Merino

The merino is the oldest and most numerous breed of sheep in the world. It is best know for its wool, the finest and softest of any sheep.

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Males have spiral horns, the ewes are generally hornless. The Merino is bred chiefly for its wool, because, though an excellent grazer and very adaptable, it matures slowly and its mutton is generaly of poor quality, excepting the South African Mutton Merino and Merinofleischschaf. The wool is tightly crimped and springy. Staples are commonly 2.5 - 4 inches (65 - 100 mm). A merino produces 7 - 13 lb (4.5 - 6 kg) of unwashed wool in one year

Related Topics:
Horn - Mutton

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Merino wool is generally less than 24.5 micrometers in diameter. Fine merino is less than 21.5 micrometres and extra-fine merino is under 19.5 micrometres.

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The merino is rarely rased in Britain, as the humidity engenders wool rot and cotting, but it predominates in many regions where sheep are bred for their wool rather than their mutton, as in the western United States, Cape Colony, Australia, New Zealand and Argentina. In Australasia, especially in New Zealand, the merino has been crossed with Lincolns, Leicesters, Shropshires and other breeds to improve mutton quality.

Related Topics:
United States - Cape Colony - Australia - New Zealand - Argentina - Australasia - Lincoln - Leicester - Shropshire

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The merino appears to have originated from the crossing of Spanish sheep with Berber races in the 14th and 15th centuries.

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Merino breeders were associated in the Mesta and maintained a monopoly on the race.

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Sheep exportation was forbidden and wool commerce through the ports of the Hermandad de la Marina de Castilla to Flanders and England was a source of income for Castile in the Late Middle Ages.

Related Topics:
Hermandad de la Marina de Castilla - Flanders - England - Late Middle Ages

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However merinos spread over Europe, especially to Austria-Hungary, Germany and France. The best-known breeds are the Rambouillet, a large merino named after the village near Paris, to which it was imported towards the end of the 18th century, and the Negretti, which stands in closer relationship to the old Spanish stock and has shorter wool but a more wrinkled fleece. The so-called American merino, the Delaine, the Vermont and the Rambouillet, are well-known breeds in the United States.

Related Topics:
Austria-Hungary - Germany - France - Rambouillet - Paris - Negretti - American merino - Delaine - Vermont

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The term merino is widely employed in the textile industries with very varied meanings. Originally it was restricted to denote the wool of the merino sheep reared in Spain, but owing to the superiority Australian and New Zealand wools the term now has broader use.

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In the dress-goods and knitting trades the term merino still implies an article made from the very best soft wool. "Merino" is sometimes employed to mean knitwear produced with a special worsted yarn made of 100% wool.

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