Our Sheep | Pine Lane Farm Karakuls

Pine Lane Farm Karakuls

The Sheep: Pictures were chosen to reflect certain bloodlines, unique characteristics, and breed diversity. They represent some of our stud rams and select breeding ewe stock. While these animals are not for sale, arrangements can be made to purchase offspring from these sheep. Occasionally lambs available "for sale" will be listed under PLF Karakul Lambs. Please contact us if you would like to talk about adding our lambs to your flock, we can make arrangements to bring them to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, NAILE in Louisville, KY, or any of the other shows we might be attending. Sheep "for sale" can also be seen at our farm by appointment.
*PLF Karakul Ewes*	*PLF Karakul Rams*	*PLF Karakul Lambs*

We have pure individuals from Dawley, Ponté, Baylis/Koch/Glotfelty, and Hagerman bloodlines in our flock. Plus we offer 19 years of Karakul breeding and selection experience. Offspring from our flock have been consistent blue ribbon winners all across the country. While Fall (September-October) is our favorite time to lamb, we also lamb in January-February.

Helga's last lamb,
PLF Montezuma's Hudson

In Memory of Helga

On January 26, 2002 I tearfully buried Helga. It was a beautiful spring like afternoon, just 3 days after giving me her last lamb. When she died I put her on my sled and pulled her out to the back pasture where my husband had started a hole with the tractor up on a little rise. There, in the unusually warm sunshine as I dug with the shovel, Helga and I had our last little talk. She was the daughter of our very first Karakul, Beulah. Born here in 1988, Helga gave us over 28 lambs during her 14 years. The few times she didn't twin she made up for by having triplets or twinning twice in one year. Many of her lambs were Champions at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival over the years. I still have 5 of her daughters in my flock, and PLF Montez' Hudson the beautiful seal brown ram lamb she left me to bottle feed will remain here as a legacy to both Helga and her breed.

Genetic Challenges

Our pure Dawley Karakuls are registered under the Historic Flock designation in the American Karakul Sheep Registry (AKSR). There are only 5 ewes and one ram left of this flock residing at Pine Lane Farm.

Being the custodians of a rare blood line has its heartaches and challenges. Inbreeding is evident and has left its toll. This bloodline has very strong and distinctive heritable traits that, in our estimation, are valuable and beneficial to the preservation of the Karakul breed in this country. These elegant traits provide the diversity so needed in a rare breed to keep it strong. That so-called 'hybrid vigor' is realized when a Dawley is crossed with one of the other bloodlines, then the rewards are reaped and the breed as a whole improved.

So we have learned about the hazards of inbreeding: the diminutive size, blindness, immune deficiencies, these we can endure, but the most heartbreaking trait is decreased fertility. We struggle and celebrate each new birth knowing that it may well be the last. And what a loss that will be....

Breeding Lines

Hagerman tells of a certain imported ram long ago who carried a very strong gene for white-polls, he produced many black lambs with white polls. Our old ewe, Panda, comes from such a line. Panda and her daughters produce lambs with a distinctive white spot on the poll. Lyle McNeal relates that the Navajo Indians consider a white poll to be touched by the 'hand of God'. We think they are special too.

We offer Dawleys crossed with other old, Karakul bloodlines such as Bud Hagerman (NM), Ponté (CA), Frank Baylis (VA), Caren Glotfelty (PA), and Karen Koch (OH). These animals can provide added diversity and strength in your own flock. Contact us about adding to your flock, or even starting it, with our beautiful, elegant, correct, fat-tailed sheep.

Our lambs are all registered shortly after birth with the Karakul Shepards Alliance. We specialize in replacement rams, and also sell ewe lambs and breeding groups. Each picture above will take you to a page of our rams, ewes, or lambs.

Some of the colors of our Karakul wools.

This shows the wide range
of fleece colors in our flock,
from pure white to jet black,
with everything in between.

Selection Criteria

We select for breeding stock, individuals with correct feet, straight legs, typical Karakul conformation, and classic horns. Individuals not meeting our high standards are used to satisfy our freezer lamb or ethnic customers, the pelts from these lambs are dried and tanned by Bucks County Fur Products.

We show our sheep at the Karakul Gatherings, Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in May, and Michigan Fiber Festival in August.

For more information about Karakuls, visit the Karakul Shepards Alliance. The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy offers information about rare breeds of farm animals and the work going into saving these bloodlines.

Pine Lane Farm Karakuls

The Sheep: