Merino

The Merino is a wool sheep that originated in Spain, and today it is reared across most of the major sheep tracts of the world. Its fleece is the finest produced by any common sheep breed, with individual fibres considerably thinner than those found in meat breeds or carpet wool types. This fineness explains why the breed has been guarded, traded and improved upon for centuries.

A Merino is medium in size, and both ewes and rams carry a dense fleece over most of the body. Many strains show loose folds of skin, particularly around the neck, which add to the wool bearing surface. The breed copes well with dry, open country as well as improved pasture, a hardiness that took it to Australia, South Africa, South America and the western United States. Merino blood has also gone into cross breeding programmes in India, where rams of the breed have been used to lift wool fineness in local sheep such as Nali and Chokla.

Temperament is one of the breed's real strengths on the ground. Merinos are gentle, calm and even tempered, so large flocks are easier to gather, shear and handle than more nervous types. They are herd animals that stay close together and settle down quickly once a routine is set.

Who should keep a Merino

The Merino suits keepers whose chief interest is wool, from commercial fine wool growers to hand spinners after soft fibre. It rewards an owner who can manage regular shearing, decent pasture and steady parasite and foot care. Its placid nature also makes it workable for smallholders, provided the heavy coat and the fly strike risk that comes with a hot, humid monsoon are taken seriously.

The Merino developed in Spain, where fine wool sheep were kept in large migratory flocks through the Middle Ages. Spanish wool became one of the country's leading exports, and the flocks behind it were managed under an organised system of seasonal movement between summer and winter grazing grounds.

For a long stretch, taking breeding stock out of Spain was tightly controlled, since the value of the wool depended on keeping the best animals at home. This restriction made the breed both sought after and genuinely hard to obtain elsewhere in Europe.

From the eighteenth century, small numbers of Spanish sheep were sent abroad, to parts of Europe and later to the southern hemisphere. These founder animals were used to build fresh national flocks. Australia in particular grew into a major centre of Merino breeding, and selection there produced strains suited to dry rangeland and large scale wool growing. Merino genetics later reached the Indian subcontinent too, mainly through government breeding farms set up to improve the fineness of indigenous wool.

Over the years, breeders in different regions developed distinct types, varying in body size, skin folding and fleece weight, while holding on to the trait that defines the breed: genuinely fine wool. The Merino remains the base of fine wool production in many countries even today.

The Merino carries a compact, medium sized body on comparatively short legs, with a deep, dense fleece covering most of the animal. The wool is white and finely crimped, growing over the body, much of the legs and, in many animals, part of the face. Several strains carry loose folds of skin, most visible on the neck, which increase the wool bearing area further.

Horns differ by sex and strain. Rams of some types grow large spiral horns, while others are naturally polled; ewes are usually hornless or carry only small horns. The face tends to be clean skinned and pale, though it can be partly hidden by wool growth around the eyes.

Coat and colours

The fleece is what defines this breed. Merino wool ranks among the finest of any sheep, with thin fibres that give it a soft handle prized by textile mills and hand spinners alike. The fleece is dense and even, with a regular crimp that adds spring to the yarn. Standard Merino wool is white, so it takes dye readily after processing. Heavy wool growth on the face can lead to wool blindness in some animals, and many breeders now select against excessive facial cover to guard against this.

The Merino has a name for being calm and easy going. The breed is gentle and good natured, and the animals are, on the whole, simpler to move and manage than more highly strung types. This steadiness counts for a great deal in large flocks, where quick mustering and quiet behaviour at shearing time save labour and keep stress on the sheep to a minimum.

Merinos are firmly herd animals and prefer to stay together as a group; a sheep left on its own soon becomes anxious, so they should never be kept alone. Around familiar handlers they settle in fast and accept routine jobs such as drenching, foot trimming and shearing without much fuss.

