Merino sheep originated in North Africa descended from a strain of sheep developed during the reign of Claudius, from 14 to 37 A.D. They spread via the Spanish and French royal families to northern Europe. The original Merinos were a wool sheep, who sheared a very heavy, fine fleece. They were also quite small in size.

At the end of the 18th century Merino blood from Spain and France was introduced into German flocks, resulting in an improved strain of sheep known as the “Wurtemburg”. Large numbers of this strain were brought into Alsace Lorraine and were gradually improved on farms in Eastern France. The French Wurtemberg Flock Book was created in 1947, became known in 1950 as the Est a Laine Merinos Flock Book. Est a Laine Merino ewes are popular for commercial crossbreeding due to their special qualities. In France, there are 65,000 sheep with Merino blood, more than half of which are purebred, found principally in Lorraine, Alsace, and the south-east.

The Est A Laine Merino is an attractive, strong, large framed sheep with very fine white wool. The head is long, white in color, with long, drooping ears. The sheep is naturally polled (no horns), unlike the original Merinos. The neck of the Est A Laine Merino has no folds or dewlap. This makes shearing them easy.

WOOL CHARACTERISTICS
The wool is fine, ranging from 18 to 23 microns, with a Bradford count of 80′s to 64′s. The crimp is good, and the fleece is tight, and uniform throughout the animal. There are no kemp (hair) or black fibers. Fleece weights  average 14.5 pounds for rams and 10.5 pounds for ewes.

GROWTH RATE
Rams born in Canada that we have here gained .90 pounds per day.

AVERAGE ADULT WEIGHT
Rams 310 to 390 pounds
Ewes 200 to 240 pounds
This is a slower maturing breed; by the time they reach 2 years old, the mature weight will be realized. Rams born in February 1996 weighed 215 pounds in September, 1997. Ewe lambs mature early, and will take the ram from 7 months of age.

AVERAGE PROLIFICACY
Ewe lambs 130%
Adult ewes 170% (as an average over all seasons)
These sheep will breed out of season (aseasonal breeders). When they lamb in the “off season” their prolificacy is lower than during a more normal lambing time. For example, a ewe who has twins in March, may only bear one lamb if she has it in the Fall.

CARCASS QUALITY/EVALUATION
A carcass evaluation was performed on a 50% Est A Laine Merino X Canadian Arcott cross lamb weighing 105 pounds live weight, in Canada. The Canadian market wants lambs between 100 and 115 pounds.
The carcass was rated Above Average for Shoulder, Hind Leg and Back.
Backfat was 9 millimeters (5mm to 15mm is considered acceptable)
Overall Rating was 3 (on a scale of 1 to 5)

1. OUT OF SEASON BREEDER

2. HARDINESS IN SEVERE CONDITIONS

3. ADAPTABILITY TO POOR QUALITY FORAGE

4. GOOD FLOCKING INSTINCT

5. WELL ADAPTED TO GRAZING OVER EXTENSIVE AREAS

6. GOOD CARCASS QUALITY – ABOVE AVERAGE

7. ADAPTED TO BOTH RANGE AND FARM FLOCK SITUATIONS

8. EASY TO SHEAR – FINE WOOL

Really, what more could you ask of a Terminal Sire or Commercial Ewe?

That’s what we said when we brought the purebred Est A Laine Merinos to our farm from Canada. Our rams came to Canada as embryos, from England, where the breed had been successfully used as a terminal sire since their introduction from France in 1989. We are enthusiastic about their potential as lamb and wool producers in this country.

We have here a limited number of purebred rams for sale to Scrapie Program enrolled flocks. There are more sheep in Canada, they would go to Scrapie Program flocks as well.

Realizing that all America isn’t enrolled in the Scrapie Program, we have set aside some of our most gorgeous commercial ewes to breed to the Est A Laine studs to produce a cross-bred terminal sire or commercial ewe. The offspring of these sheep will be able to move into any flock, regardless of Scrapie Program enrollment.

One of these fresh-faced American beauties is our Blanche, a gorgeous gal if you ever saw one. She has wool, bone, leg and stretch, to complement the Est A Laines. We had used Columbian rams on our lamb and wool Polypay girls and bred them back to our largest Polypay ram (¼ Columbian – ¾ Polypay). I’ve been watching them…they are READY for this Est A Laine Merino cross, and as breeders, so are Rusty and I.

We’ve had the Est A Laines here since August, 1996. They have been living with our East Friesland rams (who are pussycats), and by golly, so are the Est A Laines. They aren’t quite as friendly and approachable as the East Frieslands, but they also don’t go off like rockets if you touch them. Yippeeee, I LIKE these sheep! While the East Frieslands will come over to you for ear rubs, the Est A Laines are standing quite close behind them. This is a quality to be fostered in a sheep breed which reaches such high mature weights. You really want them to be easily manageable.

We know that there has been a plethora of new terminal sire breeds to hit the shores of the USA in the last few years. Some of you are saying, “What’s wrong with what we WERE using”, and some are disappointed in the new breeds being offered.

Those who are familiar with us know that we don’t jump on the bandwagon of “The Breed Of The Week”. When we selected the Columbians, we did so based on wool and maintaining a white-faced commercial flock. That flock sheared an average of a 10 pound fleece, and the lambs grew out to be good sized critters.

Now we’ve added the Est A Laine Merinos, we expect this breed to further improve the commercial aspect of our flock. We’ll be updating these pages with information about ewes bred to the Est A Laines, and lambs born.

The purebred Est a Laine Merino rams were shorn in late March. The fleeces are stunningly soft. A buyer of one of these fleeces described it as soft enough to be worn very close to the body. We took a fleece to the Wisconsin sheep conference where we washed a small section for display. It was so soft and light, and for want of a better description…. “creamy soft” … I am looking forward to working with this wool.

LAMBS!!!!! The first ½ Est A Laine x Polypay lambs are here. What CHUNKS! But they aren’t “blocky”, they have a nice long loin. With WOOL! We’re really excited about them. Our Canadian partner’s Est a Laine crosses are as exciting as ours. They’re almost coming out running, up and sucking right away, and they are solid little critters, you can just tell that they are going to be quick growing and have a nice carcass quality.

The wool difference between them and the East Friesland is visually measurable, they are carrying the fine merino qualities. The East Frieslands have big ears that stand sort of straight out to the sides, the Est A Laine’s have a rather droopy ear. The lambs are inheriting this droop, which makes them intensely appealing as youngsters! I can hardly wait to breed daughters back Est A Laine!!!! This is way fun!!!!!

We sell our wethers as feeder lambs in early Fall. The buyers really liked the Est a Laine cross lambs. They said, “This is what we’re looking for. Bring us more of these.” So next year’s lamb crop should be pretty exciting for both the lamb feeders and for our commercial ewe flock expansion.