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The Romanov breed of sheep dates back 200 years. It was bred in the Yaroslavl province by selecting the best representatives of the local northern short-tailed sheep.
Short-tailed sheep are very different from the southern brethren that supplanted them. First of all, these are animals that are ideally adapted to the frosts in the northern parts of the European continent. Northern sheep have a high-quality warm coat, which they are able to shed on their own when molting. But northern sheep are significantly inferior to southern breeds in size and productivity, which is why they were forced out of livestock farming.
Short-tailed sheep are still preserved in some places, but they no longer play any role in industrial livestock farming and are preserved in a semi-wild state as a reserve gene pool.
Romanov sheep, named after the place of their original distribution - Romanovo-Borisoglebsk district, fully inherited frost resistance and medium-sized size from their northern ancestors.
Romanov breed standard
The Romanov sheep is distinguished by well-developed, strong bones and a dry constitution. The head is small, hook-nosed, dry, black in color. Ears are erect.
The body is barrel-shaped, the ribs are round. The top line is straight without obvious emphasis on the withers. The back is straight and wide.The tail is short, inherited from its ancestors. In rams, the tail length reaches 13 cm.
The legs are straight, widely spaced, with smooth hair. Sheep of the Romanov breed can be either polled or horned.
The size of sheep, like those of their ancestors, is small. Rams of the Romanov breed usually weigh 65 – 75 kg. Some specimens can reach up to 100. Ewes do not exceed 90 kg with an average weight of 45 - 55 kg. Sexual dimorphism in the breed is well expressed.
The selection of the Romanov sheep breed continues to this day. Today's standard assumes a height at the withers of no more than 70 cm. The desired type of Romanov breed requires strong bones, a strong constitution, a deep and wide chest, well-developed muscles and a complete absence of horns.
Rams should be larger than ewes, with a well-defined hooked nose. The bones of a ram are stronger than those of a ewe.
The coat color of Romanov sheep is bluish. This effect is given by black guards and white fluff, which outgrows the guard cover. The head and legs of Romanov sheep are black.
The photo shows purebred sheep with black heads and legs or small white markings on the head.
Romanovka lambs are born black and only over time, when the undercoat grows, change color to bluish.
The Romanov breed of sheep produces the best sheepskin for fur products, while the meat characteristics of the breed are not very high and are more suitable for amateur sheep breeding. Sheepskins from 6-8 month old lambs are especially valued.
Coarse wool breeds of sheep are usually sheared once a year, but wool from Romanov sheep is sheared three times a year: March, June and October. Due to its coarse fineness, wool is used only in felting, which is why there is no particular point in producing it.
Romanovskaya sheep shear from 1.4 to 3.5 kg of wool per year, while other coarse wool breeds can produce up to 4 kg of wool per year. Romanovskys today are bred not for wool, but for sheepskins and meat. Wool is a by-product from ewes and breeding rams.
Contents of the Romanov breed
For a private owner, keeping Romanov sheep does not present any great difficulties precisely because of the origin of the breed. Having been bred in Russia and having ancestors of short-tailed sheep well adapted to cold weather, Romanovkas can easily withstand cold temperatures down to -30°C. Unlike the southern, more productive breeds, Romanovkas do not need insulated buildings for wintering. Even in winter, they spend a significant part of their time outside in a pen, entering the shelter only in very cold weather.
For wintering Romanov sheep, an ordinary barn without insulation and deep bedding on the floor is sufficient. You just need to make sure that there are no cracks in the walls of the building.
Breeding Romanov sheep at home
Romanovkas are distinguished by their multiple births and the ability to bear lambs at least 2 times a year. The usual number of lambs per lamb: 3 – 4 heads. There are often 5 lambs. As a record, 7 cubs were recorded.
The ewe carries lambs for 5 months. There are 12 months in a year.Even if the ewe came into heat and was inseminated immediately after the birth of her lambs, she will need 5 months to bear the next litter. Thus, it will take at least 10 months to obtain two lambings from one queen. 3 lambings can only be obtained if the first one occurs in the first or second month of the new year. But these lambs were carried by a ewe last year.
Romanovskie lambs lamb quite easily if there are no complications in the position of the fruits. With such multiple births, lambs are born small. But the sheep will lamb without any problems only on the condition that the lambs are not entangled in a ball inside the sheep. This happens when there are several lambs. If this happens, you will have to call a veterinarian or an experienced sheep breeder to figure out which legs and heads belong to whom.
