeds originating in China {{sheep-stub