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Gissar breed of sheep is the treasure and pride of the peoples of Tajikistan!
     Gissar sheep are of ancient origin and, by their significance, belong to a modern cultural breed, with a highly specialized meat and tallow productivity. It was created back in the XIII-XIV centuries by the efforts of a number of generations of people living in Tajikistan. The “Gissar” breed got its name from the area where it was bred, i.e. "Gissar Valley".
Back in 1298, the famous traveler Marco Pollo, characterized the Gissar sheep and noted: “The sheep body is as a donkey, their tails are thick, large and in a different weight of about thirty pounds. Glorious, fat sheep with tasty meat”.
Gissar sheep are the pride of the Tajik nation and the face of the fat-tailed sheep of the world.

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                                       Stud ram of Gissar breed
Gissar sheep are the pride of the Tajik nation and the face of the fat-tailed sheep of the world
In 1912, Gissar sheep were demonstrated in Tsarist Russia, at the All-Russian Agricultural Exhibition of Sheep in Moscow, and rightly received high praise for their large size and large body weight.
It should be noted that for the first time the Gissar breed of sheep was described in 1916-1928 by N.P. Chirvinskim and V.B. Elagin, but it was studied in more detail only in 1927-1928 in Tajikistan by the expedition of the Moscow Zootechnical Institute. The results of the work of the expedition under the guidance of the famous scientists: M.F. Ivanov, professor and P.N. Kuleshov, professor were published by S. G. Azarov in 1928 in the monograph “Gissar sheep” and in 1930 in the section “Gissar sheep” in the book by S. G. Azarov and O. I. Brigis “Sheep breeding in Tajikistan”.
Then M.A. Ermekov., S.G. Davydov., P.F. Kiyatkin., (1935,1952,1968) L.P. Butikov (1975) and others expressed their opinion on the sheep of the Gissar breed.
It was noted at the beginning of the monograph "The Gissar Sheep”, written by S.G. Azarov in 1928, according to the expedition of the Moscow Zootechnical Institute, under the guidance of famous scientists, professors: M.F. Ivanov and P. N. Kuleshov that in reality, this is a rare breed of sheep which was already highly valued. During the activity of this expedition, 30 thousand sheep were studied and evaluated, of which 616 sheep were studied individually. The live weight of rams of producers was 115-130 kg. However, in the course of the expedition, the scientists of the institute found 3 rams, the live weight of which was 196 kg.
It should be emphasized that in the direction of improving the breeding and productive qualities of the Gissar breed of sheep, a scientific breeding research was started by scientists from the Department of Breeding and Sheep Breeding Technology of the Tajik Research Institute, which was established in 1931 as the first scientific and experimental station for animal husbandry in the Republic and these researches are ongoing to present time.
At the moment, the number of sheep of the Gissar breed in Tajikistan is more than 1.7 million head. It is bred by 7 breeding plants and farms. Due to the largest live weight in the world, the current breeding area of ​​the Gissar sheep is not limited in Tajikistan. In various years, sheep of the Gissar breed were exported from Tajikistan to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and in recent years to Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, where they are successfully bred to this present time.

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                             Ram - producers of the Gissar breed of Parkhar plant

The best population of Gissar sheep is located in the large breeding plant "Gissar" of the Parkhar district, the Unitary State Enterprise "Zotparvar" of the city of Gissar, the Production Cooperative "Somonjon" of the Dangara district and the Production Cooperative "Dilshod-B" of the Varzob district and in a number of other farms of the country. These farms play a leading role in breeding and distribution of highly productive breeding sheep. Thus, for example, as a result of many years of creative research, in close cooperation with production workers, a new plant type “Parkharsky”, was created at the Gissar breeding plant.

