Our Nevada Location & Magazine Article

Below is an article that we wrote for the Winter 2005 issue of Wild Fibers Magazine. It is the unedited version.

A PROFOUND EXPERINCE WITH WRINKLES

Though I am firmly in middle age, my first panic attack brought on by excessive wrinkles was not a reaction to an early glimpse into the bathroom mirror but by the sight of our wrinkly new lambs. Yow!!, was my first reaction. This new lamb crop was the first-time siring by our newly purchased pure Merino ram, Mikey.

My wife, Patricia, and myself started into the sheep breeding business when we first married in 1994. This new business was precipitated by the need of fresh, well flocking sheep in which to train our border collies for competitive sheepdog trials. Since Patricia had been spinning wool for years and since the local sheep in large numbers were the Rambouillet, we started to breed this type of sheep. At about this same time, the local University of Nevada, Reno Agricultural Department began its Merino breeding program. Gradually over the years we either rented or purchased at first a 50/50 Rambouillet/Merino ram and then a 7/8 Merino Ram to cross on our Rambouillet ewes. This brought our small flock up to a 50/50 cross ratio. The outward appearance gradually changed to a slightly smaller body but in return our sheep grew longer and finer wool. For the first 8 years our selection method was totally non-scientific, wow what a nice looking lamb, better looking than that strange looking one over there.

We purchased our first 7/8 Merino ram for the minimum price at the 2002 University's Ram Sale. He was a bit skinny but had a large frame and a hogget micron measurement of 16.8. Meanwhile, the University's Merino Ram sale became renown and prices rapidly escalated, we could no longer afford a ram of desirable traits that would advance our breeding program. At the 2003 Ram Sale, we were devastated. The average ram sold for nearly three times what our first ram cost and unfortunately, we had already sold him for same amount we bought him for. Was our breeding program halted? We also met an astounded couple, Steve and Terry Mendenhall of Marysville, California who attended the Sale to also purchase a ram. They needed to infuse fresh genetics into their flock. After a few moments of conversation, they mentioned that they happened to have a couple of rams for sale from different breeding and at a reasonable price. The next weekend we hotfooted down to their farm and purchased Mikey. Within 6 hours, Mikey was introduced to his new wives. Within one week after the 151 days of average sheep gestation, 10 little lambs were born.

At first sight of the wet lambs I hit the internet and searched for the prevalence of Merino wrinkles. The first article I found was by David Scobie, AgResearch, Lincoln, New Zealand entitled Wrinkles lower productivity. I immediately emailed Mr. Scobie and related my troubled experience for his feedback. In brief, he recommended that I launch (my interpretive word) the wrinkled sheep in a humane way. We had purchased Mikey from the Mendenhalls and our Merino ewe, Matilda from the University both with 6 months of wool growth so.... did they have wrinkles under all of that wool? I looked at Mikey's papers and saw that his grandsire was Roseville Park 69 from the Roseville Park Stud in the State of Victoria, Australia. This was a very impressive ram weighing nearly 300 pounds and with a fleece of 40+ pounds. I found their website and started reading. I soon found that the SRS breeding program was used as one of their breeding strategies. Next, what was SRS? Quickly I found their website (http://www.srswool.com). In the early 1970s, Dr. Jim Watts developed a breeding strategy known as SRS or Soft Rolling Skin. He found that breeding sheep with soft rolling skin greatly increases the potential for increasing the quality of wool, that is, heavier, finer, bright white fleeces with a very long staple. A problem with heavily wrinkled skin that is not soft and pliable is that the animal is not healthy; often smaller in body size with a decrease in fleece length. Dr. Watts states that the fleece length in all sheep has a potential to reach 7-8 inches in length as it does in the long wooled breeds (Romney, Lincoln, etc.). Was this the original hair length of the pre-domesticated sheep's ancestor? Below is a more detailed definition of SRS breeding system for the more technically minded:

Key Skin and Fibre Attributes Selected for at Severn Park under the SRS® System
(http://www.severnparkmerinos.com.au/system/index.html)

Genetically fine primary and secondary follicles, with primary fibres finer than secondaries.

High number and density of secondary derived (compound) fibres.

High secondary follicle to primary follicle ratio - over 45 and aiming for 60:1 in sires and for 45:1 in ewes.
High fibre alignment and high follicle density (over 80/mm2, and rams over 100).

High expression of fibre bundles.

Bold, deep and highly uniform crimp. (Low fibre curvature; low SD of fibre curvature).

High lustre and a rich white nourishment. (Delivering high fleece-rot resistance).

Fast fleece growth: up to 0.5mm / day rams and 0.4mm / day in ewes on thin skins.

Extremely pliable thin skins: Desirable skin depth below 0.5mm

Extreme soft-silky handle (includes low CV and low SD) - derived from fine and uniform diameter, cylindrical fibre shape, deep & bold crimps but also smooth scales and different chemical structure of fibres.

High tensile strengths.

