Karakul sheep

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Swakara Karaku Lamb black
Swakara Karaku Lamb white
Swakara Karakullamm brown

The Karakul or Karakul sheep ( officially Swakara in Namibia ) is a breed of steppe sheep that was originally native to Uzbekistan . In addition to Russia and Afghanistan , Namibia is one of the main breeding countries for these sheep . Mainly the meat , the fur , the wool and the tail fat are used regionally . The Karakul sheep is important for international trade because the fur of the young lamb is marketed and in demand as Persian .

Biology, Ecology and Origin of the Race

The Karakul sheep is a slender steppe sheep of medium size. As a rule, the mother only gives birth to one lamb per season. The lambs are born black, gray, brown or gold in color. Adults are mostly black; gray and brown animals are relatively rare. The legs are black from the knee down. The head is elongated, narrow and somewhat ramsnose with mostly wide, long lop ears. The bucks are horned, the females are hornless or with horn stumps. The weight of the bucks is 60 to 70 kg, that of the dams 40 to 50 kg.

The wool yield of a mother is 2.5 to 3 kg, of the male about 4 kg of sweat wool . The wool quality is moderate and is mostly used for local felt production ; the qualities are hardly in demand on the world market.

The long-lived breed is undemanding and resilient, well adapted to the conditions of dry steppes and semi-desert areas and less suitable for areas with a humid climate. Traditionally, the shepherds roam widely with their flocks. Grasses and herbs are the sheep's main food in spring and summer, leaves and twigs in autumn and winter. In the meantime, in addition to herd rotation, stable keeping is also practiced. The Karakul sheep is a fat- tailed sheep that creates a special fat depot to bridge periods without food.

The original home of the Karakul sheep is probably Arabia. Images from the Hittite period (around 2650 BC) show kings with curly headgear, indicating the use of Karakul-like sheep. The first fat-tailed sheep are believed to have been around 2000 BC. BC in what is now Syria and Israel and were introduced into Egypt soon after. It was not until the 8th century AD that these sheep came to Uzbekistan with Arab pastoralists, where breeding was established in the Bukhara and Khiva khanates.

Etymology and early trade routes

Relief of male Karakult-type sheep on the Apadana stairs in Persepolis (500 BC)
Persian broadtail (sleeves) in the color "Sur"

The names by which Karakul sheep are known are closely related to the trade routes for the skins of this breed of sheep.

It has been known in Europe for around 1000 years that curly sheep are mainly bred in Bukhara and Khiva in Central Asia , which today belong to Uzbekistan . Around 1850 there was an increased demand for lambskins in curly caraculas in Europe. At that time, the skins were first transported on camels west through Kazakhstan to Astrakhan , an important main trading center at the mouth of the Volga near the Caspian Sea. Up the Volga the skins were then shipped to Nizhny Novgorod for mass . Here they were initially bought by Russian and later also by German fur traders.

In 1835 the Englishman Alexander Burnes mentioned the place Karakul ( Qorakoʻl ) in Uzbekistan for the first time : “... the caravans are gathering ... they were laden with precious skins from the small district of Karakool, where we had spent almost a month with Torkmanen and shepherds who came from nothing but fleeces and markets speak ... " . There is some evidence that the sheep were named Karakul sheep after this place (in the north of Bukhara). Another interpretation says that it originally comes from Assyrian "kara-gjull" or Turkish "kara gül", translated "black rose". A more widespread interpretation is the origin of "kara kul" and "kara köl (e)", both Turkish for "black slave" or "kara kül" for "black ash" or "kara göl" for "black lake" ( describing the lamb's hair pattern, "waves" and "mirror").

The term " Persianer " for the curly lambskin is not an original term for Karakul sheep or their skins. The name rather points to the Persian traders, through whose hands a large part of the skins temporarily reached the European markets.

The term “Breitschwanz” appeared in the brochures of large international tobacco companies towards the end of the 19th century. The fur of a special developmental stage of fetuses of the Karakul sheep is called Persian broadtail , when it is characterized by a special, less curly than more moirizing hair. Broad-tailed Persians, on the other hand, are the fur of the normally born lamb from Namibia (trade name "Swakara®" ). The skins of Namibian Karakul show a fur pattern similar to that of the Persian broadtail .

