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Changthangi sheep (pashmina-yielding)

Changthangi is a high-altitude, dual-coat sheep breed of the Changthang plateau of eastern Ladakh, registered with the ICAR National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR). Although the Changthangi name is more familiar as a pashmina goat, the breed designation also covers the indigenous cold-arid sheep reared by Changpa pastoralists alongside their goats and yaks. The sheep produce a fine, hairy under-fleece that contributes to the local pashmina/carpet-wool economy.

Origin and distribution

The breeding tract lies above 4,000 m in the Changthang plateau, covering Leh, Nyoma, Durbuk, Chushul, Hanle and the adjoining Tibetan border belt of Ladakh. The Changpa nomads maintain mixed flocks of sheep, pashmina goats and yaks under a year-round transhumant system, moving between alpine summer pastures and lower-elevation winter shelters. ICAR-CSWRI Avikanagar and the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir run targeted survey and improvement work in the tract.

Morphology

Changthangi sheep are small, compact and well-adapted to the cold-arid plateau. The coat is dense and double, with a coarse outer hair layer and a finer, soft inner down that overlaps in character with the goat-derived pashmina fibre. Coat colour is variable — white, grey, brown and black are all recorded. Both sexes carry horns; the muzzle is short and the legs are short and stocky. Adult body weight averages 30-35 kg in rams and 25-28 kg in ewes.

Performance

Lambing is single, with an annual lambing interval and age at first lambing of 24-30 months. Annual greasy fleece yield is around 1.0-1.2 kg per shearing, with one or two clippings per year. The fibre is coarser than true merino but finer than typical carpet-wool breeds, and is used locally for hand-woven blankets, namdas and felted boots. Mutton from cull animals enters the local subsistence economy rather than the national fattening market.

Management

Flocks graze the open Changthang pastures during the short summer and are stall-fed in stone-walled winter pens on stored hay and oat straw. PPR vaccination (Ppr Vaccination Detailed) under the National Animal Disease Control Programme and structured small-ruminant vaccination (Small Ruminant Vaccination Schedule) anchor the herd-health calendar. Cold-stress mortality of lambs in the first 30 days and predation by snow leopard and wolves are the principal production losses.

Sources

Changthangi — NBAGR breed descriptor. ICAR-National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources.
Sheep Husbandry in Cold Arid Ladakh. ICAR-Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute, Avikanagar.