Breeding Directions

While you read the text at the top of these pages photographs of sheep are downloading below.

Merinos bred in America and merinos bred in Australia have been selected and classed for different purposes and different markets. The American merino was selected for lamb production while the Australian merino was selected for wool production.

The historical merino was developed hundreds of years ago in Europe primarily to produce quality fine wool. During the 18th and 19th centuries, when the world was being actively colonized by humans and their domestic animals, merinos were exported to both America and Australia, thereby geographically dividing the merino gene pool.

They call it Ovation from the Latin ovis.

Plutarch, Marcellus

Today, the genetic differences between the Australian and American merino can be explained by looking at the markets that have been available to breeders in both countries. Traditionally, the American merino breeder had an easily accessible domestic market to sell lamb; he received more money for his lambs than he did for his wool so he selected his merino for lamb production over wool production. His merino became larger, growthier and more prolific while its wool languished, diminishing in both quality and quantity. There was no economic reason to select for better wool because the market did not reward him for doing so.

The Australian merino breeder had different market dynamics with which to contend. His market was defined by his distance from lamb and wool  markets and his region's demographics. In 1994 Australia had an estimated population of 18 million people, at the same time the population of the United States was estimated to be 260 million. In Australia both lamb and wool easily over supply their domestic demands. However wool production offered the Australian producer an advantage. Wool was not as perishable as lamb, it could be shorn, stored and shipped to distant markets.

Don2.JPG (12134 bytes)

"Don", a Spanish Merino, c.1790

Consequently, the Australian merino breeder selected his sheep to produce wool in the native environment.  There was no incentive for him to produce lamb for market, so carcass, growth and prolificacy traits were all but ignored. The Australians wanted a carefree, 'low-input' sheep that could produce quality wool inexpensively. The merino and its breeder in America and in Australia were adapted to their best available markets. Because of the geographical and political trade barriers, the merino gene pools remained isolated from one another.  The  selection pressures imposed by the divergent markets emphasized the genetic and phenotypic differences between the American and Australian merinos remarkably.

Many Australians consider their merinos to be a 'national treasure'. Until 1986 export of all merino genetic material was banned for this very reason. At the insistence of major stud merino breeders the government permitted the export of a limited number live rams and their semen to other countries. Because of the opposition, this relaxation of export regulations would be a trial with  limited numbers of rams and for a limited time. Only male genetics were to be exported; ewes and embryos were restricted and continue to be so.

Taking advantage of this situation, I purchased five superfine rams in the early 1990's and acquired semen from nine others.

Currently, I am breeding the Australian rams to American merino ewes that I acquired in Texas and Nevada. The ewes are larger, have better carcass characteristics and are more prolific than their Australian counterparts. The goal is to breed an animal that has the excellence of the Australian merino in the wool it produces and the efficiency of the American merino in the lamb it produces.

Soon, I hope to present some production data derived from Lambplan and other sources that will demonstrate the progress being made at Catskill Merino.

 

Introduction || History & Breeding || Rams || References