Recent history of the karakul pose

Central Asian areas of origin

For centuries, karakul breeding was only practiced in Central Asia, mainly in Bukhara and Khiva. The tribal communities guarded breeding as a family secret. They popularized the belief that the quality of curls depends on local conditions.

After the invention of dying Persian fur black, the demand skyrocketed. The breeders in Bukhara then crossed real Bukhara sheep with animals from neighboring districts. However, the quality of the lambskins of the crossed animals was lower; good skins became increasingly rare. This cross-breeding led to the fact that a gray Bukhara breed, the so-called Darnadar , whose fur with a tiny curl was made into caps in Russia, became completely extinct.

Russian Karakul and successor states of the Soviet Union

Hamburg mayor's costume made from Russian Persians, 1905

In the course of the Russian expansion into Central Asia, the areas of origin of the karakul breed came increasingly under Russian influence in the 19th century. Russia and the Soviet Union thus became the origin and main production area of ​​Karakul sheep. In the 1970s, the breeding areas were mainly in Central Asia: in Uzbekistan (Bukhara), Turkmenistan , Kazakhstan , in parts of Tajikistan , but also in Europe: in Ukraine and Moldova . Around 1974 96 percent of the production at that time came from the first three areas mentioned, the population of pure-bred animals was over 14 million. Individual large farms had over 100,000 animals. In 1974 8,300,000 Persian pelts came into world trade (including the USSR).

Russian Persian pelts are known for their small curls, the most valuable pelts of which have a tubular curl formation with a beautiful pattern. A distinction is made in terms of coat colors:

  • The main colors black, gray and sur (golden brown)
  • brown in the three main shades: red and light brown, brown and dark brown
  • halali (chalili), two-colored, these are brown karakul with black sides and pump . The skins usually have very shiny, beautiful, tight curls
  • odd , uniform gray-blue-brownish skins
  • sedinoi , dark and black-gray karakul with a narrow, gray back center line
  • Gulgas (guligas), brown and white hairs of different color gradations result in a beautiful light or dark beige / pink shade

Russian Persian pelts have been on the market under the brand name "Bukhara" since the late 1960s.

Afghan karakul

Furrier assortment of dyed Afghan Karaku skins

In contrast to the Russian, Afghan sheep breeding serves primarily for meat production and only secondarily for fur production. The meat of the Karkul sheep, like sheep in general, is popular in the country. Compared to other breeds, however, the Karakul sheep only provide a small amount of meat. As a milk supplier, the sheep are milked twice a day in places. The milk is mainly processed into butter and a long-lasting cooking and frying oil. Other dairy products are yogurt , the drink Dugh and Kaschg and Gharaghurut used as a spice. The sheep are sheared in spring and autumn; wool is a popular material for making carpets.

Up until the First World War , karakul sheep breeding in Afghanistan was only poorly developed (700,000 to 750,000 sheep, exports 300,000 furs). After the invasion of the Red Army in 1920, the Emir of Bukhara, Alim Khan , and his entourage from the former Emirate of Bukhara fled to Afghanistan together with the Emir's Karakul sheep. Most of the animals came from Bukhara and the Khiva Khanate . In Afghanistan, herds of several million animals developed from this. The main trading and staging area for these Persian skins was the northwest Indian, now Pakistani city of Peshawar . The breed is particularly widespread in the provinces of Anhoi, Mazar-i-Sherif, Maimene, Schiberghan, Akhtscha, Tashkurghan, Kundus and Herat.

The type and size of the curls corresponds roughly to that of the Turkmen karakul lamb (Russian karakul breed), but the curls are often irregular and covered or overgrown by small hair tips, which affects the effect of the shine. The curls usually run less into the belly area than in the Turkmen. About 90% of the skins are beautifully colored gray. In 1976, 56 types of gray and 40 types of black karakul skin could be produced. For retail, fur skins are sorted according to color, type of curl and coat structure. Important main ranges are Black Afghan , Gray Afghan , Black Broadtail , Gray Broadtail , and Sur .

In 1967, in the northeast of the province of Khorassan , 18 kilometers from the capital Shiraz of the province of Fars , the Sarach experimental station was built by the Ministry of Agriculture, exclusively as a karakul research facility. The Karakul sheep of the Fars province largely belong to the gray variant, the trade name "Schirasi" for gray Persians is obviously derived from the name of the capital. The Karakul sheep in the Qom area , which is 140 kilometers from Tehran , are said to have descended from animals that were brought here from Shiraz during the Sassanid Dynasty ["Sandii Dynasty"]. These also gray Karakuls are known there under the name Sandischafe.

