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With the development of industrial technologies, sheep are beginning to repeat the fate of the rabbits of the furry direction, the demand for the skins of which is not great today. Synthetic materials today often warm up better than natural furs, and advocates of ecological products are also in no hurry to buy natural furs, since in order to obtain natural fur, an animal must be killed.
It is not necessary to kill sheep to obtain wool, but wool is more expensive than padding polyester, and warms worse. Status woolen products today are made from wool of llamas and alpacas with the addition of wool angora goat or angora rabbit... Even the wool of merino sheep has become less valuable. Coarse sheep's wool is practically worthless. Sheepskin coats are also out of fashion.
It is the low demand for coarse-wooled sheepskins that the Katum breed of beef sheep owes its appearance.
Katum sheep are a young breed, more precisely, it is not yet a breed, it is a breed group of sheep, made up of crossbreeds of Romanov fur-coat sheep with the American meat breed of Katadin sheep. The first mentions of the Qatum sheep are found only in 2013.
The breed group got its name from the area in the Leningrad region, where it began to be bred. The farm, engaged in the breeding of the Katum breed group of sheep, today is also called "Katumy".
Motives for the appearance of the Katum breed group of sheep
Owners of the “Katumy” private farm began to breed sheep back in the 90s. At that time, these were the Romanov coarse-wooled sheep - an excellent breed, well adapted to the Russian climate and distinguished by their multiplicity.
But it turned out that the main product of the Romanov sheep - skins - is no longer popular due to the emergence of new materials for clothing. The quality of the meat of the Romanov sheep, although it was not bad, was not enough for the payback of production.
Romanov sheep spent too much of the body's resources on growing their famous fur coat, instead of spending them on building muscle mass.
The owners of "Katum" began to look for other ways to develop production. They needed a sheep, well adapted to the Russian climate, unpretentious in nutrition, multiple-fruited, with a good (broiler) gain in live weight. In Russia, the breed you need is not there. There are either merino, or fur coat, or meat-greasy breeds. And what was needed was a beef breed that was not prone to fat accumulation.
The required breed was found in the USA. The same problem exists there: the demand for sheepskin and sheep's wool is falling, while the demand for lamb is growing. The American beef breed Katadin was bred in Maine in the second half of the 20th century for the same reasons that the owners of "Katum" undertook to breed the Russian meat breed: low demand for wool and high demand for meat.
In the photo, a Katada ewes with two lambs.
In America, the demand for smooth-haired meat sheep is growing, and breeding individuals are also becoming more expensive.
Elite Katadin rams were imported from the USA to the Leningrad region and crossed with the queens of the Romanov breed.
The aim was to return to the wild version of the coat in animals with the elimination of the long hair mutation and a high yield of quality meat from the carcass.
It was simply impossible to bring catadins to Russia, since the goal was to get a breed that gives rise to offspring like Romanov sheep (3 - 4 lamb per lamb) and is capable of breeding all year round and, at the same time, like catadin, well fattening muscle mass in the absence of wool , which must be cut at least once a year.
Description of the breed group of Katum sheep
The selection of the Katumians was carried out rigidly, individuals that did not meet the necessary requirements were ruthlessly rejected. As a result, today, although it is too early to register a breed group as a new breed, the desired traits are clearly visible in the population:
- ordinary natural wool of a wild animal;
- prolificacy of Romanov goats;
- the ability to hunt and lamb all year round;
- good gain of muscle mass. Monthly lambs weigh 12 - 15 kg;
- excellent taste of meat. If you believe those who tried Katum lamb at the agricultural exhibition "Golden Autumn" in 2014.
The breeders themselves note that the meat of their sheep in its characteristics is fundamentally different from ordinary lamb in the absence of a specific taste and resembles veal.
The color of animals in the population is mainly fawn or light red with a slight piebald.
Advantages of the Katum breed group:
- large size. Sheep grow up to 110 kg. Ewes up to 80 kg;
- short hair, although, judging by the photo, the influence of the Romanov queens is still felt and the Katumians are not truly smooth-haired;
- no need for a haircut;
- disease resistance inherited from katadins;
- the weight of a ram at 1.5 years is 100 kg;
- prolificacy. 2 - 3 lambs per lambing is the norm for katum residents;
- the ability to withstand Russian frosts in a paddock equipped with a shelter from the wind;
- long life span. Katumians are capable of reproduction up to 10 years;
- a philosophical outlook on life, in the sense of an agreeable disposition.
In the photo is an 8-month-old ram, weight 65 kg.
Although the work with the Katumians has not yet been completed, the sheep are already able to grow undercoat for the winter, shedding it on their own in the spring and leaving only the guard hair for the summer. When keeping them outdoors in frosty conditions, it is necessary to provide the sheep with hay for the possibility of self-heating. In the presence of heated drinkers with warm water, feed consumption in winter is reduced by 30%.
Some sheep breeders interested in this breed group found information about the addition of mouflon to the Katum population. The owner of LPH "Katumy" denied this information. Previously, the farm bred semi-wild sheep for hunting, mixing the Romanov breed and the mouflon. The photo shows a cross between a mouflon and a Romanovskaya.
This business turned out to be unprofitable and was closed. The "hunting" livestock is sold out.
Real Katumians are hornless.
The presence of a horned individual in a flock is explained by the fact that it is not a ram, but ibex, "Working" as a leader in a flock of Katum Yaroks.
Conclusion
The question of the interested sheep breeders about whether the Katumians are a breed registered in the State Register of Russia was bypassed by the owner of the “Katumy” private farm. Which shows, most likely, how the Katum breed has not yet been registered. This is not surprising, since no more than 8 generations of Katum sheep have been received so far. Splitting by genotype and culling of individuals that do not meet the desired standard will continue for at least 10 more years before the breed group is recognized as a breed. Nevertheless, the direction is very interesting and there is no doubt that with the capabilities and knowledge of the owner of "Katuma" the new breed will be registered. Now "Katumy" sell surplus breeding young animals in private hands and sheep breeders who are tired of shearing sheep have the opportunity to buy smooth-haired lambs with tasty meat.
