Askanian (, full name: ) is a
breed
A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...
of domesticated
sheep
Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...
found in
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
. It is a fine-
wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...
breed bred for its wool. It was developed by crossing American
Rambouillet
Rambouillet (, , ) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region of France. It is located beyond the outskirts of Paris, southwest of its Kilometr ...
with
Merino
The Merino is a list of sheep breeds, breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monop ...
s in the early 1900s.
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Characteristics
Both sexes display white and are unicolored. Rams are horned and ewes can be either horned or polled (hornless). On average and at maturity, rams weigh . Ewes weigh , grow to at the withers when mature and have approximately 1.27 lambs per litter. In 1980, there were over 1.6 million.
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References
Sheep breeds originating in Ukraine
{{sheep-stub