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                                   Herd of Gissar breed sheep in winter pasture
This type was approved and registered in the State Register of Breeding Achievements of the State Committee for Inventions and Discoveries of the former USSR in 1989. In the order of the State Agro-Industrial Committee of the USSR dated 02.08.1989 No. 58 - PK-2 “On new plant type of the Gissar breed of sheep” it was noted that the sheep of the new plant type are of large size, the average live weight of rams is 135-140 kg, ewes 85-90 kg, lambs and ewes weaning in 3.5 - 4 months age, respectively, 40 - 43 kg and 35 – 39 kg, and at 1.5  year of age - 85 - 72 kg. In the herd for each ewe, on average, up to 50 kg of lamb in live weight is produced and the average daily gain of young animals in fattening reaches 227 gramms.
At present, in two breeding farms of the Republic of Tajikistan by the efforts of scientists and specialists of the country's sheep breeders, selection work has been completed to create a new plant breed called "Shakhrinavskaya". The breeding part of the created type is characterized by the following productivity parameters: live weight of sires is 135-145 kg, and for the best ones up to 175 kg, womb is 85-90 kg, and for the best ones is up to 135 kg. Sheep of this type, along with high live weight, are characterized by good wool and barrel-shaped body type.

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           Breeding rams of the "Shakhrinavskaya" type of the Gissar breed in a winter pasture
The contribution of sheep of the Gissar breed is great in increasing the productivity of fat-tailed sheep and creating new breeds in the countries of Central Asia and Kazakhstan. So, for example, with the participation of sheep of the Gissar breed, the Tajik meat-lard-wool breed of sheep was created in Tajikistan, in Kazakhstan - the Ordabasinskaya breed, the Aktyubinskaya semi-fine fleece fat-tailed breed, in Kyrgyzstan - the Aikolskaya breed, as well as tail-tailed merinos, in Uzbekistan – Ustyurtskii meat - lard - woolly sheep, as well as the Keles and Andijan types of fat-tailed sheep. They continue to work to the present type.
The School of Sheep Breeders of Tajikistan has been a leading school in the region since 1947. Thanks to painstaking work and scientific research, more than 30 doctoral and Phd theses have been defended. Among them, Doctor of Sciences, Professors such as: Lebedov I.G., Farsykhanov S.I., Khayitov A.Kh., Rakhimov Sh.T., Juraeva U.Sh. Phd of Sciences Osipov V.A., Huseynov A.M., Boev A., Orifov O., Safaraliev G., Ikromov F.M., Bobokalonov I.I., Radzhabov N.A., Otaeva M., Davlatov Kh. K., Turdyqulov T. and many others.
Considering this issue, we want to remind that the Gissar breed of sheep is a national treasure and pride of the Tajik people, which was created by many years of work of several generations of livestock breeders in Tajikistan.

In this context, we would like to point out:
  - we welcome and respect the work of scientists and specialists, farmers of neighboring countries using the Gissar sheep breed in improving existing and creating new types and breeds of sheep;
- we support the further expansion of the breeding area of ​​the Gissar sheep;
- we ready to conduct an international or regional symposiums, conferences on topical issues of animal husbandry
In this regard, we earnestly ask and urge scientists, specialists, farmers, as well as all those who breed sheep of the Gissar breed, to mutually recognize the breeding achievements of scientists and specialists from neighboring republics and prevent the renaming of the names of breeds and types of farm animals created by the works of scientists and specialists from the respective republics
So, for example, we were surprised on information placed in the Internet about a new breed created in Kyrgyzstan which is called "Arashan". It would be more fair to give the sheep the name "Arashan type of the sheep of the Gissar breed of Kyrgyzstan" with the suitable genetic structure. At the same time, we did not see there a single scientist or a specialist in sheep breeding in Kyrgyzstan.
 For these reasons, henceforth we call on the responsible departments and persons of the Commonwealth countries to exchange information when approving breeding achievements in animal husbandry.

Sincerely, scientists - sheep breeders
Tajikistan:                                                               
Rakhimov Sh.T., Ikromov F.M.,                     
                                                                                      Davlatov H.K., Radjabov N.A.,
                                                                                     Nabotov S.K., Bobokalonov I.I.,
                                                         Otaeva M.



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