Rex Furry, age 12, of Wichita, Kan., for his question:
Where did the merino sheep originate?
The woolly merino has a colorful history of smuggling and world wide travels He played a part in American history when the Sheep farmers of the Great Plains Moved west to the prairies. His children graze on the wide ranges of Australia and New Zealand, and most of our domestic sheep are directly or indirectly descended from merino ancestors. Sheep were domesticated before the dawn of history, and some countries developed better sheep than others. The shepherds of Spain tended a strain of very wooly sheep. The fleece of these sheep was used to weave the finest of woolen fabrics. These animals were the ancestors of the famous merino sheep, and they were domesticated in earliest times. The Spaniards wanted to keep their fine Sheep to themselves, so the government passed laws to keep the wooly animals from traveling abroad. It was forbidden to export them. However, shepherds of other countries wanted some of these fine fellows to improve their flocks. Merino sheep were smuggled into France, Germany And England.
The merino is a white faced sheep with white legs. His thick, fine f1eece reaches down to his toes and to the end of his nose. The merino ram weans a pair of horns spiraling out from the sides of his head. The smuggled merinos were greatly treasured, and shepherds of France and Germany set about improving him. They bred him with the best sheep of their own flocks. The result was a new breed of Sheep called the rambouillet, which is in some ways superior to the original merino. The rambouillet and the merino were exported to improve the flocks of other sheep farming countries. They wreck taken to the rangelands of Australia and NEW Zealand.
Early in the 19th century, merino sheep were brought to America where they grazed on the grassy Great Plains. As the population spread, this Land was needed for other kinds of farming. The shepherds and their flocks had to move westward to the prairies, and with them went the merino sheep and the various breeds descended from them. American sheep farmers have developed their own breeds, some of which are rated as the best in the world. All of the best wool producing sheep are developed from the original Spanish merino, and the best of these breeds is the American Merino. He is a white-faced, White legged fellow covered with the finest fleece which reaches down to his toes and over his nose.