Sheep and goat hybrid: description and characteristics, content features

Joint breeding and maintenance on farms, in private farms of sheep and goats sometimes turns into interspecific crossing. Sheep-goat hybrids show signs of both parents. But, due to the genetic discrepancy, they are most often not viable: the pregnancy is terminated in the first half of the term. Born individuals for the same reason cannot have offspring.

Who are basles and what do they look like

The word "basly" is a derivative of "ram" + "goat". The name was invented by a farmer from the Novgorod region, who had 12 sheep-goats: 3 males and 9 females. They were more like sheep, but more massive, with thick and coarse wool, with a spring molt, like goats.In other words, a bazle is a hybrid or gyp (from the English "geep" - "goat" + "sheep") from crossing a goat and a sheep / a ram and a goat when kept together. Hybrid offspring are most often not viable and die before lambing or a few hours after birth. Surviving individuals are sterile and unable to reproduce, although males have a high libido.

The reason for the incompatibility is the differences in the genetic code: in sheep it contains 54 chromosomes, in goats - 60. Surviving hypos turned out to have 57 chromosomes. A cross between a ram and a goat proved to be more viable than a goat and a sheep. Offspring from random crosses have been recorded:

in New Zealand;
Botswana;
Ireland;
France;
USA;
Russia;
Germany.

The most tenacious was the New Zealand hip. It had features of both species and was 30 kilograms (93 kilograms) heavier than a normal ram. At 10 months old, the buzzle was castrated due to constant abuse of sheep and goats, despite the lack of estrus.

Hybrid individuals are also obtained artificially by engrafting goats eggs fertilized with ram sperm in a test tube with a partially deleted goat genome. Similar studies are being carried out to determine the possibility of the revival of extinct species.

Such Hyps are called chimeras. Unlike hybrids, they have 4 parents. Several successful experiments ended with the appearance of a goat and a kid. The chimera, outwardly resembling a goat, had blood proteins similar to those of sheep, the skin consisted of pieces of goat and sheep skin and fur. The kid died a day later, the cause of death was not established.

Description and characteristics

Bazles have high goat legs and a massive ram body. The coat is thick, coarse, but with a soft undercoat. The tail hangs like a sheep's. Males have small, curved horns and no beard. Female hypas have a sheep-like face.

Babies are born with horns, which may cause a goat to refuse to feed them as aliens.

Gips have the herd instinct of goats and sheep. Males and females are sterile, but males have an increased libido, as a result of which they have to be castrated.

Main positives and negatives

Pros and consfast development;weight exceeding the weight of the parents;thick, long fur.infertility;immoderate activity of males in relation to sheep and goats.

Bazles have a unique flavor that is different from sheep and goat.

Maintenance and Care

Sheep and goats are related animals, which in temperate climatic latitudes are most suitable for a stall-pasture regime.In warm weather, it provides for free grazing during daylight hours with an overnight stay under a canopy in a paddock or indoors. In the autumn-winter period, when there is no green fodder on the pasture, the animals are kept indoors with a daily walk in the paddock (the duration depends on the air temperature).

For bazles, the principles of maintenance and care are similar. Animals need shelter from the rain. Wet wool falls off, gets dirty, it will need to be cut off. When kept in a stall, it is required to provide flooring from straw or sawdust so that the hips do not catch a cold through the hooves. Goat sheep do not feel discomfort at temperatures up to +5 degrees, so they do not need additional heating of the room. The main requirements are dry air, good ventilation and lighting.

Basles do not tolerate damp and polluted air. Manure is removed daily. The room should have wooden flooring for animals to rest and sleep. Feeders and drinkers are installed at a height of 30 to 50 centimeters above the floor and kept clean.

What to feed hybrids

Gip is unpretentious in food, like his parents. In summer, the main part of the food is green mass in the pasture. With a meager herbage, bazles should be fed with hay 2 times a day: in the morning and in the evening. Taking into account the fact that gips grow faster than kids and lambs, they need 30% more food. The increased need for food is also explained by the presence of thick wool in animals. The thicker the fur coat of a goat or sheep, the more nutrients are spent on its formation. Basles have the same coat as rams, so they constantly need more food.

In the summer, a herd of sheep, goats or a mixed herd is watered 3 times: in the morning, in the pasture and in the evening. The same drinking regime is observed for sheep and goat hybrids. Bazlam also needs lick s alt.

When stalled, sheep goats include:

hay;
grain;
vegetables;
branch fodder;
s alt lick.

During the winter period, the feeding schedule for hypos is the same as for the rest of the sheep/goat herd.

The daily ration is divided into 3 parts:

give coarse and juicy food in the morning;
at lunch (after drinking) - the daily dose of concentrates;
evening - roughage.

The minimum norm of bean-grass hay per day for a bazl is 3 kilograms. In the hay, you can mix oatmeal, millet chaff, chopped straw. Before being introduced into the feed, they are soaked in water, steamed, chopped vegetables and concentrates are added. The daily dose should not exceed 1.5 kilograms.

Succulent feed contains:

pumpkin;
beets;
potatoes (raw or boiled);
turnip;
rutabaga.

For 1 head they give daily up to 1 kilogram of vegetable mix.

Concentrated foods in hybrid diets include:

grain;
compound feed;
sunflower cake.

Grain concentrates are oats, corn, barley. An adult basle is given up to 1 kilogram of grain per day. For a growing animal, oats are the most useful (up to 300 grams per day). Mineral supplements (s alt, cob alt, copper) - from 10 to 15 grams per day for an adult animal, for a cub - 2 times less.In winter, water is given 2 times a day. Branch feed must be available at all times.

Subtleties of breeding

To get hybrid offspring, a ram and a goat are left in the same paddock when the goat's hunting period begins For goats, this is September-October. In the vast majority of cases, pregnancy in goats spontaneously terminates at 3 months. After an abortion, a goat skips lactation until the next birth.