A new Ordabasy breed of sheep – a breakthrough technology for the production of lamb and mutton: theory and practice

Sheep breeding in Kazakhstan is one of the traditional areas of animal husbandry. In recent years, the development trend of sheep breeding, regardless of the direction of productivity and specialization of the industry, in all zones is focused on the production of lamb and mutton – which is the main source of income. Research work was carried out in the period 1992-2013 in the experimental basic farm “Seraly” of Ordabasy district and implemented in the farms “Ortay”, “Rau”, “Sabyr”, “Medeu-ata”, “Akbastau”, “Kanat”, “Sayram-Astyk”, and limited liability companies “Bek”, “Parpata” of South Kazakhstan region. The object of research - the Kazakh fat-tailed coarse-hair ewes and stud ram of Edilbay (domestic) and Hissar (foreign) breeds of sheep, crossbreeds of various generations obtained by the method of three-breed crossing and the new Ordabasy breed, as well as lamb and mutton. The aim of research - to create a new breed that combines high live weight, earliness and adaptive ability of the original breeds, which is characterized by economic efficiency in the production of high-quality environmentally friendly lamb, mutton and providing agricultural producers with genetically valuable promising breeding material for the sustainable development of sheep breeding in Kazakhstan. Research results. A fundamentally new technology has been developed for breeding a new Ordabasy sheep breed using the method of three-breed reproductive crossing of the best genotypes of domestic and foreign breeds of meat-and-fat sheep created by folk selection in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. The essence of the technology for breeding a new Ordabasy sheep breed is to manage heredity and variability of economic and useful traits in new generations with optimal genetic combinations. The new technology consists of separate technological processes. The first process (1992-1996) – crossbreeding of Kazakh fat-tailed coarse-hair breed ewes with rams of Edilbay breed, i.e., within five years, the original parent breed artificially inseminated by Edilbay breed rams, to obtain first-generation crossbreeds. At this stage of the experiment, 5718 ewes of Kazakh fat-tailed coarse-hair breed and 17 rams of Edilbay breed were used. The second technological process (1994-2000) – crossing of the first generation animals of “Kazakh fat-tailed coarse-hair x Edilbay” upon reaching the age of puberty and adult ewes of this genotype with rams of Hissar breed for 7 years in order to select the desired types for breeding. At this stage of the experiment, first-generation crossbreeds in the amount of 3178 animals were crossed with Hissar sheep and selected model animals of the desired type. The third technological process (1996-2003) - breeding of crossbreeds of the desired type “in itself”. At this stage of scientific work, methods for stabilizing the population in a given direction were developed and high productive linear animals were bred on a large scale in order to consolidate the economically useful characteristics of the selected animal type. The fourth technological process (2005-2013) - creation and testing of a new Ordabasy sheep breed. Implementation of breeding animals and implementation of a new breed to agricultural production. New high-productivity Ordabasy breed is characterized by large strong constitution, deep and broad chest jutting forward, rounded-barrel body, tucked tail, well-developed backbone, with medium length necks, strong medium length legs, polledness, high reproductive qualities and produce high-quality organic lamb and mutton in year-round pasture keeping. The production of lamb from rams of the new Ordabasy breed proved to be more cost-effective in the production of competitive “dairy” lamb on the domestic and foreign markets than other breeds, which indicates the effectiveness of breeding this unique breed to intensify the production of high-quality lamb. The new Ordabasy breed of sheep has been introduced into agricultural production on a large scale, its number is more than 75 thousand animals, including purebred more than 36 thousand animals. Breeding animals of the new breed are sold to 125 subjects of various forms of ownership, in the amount of 12388 animals and are successfully bred in various regions of Kazakhstan. Recommended breeding zones of Ordabasy sheep breed are semi-desert, desert, steppe, dry-steppe, foothill and mountain.