Garole Sheep – Bi-annual lambing

Garole, a precious sheep breed from West Bengal an eastern province of India, is having some outstanding genetic potentiality such as high fecundity and lambing frequency. Its prolificacy, lambing frequency, disease resistance and other extraordinary merits is rarely observed in any other sheep breeds of the world.

Garole Sheep

Garole weighs around 12-15Kgs in adult, It has a special gene Booroola fecundity commonly named as ‘FecB’ gene which makes it more prolific than the world famous Booroola-Merino sheep as compared to the large litter size due to same gene.

The FecB gene was originally named after the south-east Australian farm where it was first identified. Garole sheep are able to live in wet conditions of the delta which typically lead to foot rot in other breeds, suggesting a genetic resistance to some parasitic infections.

As the area is coastal and saline other agricultural activity is not well adopted hence this sheep provide principal source of income during agriculturally lean period.

I was able to capture photos of this species on a bird watching trail , & was briefed on the spot by my friend Sujol from Kolkatta who had accompanied us for the entire Sundabans tour. Otherwise i too had thought it was a just a ordinary “Kuri Kuri” (sheep)  🙂 .

PS: The above image is not a Garole lamb,  The Young ones are called Garole Ewe (Sometimes it may be black or the creamish too )