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This traditional Karakachan breed of sheep was once plentiful in Bulgaria. In the early 20th Century there were 500,000 and by the late 1950s, when farms were nationalized, the number had shrunk to 160,000. Today there are only about 400.
The sheep are small, about 57 cm (1.87 feet) at the withers, with short and thin tails. The wool is coarse and long - up to 40 cm (15,4 inches) and the color changes with age, becoming lighter. When young the animal is black, then brown, and ends up with almost grey fur. Sider and Atila Sedefchev from SEMPERVIVA - the Bulgarian nature protection organization that specializes in the conservation of endangered local breeds - started the project to save the Karakachan breed dog in 1992. It is one of the oldest European breeds in Europe and was used to guard livestock - mainly sheep - and protect them from wolves and bears in the high mountains. While searching for these dogs, the sheep were discovered, as well as a traditional breed of Karakachan horses. These workhorses are used to carry baggage, traveling the dangerously narrow and high rocky paths. The Karakachans, Balkan nomadic people who were livestock breeders, are thought to be descendants of the ancient Thracian livestock breeding communities located in the high mountains of Bulgaria.
Each sheep produces about 50-60 liters of milk per season. The milk is very rich (fat content of 6.5 to 8%) and high quality. About 20 kilos of white cheese, called Sirene, are made each day, 400 kilos each year. Yogurt, which originated in Bulgaria, is also made each day. The sheep are milked twice a day. The milk is immediately filtered through a cloth and rennet added (lamb or kid). A lid is placed on the container for about two-and-a-half hours as the curd forms. It is cut with a knife then left for another half hour. The young cheese is placed in a special fabric and then in a small cloth-lined wooden crate made from the wood of a Balkan endemic tree called Macedonian Pine. The cheese is covered with the fabric, the lid put on the crate, and something heavy, usually stones, is placed on top. The cheese is then left to dry for four-to-eight hours, depending on the weather.
When dry the cheese is firm to the touch. It is then cut into tile-size pieces (about 12 cm), salted with large-grained sea salt, stacked one on top of the other in large tin or plastic barrels and closed with a lid. The brine forms and the next days the barrel is opened and topped off with the whey mixed with salt. To make the traditional Bulgarian Yogurt - called Kiselo mleko - fresh milk is boiled, left to cool down to body temperature and then the original Lactobacillus bulgaricus is used.

Unique breed, thank you for posting this.
I learned some things about the Karakachan that I did not know.....

KH

Most educational.....and made me hungry! Thanks for posting this!

lgdnevada you could make Bulgarian yogurt for yourself and alone.You just need fresh milk and a cup of real Bulgarian yogurt.Japan for example make that yogurt from a long time(unfortunately to day 99.5% of the yogurt in the shops in Bulgaria is not real yogurt in fact).The milk hed to be boiled and then when it is became about 45 degrees centigrade you have to take 2-4 full soup spoons of yogurt by the litre of milk.Put the milk in a jar(glass or ceramics) then add the 2-4 s.s.yogurt mix it,cover it and put the jar in a plastic bag and cover it with something more as a part of a blanket,old jacket or what you have but it must stay at warmly.In the room where the jar is the temperature should be not less then 16-17 degrees centigrade.I for one leave it to stay covered for one night(some people shorter for 4-5 hours) and then it shoud stay in the fridge or an other cool place.After 2-4 hours in the fridge it is ready.If the yogurt is made from sheep or buffalo milk it could be very thick.More fat milk more thick yogurt.

We make our own yogurt too... we use Greek yogurt as starter. I bought my husband a yogurt maker a couple years back and it's great. Heats yourgurt mix overnight in a warm water bath...makes a couple quarts.
We also used to make ours in a ar ontop of the refridgerator... guess we got old and lazy now....LOL

This breed sounds very interesting, I like the milking breeds, have never owned any my self, but have milked many ewes, especially when I was still working with range sheep. Lambing time gave oportunity for sheeps milk for morning coffee and rice pudding, Basque lambing camps always rice pudding being a big hit, Basque sheepherders like good rice pudding and sheeps milk is perfect for it, rich and sweet, you bet.

I had Icelandic's back when I had sheep.....I really liked them triple purpose, milk, meat, and fiber. Amazing colors, and very yummy. They are also much closer to goat's in their grazing styles, very handy when you are on not so perfect pasture, they will not only readily eat but thrive on graze many of the more common sheep can not tolerate. I will get them again, they go great with the goat's.http://www.isbona.com/icelandicsheep.html