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(410) South African Merino

1. General breed information

Species:	Sheep
Breed Name/Strain :	South African Merino
Common Name/Synonym:	Multi-horned Merino
Breed Group Name:	Fine Wool Sheep
Group Origin:
This group constitutes the Merino and its derivatives in South Africa. The recorded first appearance of Merino in Africa was in 1789 when two Spanish Merino rams and four ewes were introduced. The government established a Merino stud in 1804, and more Merinos were imported by the British after 1806. The Merino population grew fast soon after because of the developing fine wool industry, which now makes South Africa one of the leading countries on the world fine wool production. Because of the influence of developments in Europe since the Roman Empire, the sheep wool industry developed much better in the northern African countries than those in sub-Saharan Africa. In the rest of Africa, wool has never been of major economic importance. The fat-tailed sheep that entered East Africa (in small numbers) by way of southern Arabia have become considerably mixed with sheep of the original hairy thin-tailed type (Ryder, 1984).
Breed Origin :
The Merino is originally from Spain; at present major strongholds of the wool Merino are Australia and Argentina, and that of mutton Merino is Germany.
Main Location:
Large populations of Merino are found in South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Kenya; the climate is semi-arid to subhumid, the latter mainly at medium to high altitudes in Kenya and Lesotho; the management systems are ranching and agro-pastoral (Wilson, 1991).
Special Characteristic:
Body size is small to large (40 kg in Zimbabwe and 30 kg in Lesotho for females); conformation and production are variable.

2. trait data

2.1 18 Months Weight (kg)

No.	Sex	Mean	SD	SE	Sample Size	Location of Study	Management Condition	Source
1	Ewe	42.8		0.05	1616	Grootfontein Agricultural Developmen Institute, South Africa.	On station.(Grootfontein Merino.)	(1957)
2	Ewe	32		0.04	2234	On Carnarvon Experimental station, south African.	On station.	(1957)
3	Overall	51		0.84		Tygerhoek Exprimental farm, Riviersondered, in the southwestern cape, South Africa.	On station.(In 1971.)	(1331)
4	Overall	47.12		0.09		The same as above	On station.(In 1972.)	(1331)
5	Overall	49.2		0.65		The same as above.	On station.(In 1973)	(1331)
6	Overall	46.72		0.76		The same as above.	On station.(In 1974)	(1331)
7	Overall	49.51		0.79		The same as above.	On station.(In 1975.)	(1331)
8	Overall	53.14		0.64		The same as above	On station.(In 1976.)	(1331)
9	Overall	48.67		0.74		The same as above	On station.(In 1977.)	(1331)
10	Overall	50.79		0.9		The same as above.	On station.(In 1978.)	(1331)
11	Overall	45.32		0.53		The same as above.	On station.(In 1979.)	(1331)
12	Overall	51.57		0.76		The same as above	On station.(In 1980.)	(1331)
13	Overall	46.5		0.58		The same as above	On station.(In 1981.)	(1331)
14	Ewe	62				South-western Cape province in the district of Bredasdrop, South Africa.	On farm.(On farm A.)	(2009)
15	Ewe	59.1				The same as above	On farm.(On farm B)	(2009)
16	Ewe	62.6				The same as above	On farm.(On farm C)	(2009)
17	Ewe	63.2				The same as above.	On farm(On Farm D)	(2009)
18	Ewe	65.3				The same as above	On farm.(On farm E)