In 1968 the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) put the Afghan Karakul sheep population at 5.5 million, but only about 1.8 million pelts were sold annually. Karakul sheep farming was of great economic importance for Afghanistan. The export of pelts (colors gray (70 percent, including the beige-gray color guligaz), sur (natural golden brown)) and wool were the country's most important source of income. For the gray Persians, the so-called natural Persians, so popular after the Second World War, Afghanistan was the main supplier. In 1969 one had successfully begun to cross the breed Arrabic into the conventional Karakuls . Four years later, therefore, they continued to cross with Hazaguri rams, which graze in the high heights of the Hindu Kush and Pamir and are therefore more resilient, both of which are also fat-throated sheep with gray fur. Due to the change in fashion, especially the years of warlike unrest, the export of fur had practically come to a standstill. In 2001, 60% of the world's karakul furs came from Afghanistan.

Germany and Austria

Karakul sheep supplies u. the animal breeding institute provides any information d. University of Halle a. See advertisement in "Der Deutsche Furztierzchter" (1930)

In 1904 Leopold Adametz and his colleague Dure brought pure-bred Karakul sheep from Bukhara to Austria for the first time. After 1920 new herds appeared in Austria. Most of the herds, however, were lost in the course of World War II . In 1963 there were breeding in the lowlands around Vienna and in the Alps. There were 30 herds with a total of 3000 animals, most of which had a gray coat.

In the spring of 1903, Julius Kühn , head of the animal breeding institute in Halle / Saale, together with the German fur wholesaler, dresser and refiner Paul Thorer, brought four goats and 28 ewes from Bucharei / Central Asia to Germany to order one here To try settlement. After the Karakuls were imported at the beginning of the century, the East Frisian milk sheep , Rhön , Leine and Rauwolligem Landschaf as well as Heidschnucken were crossed . In 1924 the first skins came onto the market from Leipzig; German Karakul had no notable influence on the fur industry. However, breeding animals have been exported to Estonia, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Latvia, Italy, the United States, Switzerland, Argentina, Java, Paraguay and Africa. In 1936 there were around ten thousand Karakul sheep in Germany.

In 1976 a tobacco trade magazine reported that Armin Götz from Frankfurt / Main had acquired the last twelve female animals and a buck from Halle (then GDR) in order to keep growing the population in southern Germany (FRG). The herdbook inventory in Germany in 2013 was 17 bucks and 251 nuts. The "German Karakul Sheep" is in the "Races from Other Countries" category of the Society for the Conservation of Old and Endangered Domestic Animal Breeds' Red List and was named Endangered Livestock Breed of the Year 2015 .

South West Africa / Namibia: Swakara

  • Traders sorting raw hides in Bukhara (before 1914)

  • Flock of Sheep in German South West Africa (ca.1907/08)

In Namibia , karakul breeding and keeping on large ranches is an important branch of agriculture. The karakul breed has its origins in the German colonial era. The success of the breeding experiments in Halle encouraged von Lindequist, governor of the then German South West Africa , to encourage the importation of Karakul into what is now Namibia, as wool sheep breeding was not progressing as well as expected. Paul Thorer bought ten ewes from a transport of karakul sheep destined for Austria, as well as two karakulrams that had already been bred in Groß-Enzersdorf . In 1907 he initiated the first transport of purebred animals, from which the important local Karakul breed developed (Swakara).

The first breeding animals arrived in Swakopmund on September 24, 1907. They acclimatized extremely well and quickly. The establishment of the breeding proceeded rapidly on various private farms. The first karakul breeder was Albert Voigts von Voigtsgrund, a farmer experienced in sheep breeding. He received eight pure-blood nuts and a pure-blood lamb from the then governor from the experimental flock of twelve Karakul sheep that Theodor Thorer had placed with the government. The rest of the animals that were moved north did not thrive because of the humid climate there. Voigts bought black African sheep from the farmers in the area, on the assumption that if one wanted to crossbreed, they would have to cross with black animals in order to get black lambs. Later it turned out that crosses with white animals also gave quite good results.

