Karakul production in Uzbekistan

At The Research Institute on karakul breeding you can learn the following facts: the Institute was founded in 1935 on the basis of two experimental farms. The main concern is improving the quality of pelts. This is an ancient breed of sheep and the Bukhara Region is considered its number one habitat, even having a lake named Kara Kul which means "Black Lake".

Most Karakul sheep, from sixty-five to seventy-five percent are black, fifteen percent are sur or biege. The black sheep is the hardiest of them all. Among black pelts there are twenty-one type — all different in quality.

We have indicated an interest in two or three unusual pelts, one white, one biege, and one black, the latter of exuisite texture. The experts explained: it requires twenty years to produce a white karakul and they are pelts from the unborn lamb, taken when ewe had been slaughtered meat. It is three or four times more expensive than karakul which comes from lambs not mpre than two days old. (Elton С. Fax)