Alai is a breed of domesticated sheep found in Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...

. This breed is a dual purpose breed raised for its meat and wool

Wool

Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....

.

Characteristics

Rams can be either horned or polled (hornless). However, ewes are only polled.

The wool is white with occasional spots on their legs and heads. The wool is semi-coarse and used in carpet. On average rams are 83 cm (32.7 in) at the withers and weigh about 100 kg (220.5 lb). Ewes, on average, are 82 kg (180.8 lb) at the withers, weighs 60 kg (132.3 lb) and has a little over one lamb per litter.

The Alai is a fat rump breed and is specifically adapted to living conditions of the Alay Valley

Alay Valley

The Alay Valley is a broad, dry valley running east-west across most of southern Osh Province, Kyrgyzstan. . It is about 180km east-west and about 40km north-south and 2500-3500m in altitude. The north side is the Alay Mountains which slope down to the Ferghana Valley...

region (above 3 km (1.9 mi) above sea level). From 1992 to 2002, the population of Alai in Kyrgyzstan has decreased from 300,000 to 200,000.