The Booroola Merino is a breed of sheep which was originally developed on the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, and is the subject of a continuing development program initiated by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). Booroolas differ from the normal Merino in two important ways. First, their fertility is as high as any breed in the world. The number of lambs born per ewe lambing averages 2.4 with a range from one to six. In crosses with other Merinos this difference is naturally reduced but half-Booroola ewes on average wean about 20 percent more lambs than comparable Merinos under the same conditions. Second, they have the ability to breed at most times of the year, thus extending the breeding season. Research Booroola Merino
The comeback is a type of sheep which was first developed by crossing a British long-wool cross back to the Merino. More recently Comebacks have been produced by crossing breeds such as the Corriedale and Polwarth with the Merino. Australia has approximately three million Comebacks which are mainly concentrated in cool wet areas. Although close to the Merino in type,
Comebacks are selected to maximize production of meat as well as wool. Research Comeback
The Cormo is a breed of sheep that were developed in the earlier part of the 1960's in Tasmania, Australia. To arrive at the current day Cormo rams of the Corriedale breed were crossed with Superfine Saxon Merinos. The name
Cormo is from the names of two of the parent breeds, Corriedale and Merino. Research Cormo
The Gentile di Puglia (Apulian Merino, Merino di Puglia, Improved Apulian, Italian Merino, Merino d' Italia, Merina Gentile) is a fine woolled breed of sheep from southern Italy. Development of this breed began in the 15th century but the primary improvement was from the 18th century onward. The breed was developed from Spanish Merino crossed with the local breeds. Saxony and Rambouillet breed was introduced during the 19th century. Research Gentile di Puglia
The Rambouillet is a breed of sheep developed from the Merino and named after the town of
Rambouillet in north France where the breed originated around 1905. Research Rambouillet
Breeding is the art of improving races or breeds of domestic animals, or modifying them in certain directions, by continuous attention to their pairing, in conjunction with a similar attention to their feeding and general treatment.
Animals (and plants no less) show great susceptibility of modification under systematic cultivation; and there can be no doubt that by such cultivation the sum of desirable qualities in particular races has been greatly increased, and that in two ways. Individual specimens are produced possessing more good qualities than can be found in any one specimen of the original stock; and from the same stock many varieties are taken characterized by different perfections, the germs of all of which may have been in the original stock but could not have been simultaneously developed in a single specimen. But when an effort is made to develop rapidly, or to its extreme limit, any particular quality, it is always made at the expense of some other quality, or of other qualities generally, by which the intrinsic value of the result is necessarily affected. High speed in horses, for example, is only attained at the expense of a sacrifice of strength and power of endurance.
So the celebrated merinosheep are the result of a system of breeding which reduces the general size and vigour of the animal, and diminishes the value of the carcass. Much care and judgment, therefore, are needed in breeding, not only in order to produce a particular effect, but also to produce it with the least sacrifice of other qualities.
Breeding, as a means of improving domestic animals, has been practised more or less systematically wherever any attention has been paid to the care of live stock, and nowhere have more satisfactory results been obtained than in Britain. One of the earliest improvers in Britain was Robert Bakewell, of Dishley, in Leicestershire, who commenced his experiments about 1745, and was very successful, especially with sheep, the celebrated Dishley breed of Leicestershiresheep having since maintained a high reputation. Quantity of meat, smallness of bone, lightness of offal; in cows, yield and quality of milk, in sheep, weight of fleece and fineness of wool, have all been studied with remarkable effects by modern breeders. Research Breeding
Merino is a thin, woollen, twilled cloth that was developed during the 19th century from the wool of the Merino sheep to produce outdoor clothing. Research Merino
Canestrato Pugliese is an Italian traditional farmhouse hard cheese made from un-pasteurised sheep's milk from sheep of the Merino or Apulian Gentile breeds in the Foggia region. Research Canestrato Pugliese
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Booroola Merino