During this crisis, I found a Down Under mentor in Marion Gibbins, the Secretary of the Victorian Stud Merino Sheepbreeders Association, Inc. (www.merinovictoria.com). She told me that wrinkles were not necessarily that bad. Were they soft or hard wrinkles? Soft wrinkled lambs (loose-skinned) ended up with soft rolling skins with smooth bodies when mature. So outside I went to catch and press down on new born's wrinkles. Only two of our lambs had hard wrinkles, the polled ram lamb and a ewe lamb whose dam had a rather thick micron of 23.8. As this ewe lamb matured, she developed quite a bit of yellow grease in her fleece. Apparently, this ewe lamb had the thick skin that Dr. Jim Watts of SRS selected against. Marion has helped me with many Merino breeding concepts and emailed me many Drop Sire reports (detailed statistics on body and wool traits for great numbers of sheep from different Studs in the state of Victoria).

In our small flock, after shearing, Mikey did indeed have that SRS type skin. He also had skin folds on his neck and chest. of Mikey's three sons, the pure Merino ram lamb is the smallest of the three and has a lot of wrinkles on his chest. Quite typical because pure Merinos do have more wrinkles than Rambouillet/Merino crosses and are typically smaller in body size. A polled ram lamb is the one that had the most wrinkles at birth and still has the most on his chest as he matures. He was the smallest at birth and tended to be somewhat sickly as a very young lamb (the only one that received antibiotics). He is larger than the pure Merino but not as large as the ram on his right. The thrid son was very large at birth and had few wrinkles. As he matures he maintains his smooth and large body (lack of chest wrinkles). All three of these ram lambs are from the same sire, Mikey..but all three are quite different. We sold these rams and unfortunately won't be able to see them mature.

My panic gradually subsided as my knowledge increased, not a first-time human experience.

Spanish explorers and later colonists brought the first domesticated sheep to the North America. The descendants of these sheep are the Gulf Coast Native of the Southeast and the Navajo-Churro of the Southwest. The Merino sheep (Saxon, Spanish, and Rambouillet strains) were first introduced into this hemisphere during the 1800s (http://www.albc-usa.org/sheep.htm). A Vermont Experiment (as it later became known) began with Merino imports of small very fine wooled sheep. These sheep were probably similar to the Saxon variety mentioned above. Soon after their arrival, the fleece weight became the most important trait and as the fleece weight increased so also did the wrinkles. More wrinkles, more surface area for wool to grow. Eventually so many of these sheep became overburdened with wool that they had a hard time moving around, nearly falling over. Another strain of Merino that was developed from the Spanish Merino in France during the 1700s was the Rambouillet. This breed of sheep became the dominant breed introduced in the U.S. in the early half of the 19th century. It became and remains the dominant sheep breed in the western half of the U.S. and has been bred as a dual-purpose animal (wool and meat). These sheep became very hardy and maintained their flocking characteristics that allowed them to be easily managed in large numbers. Today this strain of Merino may attain sizes 1/3 more massive than its Australian/New Zealand cousins.

In late March of this year (2004), I attended the annual local sheep shearing get-together and the Cook's Ranch in Yerington, Nevada. Gary and Margaret Cook have a modest sized flock of pure Rambouillets in addition to their more sizable flock of Suffolks. These Rambouillet sheep look huge compared with our crosses. One ram must weigh 330 pounds and many of his ewes top 200 pounds. While assisting in the moving of sheep towards the shearers, I was able to observe and catch many Rambouillet lambs. Many had wrinkles, not as many or pronounced as our lambs but at least one third to half of them did exhibit wrinkles. Rambouillet sheep have been separated from Merinos for at least 250 years. The fact that many Rambouillet sheep still have wrinkles suggests to me how firmly established these wrinkles were in the early Merino breed.

The University of Nevada Reno has a large Merino and Merino/Rambouillet breeding program at the Rafter 7 Ranch located 40 miles from where I live. I received permission to visit the ranch at peak lambing season. At least half of the lambs had pronounced wrinkles. The director, Dr. Hudson Glimp, told me that wrinkles are a trait that he actively selects against. Wrinkles are highly heritable and the University has made a great effort to breed sheep that would not be subject to mulesing. The main problem with pronounced wrinkles is that moisture collects in the folds and provides a haven for insects looking for a place to lay their eggs. Indigenous to Australia, the blowfly takes on this destructive roll and the skin becomes infected and discolors the wool which in turn makes it unmarketable. Mulesing being a rather radical solution to too many wrinkles hurts and injures the lamb where infections can enter its body. This is a labor intensive procedure that would no doubt interfere with the lambs appetite therefore retarding its weight gain potential, a primary factor in the profitable raising of sheep. To my knowledge, in the U.S. the main drawbacks to excessive wrinkles are increased susceptibility to fleece rot (again resulting in a oozing infection) and a greater difficulty in shearing over the uneven skin. I have never heard of mulesing taking place in the U.S. but I must admit that I am new to Merino breeding and don't have a wide knowledge of Merino raising practices in this country.