Thanks to the good relations between the German emperor and the Russian tsar, 820 karakuls were gradually delivered from Uzbekistan to German South West Africa. They formed the nucleus of the South West African Karakul, although it would take another 25 years until the local with a crossing breeds bred sheep breed Swakara (= S OD w est a frikanisches Kara kul) prevailed and - more importantly - the black, finely curled Swakara- Skins were able to assert themselves on the world market in competition with the established Persian skins from Bukhara.

Karakul sheep auction catalog and family tree map, Namibia 1985

The good sales opportunities prompted many farmers in South West Africa to switch to Karakul sheep farming. Even in the country of origin of the Karakul sheep, the animals are repeatedly crossed with fat-tailed and fat-tailed sheep. Both breeds also occurred in today's Namibia, the Somali or Black-headed Persian Sheep and the Blinkhaara African Sheep, both of which are ideal for crossbreeding. Consistent breeding selection made it possible to shorten the hair length significantly. The possibilities that this new type of fur offered only became clear to the breeders decades after the first sheep were imported. While the aim of breeding was initially the tube curls, which are common among Persians, it was around 1948 that the nationwide re-breeding to today's flat, light, broad-tailed type, which from the beginning was based on 95 percent black animals. The new hair image type had long been bred by the far-sighted government breeder Allan Douglas Thompson (* 1890; † July 15, 1961) in a small core breed. After about 20 years all breeds were systematically converted to this new moiré, no longer curly coat. In 1969 the Namibian production peaked at 3.5 million = 40 percent of world production; the number of farms with karakul sheep was given as around 2,500. According to the "Jury Fränkel's Rauchwaren Handbuch 1988/89", the amount of fur in a few years was even more than 5 million, in 1986 it was just under a million. Around 75 to 80 percent of the lambs produced are slaughtered, 20 to 25 percent are used for rearing and herd multiplication (1966).

In 2005, the statistics office of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry stated that the population was only 181,410 animals; the total annual production in 2010 on the Agra website , the agricultural cooperative there, is about 140,000 furs and 40,000 quintals of wool. In 2012, the breeding community again recorded record prices for their moirated Persian type. 118,000 skins were offered at an auction in Copenhagen, the highest average selling price to date was 654.20 Namibian dollars per skin (around € 55.50).

Swakara marketing campaign 1971: Award for a Berlin furrier, certificate on a Persian skin

In 1931 the average required pasture area per sheep was given as two hectares, of course very different depending on the vegetation of the pastures.

The change in fashion to mink fur around 1970 and later a general decline in the demand for fur led to the temporary collapse of karakul breeding in Namibia in 1991. It was indeed possible, not least with German development aid, to expand not only hide production but also meat and wool production and thus preserve the herds for breeding purposes; Nevertheless, the production of the Persian skins, called Swakara® since 1966 (initially SWAPL (South West African Persian Lamb), now SWA Persian) has not yet been able to match the success of the 1960s, at least in terms of quantity. In 2005/2006, however, Swakara Persians achieved new maximum prices at the auctions in Copenhagen as a result of the renaissance of fur in general, the increased demand for this item and not least because of the sharp decline in production, current auction company (2006) "Kopenhagen Fur". The quality of the pelts has improved significantly once again as a result of the breeding selection that accompanied the decline in herds. The adaptation to market demand, which was decisive for the original success, was the breeding of a new moiré fur type compared to the classic Russian Persian with the tubular curl.

Since 2012, in addition to the skins, the sheep in Namibia have also been officially called Swakara.

Other breeding areas

Some of the first Karakul sheep imported to Germany (Gräden, Neumark - formerly a place between Matschdorf and Reichenwalde , 1912)

Motivated by the high prices for Persian pelts in the 20th century, attempts were made in many countries to breed Karakul sheep or to cross with native sheep breeds. After fashion had turned to other types of fur at the end of the century, breeding for fur purposes had become uninteresting. After about 2000 the price of fur rose again considerably, nothing is known of a revival of the karakul breed for fur purposes in these newly added countries (except Namibia). In any case, breeding is only interesting in areas with very sparse vegetation; the price of fur is unlikely to ever reach a level where meat production is not more economical in better locations.

