This is a really interesting conversation, but for those of us who do not have ready access to Spin Off, is the article available on-line?
John Sandstrom -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Donald Snyder Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2007 12:03 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Spin Off survey: Shetland = a down breed? "The features that distinguish primitive breeds from the modern breeds are a short, fine, woolly coat mixed with hair or kemp, a predominance of colored fleeces, and a tendency to molt annually." This is all very well and good as far as it goes but there is no way that a Karakul would fit this description. Karakuls have been around for about 4000 years so I think that classifies them as "primitive". They haven't changed much in those 4000 years either. Fournier and Fournier did a good job on a lot of that information but I really have heartburn with some of their descriptions and classifications. Karakuls do not shed their wool. Their fleece is neither short nor fine. The ideal Karakul fleece has no downy undercoat. Kemp is also undesirable. Karakuls have colored fleeces, most definitely. I have two lambs out there right now that are beautiful colorations. One is black and white - mainly black with white patches scattered over her body. The other is red and white with similar markings. Actually there are several red and white lambs this year, one even has a black dot in the middle of her back along with the red and white. In the ewe flock are red, brown, dark brown, black, gray and mixtures of same. So the color thing applies but little else in the classification. However this description would perfectly fit the hair breeds of sheep. Dorper, Katahdin, St. Croix, etc. These breeds do not produce a spinning fleece although they grow wool during the winter. It's full of kemp and fiber lengths are very short. Sort of nasty from a spinners point of view. Robin Snyder, spinner, weaver, shepherd Border Collie Rescue - California www.bcrescue.net San Diego County, CA To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
