Estonian Dark-Headed Sheep

Estonian Dark-Headed Sheep 

a breed of semifinewooled sheep raised for meat and wool. The breed was developed in Estonia between 1930 and 1960 by crossbreeding local coarse-wooled ewes with rams of English short-wooled breeds, mainly Shropshires. Rams weigh 70–90 kg, and ewes, 40–85 kg. The wool is mainly of 56–60 quality; it is 7–8 cm long, uniform, and white. The cover hair on the head is dark. The wool yield is 3.6 kg per ram and 3.2 kg per ewe. The yield of pure wool after washing is about 60 percent. The fertility is 120–137 lambs per 100 ewes. The breed is raised in the Estonian SSR and in some parts of the RSFSR.

REFERENCE

Ovtsevodstvo. vol. 1. Edited by G. R. Litovchenko and P. A. Esaulov. Moscow, 1972.