  • Iran: In 1963, almost 2,000 Iranian karaku skins were offered for the first time at a Leipzig auction, black and gray.
  • Iraq: Karakul sheep are likely to be found here after Karakul bucks were imported from France in 1945.
  • Israel: In 1953, Karakul sheep were exported from Halle to Israel.
  • China: China received karakuls from what was then the USSR in 1952. From 1956 onwards, over 1000 Kuchar breed sheep were mated (in Tian-Shan and some districts of Xinjiang ).
  • Mongolia: In 1964, 2,100 pelts of the first to third generation crossed with Mongolian sheep came from here for the first time at the Leipzig auction.
  • Romania : The Romanian karakul breed is important. The first importation of karakul sheep from the Russian ancestral area in Turkestan to what was then also Russian Bessarabia took place in 1880. In 1884 the first thoroughbred karakul breeds were mentioned in Bessarabia. After the union of Bessarabia with Romania, this breed took a considerable boom. The Karakuls were crossed with the "Tzurkanaschaf", a native breed of racket sheep. The skins, together with similar types of curls from other origins, are sold as " half-Persians ". In 1940 the population of Karakul sheep including the crossings in Romania together with Bessarabia was over a million animals, of which more than 700,000 furs were produced annually.
  • Bulgaria: The Karakuls came to Bulgaria as early as 1889, but no progress was made here. In 1945 another 161 animals were imported from Uzbekistan; In 1965 there were crossing results for over 60,000 pelts.
  • Yugoslavia: After the importation of the first Karakuls from Bessarabia in 1895 there was little interest in breeding, after 1945 a total of 25 Karakul sheep were imported from the GDR and the Federal Republic, which were crossed with Zackel sheep.
  • Norway, Sweden and Finland: The three northern European countries also found some interest in karakul breeding. The German Shepherd Newspaper reported in 1955 about a Swede who had succeeded in mating Swedish sheep with pure-bred Karakul sheep to obtain skins with such a beautiful sheen that has never been achieved in any other breed.
  • Spain: Animals from Polish and Romanian breeding came to Spain. In 1956 there were 799 pure-bred and 17,275 crossbred sheep, with a further increase.
  • Africa: After Namibia, then still German South West Africa and South Africa, Portuguese Angola was probably the first African country to set up a karakul breed. In addition to a state-owned Karakulfarm, there were thirty private breeders in 1957. In 1959, 2000 Persian pelts were auctioned for the first time. In 1963 the population was estimated at 25,000 to 30,000 animals.
French West Africa: In 1958, 1648 furs from here were offered at a London auction.
  • North America: The first karakuls came to the USA in 1908.
  • South America: On the South American continent, there were small populations in 1965 in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil. The karakul breed in Argentina, which began in 1911, is not insignificant, with a small batch of karakul bucks that the Austrian emperor had given as a gift. In 1961 the Argentine Karakul population comprised 350,000 animals, 300,000 of which were considered to be fur sheep. To improving via the local have Criolloschafe shown to be highly suitable.

Broader Tailskin Controversy

Cheap Persians in a market in Kabul

The word "Broad-tailed" (English. Broadtail ) can be used as a euphemism for furs fetal lambs of a particular late stage of development to be seen. Karakul breeders and the trade define broadtails as prematurely born, abnormally carried karakul lambs. (...) Because the fur has not yet fully developed (...), broadtails differ from normal Karakullammers mainly in terms of curl, hair and pattern, as well as in fur size and thickness . According to Soviet studies on fetuses obtained by slaughtering the dams, the division of the fur qualities obtained is not uniform. Broadtail , Broadtail-Persian , Persian ribbed , Persian jacket and Persian Caucasian occurred with proportions of about 21, 25, 38, 14 and 2 percent. The (most valuable) broad-tailed type was found in only a quarter. Early fetal pelts without moiré are also known as galjak. In addition to slaughter, there are also naturally occurring karakul premature births and cases in which these were provoked by torture effects on the mother animals.

Descriptions of what is known as “barbarism” were a source of controversy even before the First World War . A corresponding report by the Turkestan Courir was adopted by many magazines. In an article from the animal exchange that responded to this , Mir-Chidor Chodsche, an expert from the Karakul area of ​​Bukhara, described the report as a “fairy tale”. In 1929 the above mentioned tobacconist Theodor Thorer commented on the subject under the title The Truth About the Obtaining of Persians and Broad- Tails.

