Now that I have written about the origins of the Merino in Spain, I am moving onto the rest of the world and their "Merino" sheep. Whilst researching I have read stories of historically well-known figures being behind attempts to smuggle Merino sheep from Spain into their own countries and there was one story that made me laugh out loud when Spanish farmers were involved in one of these attempts and deliberately sent local Churro sheep to the USA instead of the desired Merino and this famous historical figure was unaware of this hoodwink and was bragging that he had obtained some Spanish Merino sheep at a time when it was illegal to export them from Spain. That served himself right.
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| Delaine Merino - USA, this strain has smoother skin than many other strains of "improved" Merino |
After the exportation ban was lifted and people legally getting their grubby little hands on some Merino sheep from Spain that they had been desperate to obtain for so many years, so that they didn't have to pay Spain for their much-sought-after fine fleece but could breed their own much more cheaply, some of these countries bred the Merinos to make more and also crossbred them with their own native sheep to create new breeds and produced wool for their own countries. Other countries took the breeding of these sheep to a whole new level, both in the number of sheep and also the so-called "improvement" that they made to the breed which means that certain strains of Merino can grow fleece so ridiculously heavy that they weigh up to 3 times that of the original breed and there are health issues with these strains.
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| Booroola Merino - Australia |
Merino sheep have baggy skin and some strains have been developed to have really, really baggy skin. This is where the health and welfare issues of this breed comes in. Loose baggy skin has layers and folds which cause sweat and in turn this attracts flies, flies lay eggs, eggs hatch into maggots and the maggots feed on the sheep's skin and flesh. This is called Flystrike and can be fatal if not caught and chemically treated with insecticides and other medications quick enough.
Why have some of the Merinos been developed to have really really baggy skin? Quite simply it comes down to being able to make more money per sheep for their fleece because baggy skinned sheep grow bigger fleeces and some of these fleece can weigh up to 18kg, a vast increase from the original 4-5kg.
Merinos grow large quantities of dense, fine wool with regular crimp patterns. The high density of Merino wool is due to the large number of wool follicles in the skin, compared to other breeds. In round numbers, a fine Merino has 72 wool follicles per square mm, a medium Merino has 65, and a strong Merino has 57. Compare that to a Corriedale, with just 29 follicles per square mm or a Cheviot which only have around 15. So, the more skin that a Merino sheep has, the more wool can be produced per animal and this is why some strains have been bred to have more skin. This is not really fair on the sheep, having to carry around all that extra weight, the heat, the sweat, the flystrike then you have to take into account shearing problems. It is easier for a sheep to be sheared if the skin is nice and tight to its body, as with other breeds, and the fleece can be taken off easily and cleanly. With Merinos, and especially these extra extra baggy ones, shearing is difficult as the shearer is trying to hold the sheep, smooth out the wrinkles and shear the fleece off all without cutting or nicking the sheep with the shears. Most of the wrinkles are around their neck.
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| I know this is not a good quality photo but it does show off the ridiculous folds of skin on this Australian Merino. |
Around the world, animal husbandry practices vary as do any rules and legislation, some places have a distinct lack of any legislation regarding treatment of animals. In the UK we are very strict about how animals are to be treated and we treat them with respect and not just as a commodity. Personally, my opinion of these excessively baggy skinned Merino is that they are ugly, they don't look like sheep and there is no need for these strains of Merino to exist. I think all breeding from these strains should stop and the animals should be allowed to go to slaughter, if that is their intended end anyway, and they should be replaced with a more normal looking Merino strain that doesn't succumb to flystrike and requires no mulesing.
