Habitat: Found in Musakhail district of northeastern Balochistan and the main tribe of the breed is Musakhail as indicated by the name. Moreover, the breed is also raised by Marghzani, Zamri and Issot and Jaffar tribes of Musakhail district.
Phenotypic characteristics: The breed is larger in size compared to Bybrik sheep breed. The tail is wide and a bit long (called as hanging tail), therefore, accumulate more fats. The head of the sheep is larger and wider. The wool is shorter in length like that of Bybrik. This breed is more attractive for the trader because of its meat demand.
The distinctive characteristics of the breed are long hair in the base of the horn. Spotted ears, black spots on wool and skin on the rump area, are the prominent feature of the breed.
Vegetation: Vegetation highly like by Musakhaili sheep is comprised of Khuriasa, Ozi, Viza, Paha, Saba, Zangi, Barawa and Barvaza etc. The vegetation is different in different season and topography.
Population: The population size of the breed is almost 2.9 million and the trend is increasing.
Special Traits:
- Can climb on high mountains and consume the inaccessible vegetation
- Get more weight in short duration and fill the tail with fats very fastly, hence can resist the dry period
- Good response to stall feeding and grains offer
- The wool is thin in density (Khalaswargi) and is good to resist high temperature
- Consume bushy vegetation when there is scarcity of grasses
The meat drying process (landi)
Economic Importance: The breed is not only raise for family subsistence. The breed has very high economic returns by selling male animals at the age of 8 months. The animal has high trader preference and mostly reaches to the market of Iran and even Middle East. The local consumers like the meat and use this breed for the persenda making (Landi)Persenda~Dry Meat Cousine of Pashtun Afghan, The crop reaches early in the market because of the early breeding season. The milk of the breed is not use for family needs but allow to the lambs. The wool has no higher economic importance and is mainly send to the market of Punjab province and is usually use in the carpet industry.
