hi KALGARA MERINOS, i love your youtube channel i am a shearer from the riverina ,are you near kentucky back in the 80s i use to go to congi stn near walcha rd and standbye stn , we were shearing in december at congi and stndbye in january shearing mainly riverina weathers with some xbred ewes and lambs ,keep the good work up i hope to go and have a look at that country again soon.
Hi Doulas, We are the other side of Armidale from Kentucky. I know where Congi is but not Standbye. Our sheep would be a bit smaller than what you're used to!! Glad you enjoy the channel - thanks for the feedback! 🙂
Can you talk a little bit about the conditions of "Summer" in your area and how it affects Merino sheep? Your environment is exactly like that in the Venezuelan llanos, so I'm very interested in getting info on how humidity affect the breed, like we had the notion that woolies are unable to live in such conditions 'cuz of the heat which is false, it seems to be all a matter of parasites and foot rot.
Hi German, Our annual rainfall is about 700mm with a dry winter and a wet summer. Summer months average about 90mm per month but this is highly variable and the maximum temps are around 30-32C, with the odd day a bit higher. This summer has been quite cool, lots of cloud cover has meant we've only seen 30C once this year. There's probably a huge amount of climate data on the Australian Bureau of Meterology website if you have the time to look. We are at an altitude of 1000 metres so that probably helps modify the humidity. We do get some high humidity but its generally not for long periods. Merinos will handle the heat quite well - some strains like the Bungaree were bred to thrive in the hot arid environment of central Australia. But once the rainfall gets over about 900-1000mm pa the merinos don't go so well. Obviously that's not a hard and fast rule, and one thing we know about the modern merino is that it contains a huge variety of genes, so with a bit of selection it can be adapted to a wide variety of environments. If you can get hold of it there's a book by Charles Massy called "The Australian Merino". Its a massive tome which gives a very detailed history of the evolution of the Merino breed and its adaptability to various Australian environments.
@@kalgaramerinos7085 Very insightful reply, impressive actually. That clarified a lot of doubts; and thanks for the book suggestion, I was about to ask you about that. Certainly the merino has reputable fame, in Spain they also have plenty of traditional strains, including the black merino and other "rustic" types, there are farms specialized in produced strains even. Thank you!
@@TheGrmany69 No worries, glad it was helpful. I believe there is a lady with a merino flock in the UK. She has obviously selected individuals that can thrive in that environment which is a good indication of the genetic potential inherent in the breed.
We don't know. It happened during joining last year. When we got to him it was infected and swollen just where the hoof joins the leg. We think maybe a stick went into it as he dismounted or else he landed awkwardly and fractured it. We were dressing it every day for a couple of months and we weren't too sure if it would ever heal because we couldn't really immobilise it. But eventually it did!
Love your videos Dan and Sarah. Informative and authentic. Great to watch. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Arrowquip - keep making the good gear for farmers!
Looking good the rams mate ,
hi KALGARA MERINOS, i love your youtube channel i am a shearer from the riverina ,are you near kentucky back in the 80s i use to go to congi stn near walcha rd and standbye stn , we were shearing in december at congi and stndbye in january shearing mainly riverina weathers with some xbred ewes and lambs ,keep the good work up i hope to go and have a look at that country again soon.
Hi Doulas, We are the other side of Armidale from Kentucky. I know where Congi is but not Standbye.
Our sheep would be a bit smaller than what you're used to!! Glad you enjoy the channel - thanks for the feedback! 🙂
Can you talk a little bit about the conditions of "Summer" in your area and how it affects Merino sheep? Your environment is exactly like that in the Venezuelan llanos, so I'm very interested in getting info on how humidity affect the breed, like we had the notion that woolies are unable to live in such conditions 'cuz of the heat which is false, it seems to be all a matter of parasites and foot rot.
Hi German,
Our annual rainfall is about 700mm with a dry winter and a wet summer. Summer months average about 90mm per month but this is highly variable and the maximum temps are around 30-32C, with the odd day a bit higher. This summer has been quite cool, lots of cloud cover has meant we've only seen 30C once this year. There's probably a huge amount of climate data on the Australian Bureau of Meterology website if you have the time to look.
We are at an altitude of 1000 metres so that probably helps modify the humidity. We do get some high humidity but its generally not for long periods.
Merinos will handle the heat quite well - some strains like the Bungaree were bred to thrive in the hot arid environment of central Australia. But once the rainfall gets over about 900-1000mm pa the merinos don't go so well. Obviously that's not a hard and fast rule, and one thing we know about the modern merino is that it contains a huge variety of genes, so with a bit of selection it can be adapted to a wide variety of environments.
If you can get hold of it there's a book by Charles Massy called "The Australian Merino". Its a massive tome which gives a very detailed history of the evolution of the Merino breed and its adaptability to various Australian environments.
@@kalgaramerinos7085 Very insightful reply, impressive actually. That clarified a lot of doubts; and thanks for the book suggestion, I was about to ask you about that.
Certainly the merino has reputable fame, in Spain they also have plenty of traditional strains, including the black merino and other "rustic" types, there are farms specialized in produced strains even. Thank you!
@@TheGrmany69 No worries, glad it was helpful. I believe there is a lady with a merino flock in the UK. She has obviously selected individuals that can thrive in that environment which is a good indication of the genetic potential inherent in the breed.
@@kalgaramerinos7085 Yes, so it seems, even the Navajo sheep has clear merino traits... its also renown for its adaptability.
One of the stallions has a Maltese disease and infects other animals and is hostile to humans
What happened to Dave’s foot
We don't know. It happened during joining last year. When we got to him it was infected and swollen just where the hoof joins the leg. We think maybe a stick went into it as he dismounted or else he landed awkwardly and fractured it. We were dressing it every day for a couple of months and we weren't too sure if it would ever heal because we couldn't really immobilise it. But eventually it did!
M