A Kazakh farmer raised a 90-kilograms record-breaking ram

The Tsigai sheep was bred in the Karim farm in the Martuk District of Aktobe Region. Farmer Zhanabay Zhakitayev has been breeding the endangered Tsigai sheep breed of the Kazakh intra-breed type, which was bred in the region in the 70s, World of NAN reports referring to Agroqogam.kz.

"In the early 2000s, I took 10 yaks and 10 rams and started breeding Tsigay. Now I have 250 head of purebred Tsigai sheep of the intra-breed Kazakh type. We do quality grading, have strict selection, and keep only the best. On average, 3-year-old rams weigh 70 kilograms. There are more than 80 kilograms too, but rarely. This time, for the first time, one of the animals was close to the Soviet indicator. This is the result of a long breeding work. Before, even bigger rams were taken to exhibitions. But they were selected, specially nursed and fed. I have a record-breaking ram from the general herd, I don't feed him separately", says Zh. Zhakitayev.

The farmer believes that sheep of the forgotten Kazakh breed will someday be in demand again and continues to breed them, although there are almost no markets for their produce. The farm produces more than a tonne of high-quality wool per year, and ... burns it or buries it in the ground. The wool is not bought, as it spoils when stored for a long time. A small amount of raw material is bought by locals for mittens, socks and blankets. They don't take hides either. The farmer sells a small amount of meat on the market. The expenses of keeping the cattle don't pay off, but the owners of the farmstead have 100 hectares of arable land and 100 hectares of haymaking land, received in the 90s on shares, and this helps them out.

Sagyndyk Zhetygarin, a breeder and author of the breed, who is now 83, is helping the sheep breeders with their breeding work.

"Today, more and more people talk about creating their own breeds of animals and varieties of crops. But there are breeds that have already been created. They must be preserved and multiplied! It is necessary to open tanneries, wool processing factories, and return to breeding Tsigai sheep," says breeder Sagyndyk Zhetygarin. - It is not only the most valuable wool and skin. The Tsigai has unique meat. Without smell. The fat is all over the carcass, with Edilbay sheep only on the fatty tail. Sheep give useful milk - about 2 liters per day. It's a shame that nobody needs such wealth today. To burn, to bury valuable raw materials - wool and pelts - is wastefulness.

Breeders have been working on a new type of sheep for 21 years. Their uniqueness is that they give high-quality wool, which is used for knitwear (in Soviet times they sewed school uniforms only from it), carpets - the yarn does not wrinkle and the wool is very elastic, and also they make the warmest blankets.

In Aktobe region by 1980 the number of Tsigai sheep reached 1.3 million. With the collapse of the Soviet Union valuable animals went under the knife, and breeding work was no longer engaged. In Aktobe region Tsigai sheep are now bred only in four farms.

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