250 TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 



The skin should have a bright pink color, indicating health. 

 Fine-wooled sheep usually show an excellent color of skin super- 

 ior to the mutton type. As already mentioned, the skin is more 

 or less folded or wrinkled. The Merino has not only a thinner 

 skin than the mutton breeds, but is more richly furnished with 

 oil glands and secretes a great deal more yolk. Fineness of 

 skin and fineness of wool are correlated characters. 



The quality of fine-wooled sheep is evidenced by fineness 

 of fleece, fineness of bone, fineness of hair on face and ears, and 

 by a medium-sized, clean-cut head with fine ears. 



The style of the fine-wooled type is usually rather marked. 

 Merinos have good carriage of head and ear and are quick and 

 active in their movements, walking rapidly and covering ground 

 with more ease and speed than the mutton-type sheep. Their 

 greater activity partly explains their popularity on western 

 ranges where Merino blood forms the basis of most flocks. 



The fleece of the Merino has a very high degree of fineness, 

 varying, however, in different flocks and in different individ- 

 uals. The skin has many more fibers to the square inch than 

 any of the mutton breeds; in other words, the fleece is ordinarily 

 very compact and dense. Density and fineness are outstanding 

 features in a good fine-wooled fleece, the crimp being very fine 

 and regular from skin to tip of fiber. The very finest woolen 

 fabrics are made from this wool. A third striking feature of 

 the Merino fleece as compared with mutton sheep is the large 

 amount of oil or yolk it contains. This gives a generous coating 

 to each fiber so as to preserve its soundness and pliancy. Merino 

 wool commonly undergoes a shrinkage of 65 per cent, in scour- 

 ing, and this figure is not infrequently exceeded. When the 

 secretion of yolk is very excessive, the fleece is made subject to 

 criticism and the wool buyer makes allowance for the extra 

 weight in the price he offers. 



The wool should cover the head in the fashion already 

 described, only the nose and ears being bare. The fleece should 

 cover all of the body and extend down the legs to the feet. The 

 belly and under parts vary a great deal in the covering of wool. 

 It is important that the belly be well wooled, and that the natural 

 bareness occurring at the armpits be as limited in area as possible. 

 The scrotum of the ram should be covered with wool. The 

 wool on the under parts of the animal should be as nearly like 

 the rest of the fleece in density and length as possible. A good 

 Merino flock should average 11 to 15 pounds of unwashed wool. 