In trade, the broadtails or furs obtained from abortions make up less than one percent. On average, around the turn of the millennium, the price of a “normal” Persian fur was twice the price for a broad-tailed fur - mostly much smaller in size.

See also

literature

  • Broad-tailed karakul. Legend and Reality , Matter / Schöps / Franke, 1973, 72 pages
  • Jury Fränkel's Rauchwaren Handbuch , Christian Franke / Johanna Kroll, Rifra-Verlag Murrhardt, 1988
  • Karakul Atlas , Dr. Ing.Agr. Eduard Pfeifer, Cape Times LTD, published 1953, Cape Town. A handbook for fur and sheep traders / breeders. In each case photos of the living lamb, the stripped fur and the prepared (= tanned) fur for all types of curling.
  • 300 years of the Thorer family , 1912; 325 years of the Thorer family , 1937; 350 years of Thorer , 1962, both in Leipzig, self-published
  • Karl Walter Spitzner / Heinrich Schäfer: The Karakulzucht in South West Africa and the House of Thorer , ed. from the South and South West African Thorer companies. ABC printing company, Cape Town 1962
  • Basics of Karakul fur sheep breeding , G. Frölich (Hsgr.), Paul Parey Berlin, 1938.
  • Joachim-Friedrich Langlet | Joachim Langlet: The Karakul Breeding in South West Africa . Julius Kühn Archive 47 (1938), pp. 197-315
  • The Karakulzucht of South West Africa and its herd book organization from Das Pelzgewerbe , Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, 1967 No. 3, by Dr. Otfried Villinger, Windhoek.
  • The karakul sheep; A teaching and manual for breeders and fur traders , Josef Zettl, Wilhelm Frick Verlag, Vienna, 1950.