There is a husbandry technique known as mulesing that is now pretty much limited to Australia, it has been carried out in a couple of other countries in the past but most, if not all, of the other countries have outlawed the technique. This technique was accidently discovered in the 1930s by an Australian grazier by the name of John Mules when he was shearing one of these extra extra wrinkly Merinos and accidentally cut off a small patch of skin near to the ewes buttocks. This ewe had previously suffered from flystrike and John was worried that this would become infested. To his surprise the wound healed with smooth scar tissue that did not grow any wool. Without a mass of wool around the buttocks that collects urine and faeces the flies were not interested in infesting the sheep so he realised that flystrike could be prevented or at least make the sheep less susceptible in this way and the technique named after him, mulesing, caught on. The technique requires small strips of skin to be removed from either side of the anus and the underside of the tail using steel shears and was done without painkillers or sedation. It used to be carried out on mature sheep but it was discovered that lambs recover much more quickly and completely and are pretty much healed 2 weeks after the procedure and so this practice is now carried out on lambs and in 2006 an Australian-based international organisation names CSIRO banned mulesing in sheep over 12 months old, although it is usually done when the lambs are just a few weeks old. Lambs that are destined to be slaughtered soon after weaning usually avoid the procedure as they can be protected chemically for a short period during "flystrike season". Currently lambs are restrained, usually in a marking cradle, and the procedure carried out by someone who has completed the mandatory accreditation training. Under Australian law no antiseptics, anaesthesia or painkillers are required either before, during or after the procedure but are often applied as it is known that the procedure does cause a lot of pain.
Whilst there is a genuine welfare reason to carry out this practice and it has been carried out throughout the 20th century since its inception without opposition but with the rise of the internet and people being more globally aware of what is going on and the fact that information can be spread much more quickly animal rights movements have been able to bring this barbaric procedure out into the open and consumers of merino wool products are now aware and making ethical choices and boycotting Australian Merino products that are made with wool from farms that continue to use this technique to deal with flystrike. It has reduced the proportion of graziers that use this technique down to around 70%. This is not nearly enough of a reduction in my opinion. I'd like to see it banned completely as there are other methods for treating flystrike including the obvious one of "just stop breeding sheep with really baggy skin, revert back to sheep with tighter skin".
The National Farmers Federation of Australia says that "mulesing remains the most effective practical way to eliminate the risk of 'flystrike' in sheep" and that "without mulesing up to 3 million sheep a year could die a slow and agonising death from flystrike"
The Australia Veterinary Association "recognises the welfare implications of mulesing of sheep. However in the absence of more humane alternatives for preventing breech strike (flystrike), the AVA accepts that the practice of mulesing should continue as a sheep husbandry procedure". They also support the use of analgesics and the accreditation of mulesing practitioners.
The Australia RSPCA accepts mulesing when the risk of flystrike is very high, when it is done properly, and even then only as a last resort.
Animal rights organisation PETA strongly opposes mulesing, saying the practice is cruel and painful, and that more humane alternatives exist and also claim that sheep can be spared maggot infestation through more humane methods including special diets, spray washing and breeding different kinds of sheep. Sheep after mulesing are noted to have markedly elevated levels of the hormone Cortisol and ß-endorphin, respectively associated with stress and pain.
Representatives of the Australian wool industry made a promise in November 2004 to phase out the practice of mulesing in Australia by 31 December 2010 but in July 2009 they reneged on that promise and scrapped the idea of phasing out the procedure. Thankfully the New Zealand wool industry got on board with the programme and began phasing out mulesing in 2007, banning the mulesing of sheep entirely as of 1st October 2018. Mulesing has never been practiced in the UK because we don't have Merino sheep in this country as our weather is too wet for them and they suffer from sheep diseases like foot rot but we still have laws that make it illegal to do so. You might find a few Merino sheep in specialist collections, like petting farms or the occasional one owned by a handspinner who has the land to keep it on, because they would need special one-to-one kind of care.
Some European retailers have agreed to lift the ban on Australian Merino if pain relief is used for mulesing but they will not release the names of these retailers in an effort to prevent any backlash. Most retailers are sticking with the stance of not using wool from mulesed sheep at all. It is important to get wool from reputable sources and making sure the wool is sourced from farms that sign up to Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) is where to start. RWS farms have to adhere to strict welfare guidelines and must not use mulesing practices.