Our next great leap in the Merino wool experience came at the Nevada State Fair this past September. Being very proud of our newly acquired Merino sheep, we entered two Merino fleeces (Mikey & Matilda). The weekend before the fair, Dianne set up a spinning demonstration booth at the local Lyon County Fair. During this long day many interested people handled the fleeces. A couple of days later, we turned these two fleece into the State Fair where they sat in a 90F. degree sun for many hours. The following Saturday the judging took place. All fleeces were put in clear plastic bags and after the judging, we walked up to the table and were anxious to see how we did. Not well! Out of 10 entries, we came in 7th & 8th. The reason? The fleeces were too yellow and one had an obvious yellow band. When we asked the judge about our fleeces, he said that the yellowing would not wash out and that it was genetic. When pressed, he recommended that we launch Mikey and Matilda. Panic set in again. When we got home I got on the internet and told the Sheep L list our experience and asked for any advice. We got some great feedback, often the case with this international internet posting list.

For feedback on the yellowing, we were told that when receiving a lot of handling and flipping around, this can contribute to yellowing. Leaving the black plastic bagged fleeces in the hot sun will also increase the yellowing. And lastly and most importantly, FEED! Feed has a great deal to do with the color of raw fleeces. To first rule out staining we washed some of the wool from both sheep and found that both washed out to be very white, no staining here. Next, both sheep for the first 6 months of the shearing year were fed on grass pasture and then for the second 6 months, fed on alfalfa and sweet cob. Cob contains corn which is believed by many to color the wool yellow. The yellow banding was halfway along the staple and showed a change in diet. Now that these two sheep have been fed the same diet since the last shearing the banding has gone away and the yellowness on both sheep has decreased markedly.

So what does this bad Fair experience have to do with wrinkles and SRS? One of the traits associated with SRS is bright white lustrous wool. Delving deeper into the SRS website, I read that fine wool breeders can greatly increase the quality (and better placing in state fairs) just by selecting for the best looking wool. Best meaning long and white with well defined fiber bundles that had good crimp. What makes the Soft Rolling Skin roll is that it is thin and flexible and the thinner the skin the less suint and wax present in the fleece, a.k.a. yolk or yellow grease. The last important factor in the SRS breeding program is the primary to secondary follicle ratio. This next concept may be a bit hard to follow. The wild sheep that were the ancestors to all domesticated sheep were basically hair sheep. This meant that they had long guard hairs (secondary follicles) and short fine inner coat of shedding wool (primary follicles). After thousands of years of domestication of the finer wool sheep, the secondary (hair) follicles became shorter and finer and the primary follicles became longer. Next came the part that I had to read many times before I understood. The more secondary there are than primary follicles, the finer the wool. This sounds counterintuitive. Here's how it works; the one-time hair follicles now shorter can increase their softness by branching and by increasing their numbers per inch or density. It seems that a finite amount of wool producing protein can either make up a few thick wool fibers or a bunch of branched thinner fibers. A medium wool sheep (Romney) can have secondary to primary ratio of 18 to 1 were as the final stage of SRS breeding produces a ratio of 60 to 1.

The desire for a heavier fleece was what caused the development of wrinkles. Whether this was a trait intentionally selected for or the result of nature coming up with a shortcut to get the fleece heavier is not clear. With the SRS, the density or number of fiber follicles per square millimeter increases from an average of 60 to 120. This increased density along with longer fibers not only makes for softer wool but also increases the fleece weight thereby making the added surface area in wrinkly skin unnecessary.

One last note concerning the primary and secondary follicle topic; the development of the dense and branching secondary follicles takes place in the last couple months of fetal development and in the first few months of life as a nursing lamb. If the fetus and lamb do not receive sufficient protein nutrition, the secondary follicle branching and density development will be retarded and coarser wool will be the result over the entire lifetime of the sheep.

To sum up this profound experience with wrinkles, I get the feeling that this SRS breeding strategy is the best way to produce healthy and productive fine wool sheep. I also get the hunch that the heritability for passing on excessive wrinkles is stronger than passing on the genes for smoother pliable skin. As far as our ram Mikey is concerned and judging by the variation in his recent progeny, the SRS traits are not as dominant as one would hope. Our lambs do seem to demonstrate the variability in his genetic background. It may take some time before all of these desirable SRS traits run straight and true in a high percentage of SRS progeny. This may be similar to producing a new breed of animal whether sheep or horse, the traits must reliably be repeatable. The nice part of this variability is that lambs with good traits do often show up. Half of our wrinkly lambs grew out of their wrinkles. It amazed me how our first mostly Merino crop so closely followed the skin types vs. health and body size that was mentioned by Dr. Watts. The three ewe lambs we kept back were selected on the basis of the whiteness of their wool and on the length of their staple. When the metrical fiber analysis is taken on these retained ewes this next spring, it will be very interesting to correlate this breeding method of visual selection with measured fiber analysis and see if it all works as advertised.

Post Script: The two best daughters of Mikey that were chosen from the appearance of their wool turned out great after their fiber was tested. The one year old pure Merino ewe had a micron of 18.3 and a staple length of 4.25 inches. The other ewe lamb was chosen because of her bright white fleece and decent staple length. Her micron count was 19.3 and her other statistics were the best as far as fiber strength and uniformity was concerned, very much like her father's. The third ewe lamb came was chosen was kept back as a distant third as it later showed in her fiber statistics: 21.5 microns which will probably mature to 23.5-24.5 microns as a two year old.