On the one hand, the multiplicity of Romanov sheep is a plus for the owner, allowing the flock to gain 300–400% growth, but on the other hand, the ewe has only two teats. Strong lambs push the weaker ones away from the udder of the ewe, often not allowing the weaker ones to even drink colostrum. Moreover, without receiving colostrum, the lamb will not have protection against infections and will not begin to develop its own immunity. The sheep farmer is forced to manually milk the ewe and feed colostrum to the lambs from the teat.
When breeding this breed, sheep farmers are forced to practice artificial feeding of lambs using milk substitutes. If all lambs are left under the uterus, then all lambs are supplemented with milk replacer. If someone is separated for hand-feeding, then milk replacer is given only to the lambs selected from the ewe.
If they do not die, they will develop very poorly, be stunted in growth, and their costs will be greater than their return in the future.
This is where the catch lies. The basis of even the most expensive whole milk replacer for lambs is skim cow's milk. It is very different in composition from sheep and can cause diarrhea in the lamb. Milk fats in milk replacer are replaced by vegetable fats. Cheap milk replacers do not contain animal proteins or fats at all; they are replaced by plant analogues. The chances that a lamb will die eating cheap milk replacer are much higher than if it were fed an expensive substitute.
Diarrhea and abdominal pain in newborn lambs - the main scourge of sheep farmers - are most often caused by feed that is unsuitable for a lamb with a gastrointestinal tract that has not yet fully developed. Cow's milk is given to lambs only from the 10th day of life, 100 - 200 g per day. Provided that it is possible to give them sheep's milk, using cow's milk as a supplement.
In the video, lambs of a different breed are manually fed, but this does not change the essence. Even with the correct position of the head and body, the lamb eats very greedily. Such greed can lead to milk spilling into an underdeveloped rumen, causing tympany and diarrhea as a result of rotting and fermentation in the rumen. Lambs suckle much more slowly.
But no goat’s milk or milk replacer can replace real sheep’s milk for a lamb, so the second option for feeding lambs from a multiparous ewe is milk from another ewe that lambed a small number of lambs or gave birth to stillborn cubs.
Diets of small lambs at different times of the year
The general rule for lambing at any time of the year is that the ewe should be separated from the rest of the flock so that she can lamb quietly and other sheep will not trample the newborn lamb. And it will be easier to control the progress of lambing.
After lambing, when the lamb stands up and can run, the sheep can be placed in the flock. But if there is space, it is better to keep the ewe and her cubs separate from the main mass of sheep. In this case, the queens are kept with 2–3 heads in one pen.
Up to a month, the lambs suckle the queens and do not need other food, although they are interested in what was given to the mother. After a month, the lambs begin to be accustomed to adult feed.
Winter lambs begin to be given soft hay of better quality. First, they give soft meadow hay, then, increasing the amount of fiber, clover or alfalfa, harvested before the beginning of flowering. Then they move on to the leaves from the branches.
“Spring” lambs, together with their queens, are driven to the best pastures. At the same time, mineral supplements and vitamins are added to the babies’ diet, since young spring grass is not yet enough for the normal development of young animals.
In summer, newly born lambs graze with their queens. Grain feed is gradually added to their diet.
The photo shows lambs in the summer with their queen on the pasture. Sheep's milk is clearly not enough for such a number of cubs and feeding them with compound feed is vital.
Conclusion
In fact sheep breeding The Romanov breed can be a very profitable business in Russia, provided that private household plots are aimed not just at breeding and producing offspring, but also at producing sheepskins and making fur products from them. And it doesn’t have to be clothes. Sheepskin today has begun to be actively used in other areas.For example, as a saddle pad in equestrian sports.
Wool sheared from Romanov sheep will also find application, since today it is quite difficult to find natural felt; it has been replaced by an artificial analogue, which is actually very inferior to natural felt.
But in order to sell finished products, and not cheap raw materials, you need to either create a joint business with fur professionals, or learn how to process skins yourself.
But for keeping in a family as a small help, the Romanov sheep is quite suitable, due to its unpretentiousness and prolific fertility. After slaughtering the lambs at 3 months, you can get several tens of kilograms of first-class meat for yourself.