Merino wool is a name that is well known globally with spinners, knitters, crocheters and shoppers buying clothes. It is processed on such an industrial scale in huge quantities and most assume that there is just one type of Merino and that it is always a consistent type of soft fine fibre. This is not true. All Merino fall within the fine ranges of wools and it can all be used for next to skin wear. The finest and ultrafine Merino wools are about 11.5 microns and the coarsest and most durable are about 26 microns but these "coarse" Merino wools are still fine and soft.
With Merinos growing such dense fleeces closely packed fibres like these mean that dirt can't easily get down into the staples, which are also protected by a heavy coat of grease. The tips are frequently weathered whilst the wool stays clean. It can be a bit tricky to get the grease fully removed from a Merino fleece and the same can be said of all similarly developed fine wools. The secret to getting the grease out is really hot water, a good cleansing agent and absolutely no agitation if you want useable wool and not a big clump of felt. If any of the grease only partially dissolves and is not fully removed and it gets redeposited on the fibre it can be really difficult to ever remove and will make the wool hard to spin and it will never look properly clean. It is always best to store fleece in a clean state and fine wools like Merino are much easier to clean if you can wash it as soon as possible after shearing.
Merino is often used to make items when another breeds wool would be more more appropriate. The finest Merinos can be use to make an exquisitely delicate soft garments but will have to be washed with extreme care. Sturdier Merinos can be used to make soft items that will wear better but you will still have to wash with extreme care. For anything that requires any kind of substantial durability you will need to use another breed.
Most Merino wool that we come across in yarns or spinning fibre does not mention the strain or type of Merino. There may be one or two exceptions to the rule if it is a special kind of Merino that is ultra soft and carries a premium price, usually Sharlea or Saxon Merinos.
Fleece weights of non-Spanish Merino range from 3-18kg, most Merino types or strains average 4.1kg-6.4kg. Yields vary from 35% to very rarely around 80%, but usually around 50%. Locks are dense, blunt, often weathered just at the tips, with a heavy, protective layer of grease. Crimp is fine tight and well defined in both fibres and locks. The staple lengths are 2-5 inches (5cm-12.5cm). Fibre diameters range from 11.5 micron to 25 microns with with most falling between 20-22 microns.
Across the world wool is separated into different grades and qualities and this can be done by breed, micron count, colour or a mixture of all of them.
The micron is the diameter of an individual fibre - if we are getting technical it is 1/1000 of a mm, yes that does say one thousandth of millimetre, so a pretty tiny measurement and this is how we measure fibre fineness. A lower number means a finer fibre and a higher number means a more coarse fibre.
The general categories are:
Ultrafine - super soft with micron count of 15microns or less
Superfine - very soft and has to be between 15 and 19 microns
Standard - softer than UK wool and between 19 and 24 microns
Almost all Merino and Merino type sheep are white because of the vast quantities of wool that are destined for industrial processing, where coloured fibres become a major issue. Some strains are known for clear white wool, while some of the finest have more of a straw-coloured wool. Black, grey and moorit colours do exist although they are rare. There is a Portugese Merino type sheep called the Marina Preta that is black and incredibly rare.
You can spin Merino from the lock, comb it or card it. Because of its fineness, Merino wool tends to form neps. Merino wants to be spun fine. If you go try to spin a thick yarn by spinning a really thick single the wool will tend to draft in clumps and the ends of the fibres may not be secured well within the yarn. Your yarn will have a short lifespan and pronounced tendency to pill. To produce a thick yarn you will need to spin several thin but nicely twisted strands and then ply them together.
All of the Merinos have similar usage guidelines and the individual fleece or yarn you are evaluating will be somewhere within this breeds range, and its individual qualities will guide your decisions about how to use it best. If you are dyeing it it does take clear colours well.
