Altay is a breed of domesticated

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

originating in the dry, cold mountain basins of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. This breed belongs to the fat-rumped carpet

wool Wool is the textile fiber 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 some properties similar to animal w ...

type of sheep and the Kazakh group. Although the Altay grows wool, it is raised primarily for the

meat Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...

Characteristics

The tail (or rump) weighs about . At maturity, the rams average and the ewes . The Altay's lambing percentage is approximately 103%. The Kazakh group of sheep average to of wool per

shearing Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a '' shearer''. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year (depending upon dialect, a sheep may be sai ...

. The average height at the withers of mature rams is and for ewes. Both sexes are horned. Average birth weight for rams is and ewes .

References

External links

Altay
Sheep101.info {{sheep-stub Sheep breeds Sheep breeds originating in China