Category:Awassi Sheep

The Awassi (also known as Ivesti (Turkish), Arab, Baladi, Deiri, Shami, Gezirieh, and Syrian) evolved as a nomadic sheep breed through centuries of natural and selective breeding to become the highest milk producing breed in the Middle East. There are several varieties of this breed, namely, Israeli Improved Awassi, Ne'imi, Shafali. The breed is of the Near Eastern Fat-tailed type. The average ewe has produces over 300 liters (650 pounds) in a 210 day period, and it is not uncommon for outstanding females toproduce over 750 liters (1625 pounds) in the same period. As a comparison, the average U.S. sheep breed produces about 100-200 pounds.

The breed is calm around people, easy to work with and easily milked. They can be machine milked in 4-6 minutes. The breed also has the advantage of natural hardiness and a good grazing ability. The breed is well suited to a grazing production system as well as a confinement operation.

The Awassi has a brown face and legs with the fleece varying in color from brown to white. Individuals can also be found with black, white, grey, or spotted faces. Rams are horned and ewes are usually polled. The fleece is mostly carpet type, with a varying degree of hair.

The mean fiber diameter of their wool is 33 microns with a staple length of 16.5 cm. The grease fleece weight is 4.2 lb (1.9 kg), with a yield of 86%. Their fleece composition is 69% wool, 24% hair, and 7% kemp.