For breeding purposes, the shape and general appearance of the Merino
should be as follows:--The head should be well carried up, and in the
ewe hornless. It would be better, on many accounts, to have the ram
also hornless, but, as horns are usually characteristic of the Merino
ram, many prefer to see them. The face should be rather short, broad
between the eyes, the nose pointed, and, in the ewe, fine and free
from wrinkles. The eye should be bright, moderately prominent, and
gentle in its expression. The neck should be straight--not curving
downward--short, round, and stout--particularly so at its junction with
the shoulder, forward of the upper point of which it should not sink
below the level of the back. The points of the shoulder should not rise
to any perceptible extent above the level of the back. The back, to
the hips, should be straight; the crops--that portion of the body
immediately back of the shoulder-blades--full; the ribs well arched; the
body large and capacious; the flank well let down; the hind-quarters
full and round--the flesh meeting well down between the thighs, or in
the "twists." The bosom should be broad and full; the legs short, well
apart, and perpendicular--that is, not drawn under the body toward each
other when the sheep is standing. Viewed as a whole, the Merino should
present the appearance of a low, stout, plump, and--though differing
essentially from the English mutton-sheep model--a highly symmetrical
sheep.
The skin is an important point. It should be loose, singularly mellow,
and of a rich, delicate pink color. A colorless skin, or one of a tawny,
approaching to a butternut, hue, indicates bad breeding. On the subject
of wrinkles, there is a difference of opinion. As they are rather
characteristic of the Merino--like the black color in a Berkshire hog,
or the absence of all color in Durham cattle--these wrinkles have been
more regarded, by novices, than those points which give actual value to
the animal; and shrewd breeders have not been slow to act upon this
hint. Many have contended that more wool can be obtained from a wrinkled
skin; and this view of the case has led both the Spanish and French
breeders to cultivate them largely--the latter, to a monstrosity. An
exceedingly wrinkled neck, however, adds but little to the weight of the
fleece--not enough, in fact, to compensate for the deformity, and the
great impediment thus placed in the way of the shearer. A smoothly drawn
skin, and the absence of all dead lap, would not, on the other hand,
perhaps be desirable.
The wool should densely cover the whole body, where it can possibly
grow--from a point between and a little below the eyes, and well up on
the cheeks, to the knees and hocks. Short wool may show, particularly in
young animals, on the legs, even below the knees and hocks; but long
wool covering the legs, and on the nose, below the eyes, is unsightly,
without value; while on the face it frequently impedes the sight of the
animal, causing it to be in a state of perpetual alarm, and
disqualifying it to escape real danger. Neither is this useless wool the
slightest indication of a heavy fleece--contrary to what seems to be
thought by some. It is very often seen in Saxons shearing scarcely two
pounds of wool, and on the very lightest fleeced Merinos.
The amount of gum which the wool should exhibit is another mooted point.
Merino wool should be yolky, or oily, prior to washing--though not to
the extreme extent, occasionally witnessed, of giving it the appearance
of being saturated with grease. The extreme tips may exhibit a
sufficient trace of gum to give the fleece a darkish cast, particularly
in the ram; but a black, pitchy gum, resembling half-hardened tar,
extending an eighth or a quarter of an inch into the fleece, and which
cannot be removed by ordinary washing, is decidedly objectionable. There
is a white or yellowish concrete gum, not removable by common washing,
which appears in the interior of some fleeces, and is equally
objectionable.
The weight of fleece remaining the same, medium length of staple, with
compactness, is preferable to long, open wool, since it constitutes a
better safeguard from inclemencies of weather, and better protects the
animal from the bad effects of cold and drenching rains in spring and
fall. The wool should be, as nearly as possible, of even length and
thickness over the entire body. Shortness on the flank, and shortness or
thickness on the belly, are serious defects.
Evenness of fleece is a point of the first importance. Many sheep
exhibit good wool on the shoulder and side, while it is far coarser and
even hairy on the thighs, dew-lap, etc. Rams of this stamp should not be
bred from by any one aiming to establish a superior fine-woolled flock;
and all such ewes should gradually be excluded from those selected for
breeding.
The style of the wool is a point of as much importance as mere fineness.
Some very fine wool is stiff, and the fibres almost straight, like hair.
It has a dry, cottony look; and is a poor, unsalable article, however
fine the fibre. Softness of wool--a delicate, silky, highly elastic feel
between the fingers or on the lips, is the first thing to be regarded.
This is usually an index, or inseparable attendant, of the other good
qualities; so much so, indeed, that an experienced judge can decide,
with little difficulty, between the quality of two fleeces, in the
dark. Wool should be finely serrated, or crimped from one extremity to
the other: that is, it should present a regular series of minute curves;
and, generally, the greater the number of these curves in a given
length, the higher the quality of the wool in all other particulars. The
wool should open on the back of the sheep in connected masses, instead
of breaking up into little round spiral ringlets of the size of a
pipe-stem, which indicate thinness of fleece; and when the wool is
pressed open each way with the hands, it should be close enough to
conceal all but a delicate rose-colored line of skin. The interior of
the wool should be a pure, glittering white, with a lustre and
liveliness of appearance not surpassed in the best silk.
The points in the form of the Merino which the breeder is called upon
particularly to avoid are, a long, thin head, narrow between the eyes; a
thin, long neck, arching downward before the shoulders; narrow loins;
flat ribs; steep, narrow hind-quarters; long legs; thighs scarcely
meeting at all; and legs drawn far under the body at the least approach
of cold. All these points were, separately or conjointly, illustrated in
many of the Saxon flocks which have been swept from the country.
Sufficient attention has already been paid to the points to be avoided
in the fleece.