The breed is not aggressive towards people, though rams of horned strains call for careful handling during the breeding season. They get along well with other grazing livestock and show no territorial streak. Guardian dogs are commonly used to protect flocks from predators rather than to manage behaviour within the group.

Merinos need steady management centred on the fleece and the feet. The wool does not shed on its own, so shearing is not optional. The dense coat also leaves them more open to fly strike than smooth coated breeds, which means hygiene at the rear end and timely shearing matter through the year, and especially so during a hot, humid monsoon.

Grooming

• Shear at least once a year; some flocks shear twice, depending on climate and how fast the wool grows.
• Crutch (trim wool around the rear and udder) between shearings to cut down dung build up and fly strike risk.
• Check the fleece often for signs of strike, particularly in warm, wet weather.
• Watch for wool blindness where the face is heavily wooled, and trim around the eyes if needed.

Exercise

• Give daily access to grazing so the flock can move and forage as it would naturally.
• Rotate pasture to keep feed quality up and worm burden down.
• Leave enough space for the whole flock to move together, since Merinos travel as one group.

Environment

Merinos manage well in dry, open country and cope with a fair range of climates, though a long humid spell raises fly strike risk considerably. They need clean water at all times, shade during hot weather, and shelter from cold wind and rain, particularly right after shearing when the fleece no longer insulates. Secure fencing and good drainage in the yard go a long way towards preventing foot trouble.

Being ruminants, Merinos are built to live on pasture and other forage. Good grazing meets most of their needs for the greater part of the year. Feed demand climbs during late pregnancy and lactation, and during dry spells when pasture quality drops off. At such times hay, silage or grain based supplements are brought in to close the gap. Clean water must be available at all times, and intake rises with heat and with milk production, so troughs need extra attention through a hot summer.

Mineral balance matters for health as well as for wool quality. Sheep on poor or restricted pasture may need mineral supplementation, and copper especially has to be handled with care, since sheep tolerate very little excess of it.

Treats and supplements

Use supplements sparingly and always alongside forage, never in its place. Sheep specific mineral licks or loose minerals correct local deficiencies without upsetting the diet. A sudden switch to a high grain ration can cause digestive upset, so any concentrate ought to be brought in gradually. Wool growth and fleece quality both respond better to steady, adequate nutrition than to occasional rich feeding.

Merinos are, on the whole, hardy sheep that cope with demanding climates. Given good management they commonly live 10 to 12 years, though the productive breeding life is usually shorter than that. Most health trouble in the breed traces back to the same sources that affect sheep in general: internal parasites, foot disease and skin conditions linked to the fleece. The dense Merino coat brings a particular risk of fly strike and, in some animals, wool blindness, both of which need watching closely through a humid monsoon.

Preventive care

• Base the parasite control plan on faecal testing rather than routine blanket drenching.
• Trim and check feet regularly and keep the yard dry, particularly through the rains.
• Crutch and shear on schedule to bring down fly strike risk.
• Keep vaccinations up to date for the clostridial diseases common in your area.
• Provide suitable minerals and avoid any excess of copper.

Merinos reach breeding maturity within their first year, though ewes are commonly joined once well grown rather than at the earliest possible age. Many Merino strains breed to a season, with mating timed so that lambs arrive in suitable weather rather than in the thick of the monsoon. Rams run with the ewes for a fixed joining period, and ewe condition at mating has a strong bearing on how many actually conceive.

Gestation runs to about five months. A Merino ewe most often produces a single lamb, twins being less common than in some breeds kept chiefly for meat; the lambing rate varies with strain, nutrition and management. Ewes are, as a rule, attentive mothers, and lambs are up and suckling soon after birth.

Raising the young comes down to keeping newborn lambs safe from cold and from predators, seeing that they get colostrum early, and keeping ewes in good condition through lactation. Lambs are weaned after a few months. In breeding programmes, selection weighs wool fineness and fleece weight against fertility, growth and overall constitution, so the flock stays productive without losing its hardiness.