Web links

Commons : Karakul (sheep)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b SWAKARA SHEEP - lean meat and quality pelts. The Namibian, September 15, 2015 ( Memento of October 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ a b c http://www.geh.de/geh/index.php/rassebeschreibung/72-rassebeschreibung-schafe/97-deutsches-karakul Society for the Preservation of Old and Endangered Pet Breeds eV (GEH)
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Potential for Increasing Producers' Income from Wool, Fiber and Pelts in Central Asia Carol Kerven, Angus JF Russel, Jerry P. Laker ILRI (aka ILCA and ILRAD), 2002 - 32 pages
  4. ↑ Arthur C. Prentice (for the description of the relief): A Candid View of the Fur Industry . Publishing Company Ltd., Bewdley, Ontario 1976, p. 201. (English).
  5. ↑ a b c S. Hopfenkopf: Our fur animals, IV. Persianer. In: “Die Pelzkonfektion” 6th year No. 7, July 1930, Leipzig, pp. 25–31
  6. ↑ a b Dr. HE Matter, Dr. Paul Schöps, Richard Maria Franke: Breitschwanz-Karakul - Legend and Reality , Rifra-Verlag Murrhardt, 1973, pp. 13, 15-16
  7. ↑ The mirror 18/1966 of 25 April 1966 , accessed on March 27, 2013
  8. ↑ a b Mahmoud Fouladi-Nejad: The Influence of Hair Thickness and Hair Length on the Fleece Character of One-Day Karakullämmer of an Iranian Population. Compare Iranian and South West African breeds . Inaugural dissertation at the Justus Liebig University Giessen, 1971, pp. 9–11.
  9. ↑ a b c Wolf Eberhard Mourning: Karakul sheep all over the world , in Das Pelzgewerbe , Volume XVI, New Series, 1965 No. 2, pp. 59–66
  10. ↑ “From a report from Peshawar”: Peshawar, the Persian trading post. In: Der Rauchwarenmarkt No. 40, Leipzig May 22, 1935, p. 3.
  11. ↑ a b c W. L .: Afghan Karakul again under the direction of Abdul Ghafour Redja , Winckelmann Pelzmarkt, Frankfurt / Main, issue 272, February 14, 1975
  12. ↑ Without the author's name: Karakulzucht in Afghanistan . In Brühl November / December 1976, VEB Fachbuchverlag Leipzig, p. 10
  13. ↑ Winckelmann International, Fur Bulletin 2437, Sales Report 568 , Winckelmann Communication Frankfurt am Main, December 23, 1997, pp. 2–3 (English)
  14. ^ Francis Weiss : The Sheep Aristocracy . In: Rund um den Pelz , issue 9, Rhenania-Fachverlag, Koblenz September 1978, pp. 74-77
  15. ↑ Franz Sachse: The fur production on the world market . Dissertation from the Leipzig University of Applied Sciences, 1938, p. 46.
  16. ↑ In: The German Fur Breeder . 14th year, issue 21/22, Munich 1./15. November 1939, p. 443: 10,000 Karakul sheep in Greater Germany . (According to "Statistics of the German Empire" for 1935 to 1936 = 9758 animals, excluding Ostmark and Sudeten)
  17. ↑ Winckelmann Pelzmarkt, according to a communication from Erwin Götz: The last Karakul breeding animals from Halle are coming to the Federal Republic , Winckelmann Verlag, Frankfurt / Main, issue 354, September 17, 1976, p. 4
  18. ^ A b Franke / Kroll: Jury Fränkel's Rauchwaren-Handbuch 1988/89 . Rifra Publishing House
  19. ↑ Without information on the author: In: SWA Persianer . - 1908-1958. With this brochure, the Marientaler Exhibition Association is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Karakul economy in South West Africa . - The first karakul farmer from the southwest . Sources: J. Langlet, L. Voigts, pp. 16–18 - The Thorer's share in the development of the Karakul economy in South West Africa . Pp. 31-33.
  20. ↑ Reinhart Spitzner: The breeding of flat Karakul sheep in South West Africa . In: “All about fur” No. 3, March 1966, Rhenania-Verlag, Koblenz, pp. 161–163
  21. ^ A b Hans Jürgen von Hase: Development and future of the Swakara production . Presentation from 12./13. February 1976. In All Around Fur , Issue 4, Rhenania-Verlag, Koblenz April 1976
  22. ↑ Hans Jürgen von Hase: Swakara, origin and problems . Short version of a presentation, Pelz Press Day 1981. In: Pelz & Design 1981/4, Kronberg.
  23. ↑ Reinhart Spitzner: Interesting experiments and experimental results in the Southwest Karakul breed . In: Rund um den Pelz No. 7, 1956, Rhenania Verlag, Koblenz, p. 35
  24. ↑ Karakul Information, Agra, Namibia ( Memento of November 3, 2004 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on April 14, 2010
  25. ↑ allafrica.com: Namibia: Swakara Industry to Go North-West of Namibia. allafrica.com Farmers earned Namibia more than N $ 32 million in foreign currency at the second Swakara auction in Denmark in 2012. Swakara set new price records at the auction in Copenhagen, Denmark, with the highest ever average price of N $ 654.20 per pelt. A total of 118,000 pelts were sold during that auction. January 22, 2013 (English) Retrieved January 23, 2013
  26. ↑ Prof. Dr. G. Frölich: The Karakul sheep and its breeding . 3rd edition, FC Mayer Verlag, Munich 1942 p. 34 (based on Lossen)
  27. ↑ Karakul Board (Eds.): Swakara®. Karakul - Gift from the Arid Land - Namibia 1907–2007 , pp. 164–165
  28. ^ Namibian Government changes breed name from karakul to swakara. Copenhagen Fur News, April 24, 2012 , accessed July 12, 2012.
  29. ^ Bar .: The Karakul breed in Romania . In: Der Rauchwarenmarkt No. 27, Leipzig, July 5, 1940, p. 27. Primary source: A document from the Romanian Karakul Sheep Breeders Association in Bucharest.
  30. ↑ Owzewodstwo: Karakulfelle from Argentina on the world market . In: "Brühl" September / October 1966, VEB Fachbuchverlag Leipzig, p. 4
  31. ↑ HE Matter ao: Karakul, Breitschwanz and Persianer . Hermelin Verlag Dr, Paul Schöps, Berlin et al., 1968, p. 54
  32. ↑ Averjjanov, I. Yes. (1970) Development of curls and Karakul pelt during last days of intra-uterine period . Ovtsevodstvo 16 (3): 27-29.
  33. ↑ Musaev, KM (1970) Relationship between quality of Karakul lambs and body weight of their dams and gracing conditions. Ovtsevodstvo 16 (11): 33-34
  34. ↑ According to Collins from Russian golyak naked