ELOY ALFARO N30-350 &
AMAZONAS, MAG, 5th FL., OF. 513 P.O.
BOX 17-16-252 QUITO, ECUADOR
TELEPHONE (+593) 2-2552-546 FAX (+593)
2-2553-280 E-MAIL
[email protected]
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Classification of Production Types:
wool, meat, milk,
hides
Breeds Existing in Ecuador: Rambouillet, Corriedale, Dorset, and Criolla
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The breeds that came from Peru, brought by the
Spanish, were the Churra, Manchega and Spanish Merino.
In colonial times, it’s estimated that there were some 7,000,000 sheep
in Ecuador. In the middle of the 18th century,
until the independence of Ecuador, the Spanish kingdom partially opened its
borders for the importation of textiles, principally into Spain.
In the 1930s, private livestock raisers realized small
importations of Lincoln stock. ANCO
made larger importations of purebred animals in 1964, 1987, 1994, and 1998,
bringing the breeds Coopworth, Corriedale, Poll Dorset, Pollwarth, Rambouillet,
Romney Marsh, and Suffolk to Ecuador.
II. CLASSIFICATION OF PRODUCTION
TYPES
The study of the sheep’s physical qualities advances the specialization
of animals into different types of producers.
The physical types for different production foci express with greater
clarity that which can be said of the same breed, i.e., its characteristics,
special forms, and economic function.
For production of wool and hides, the bones
are more developed than in the others.
For production of meat, the development of the
muscle tissues and fat is prized, while the percentage of skeletal bone, hide, and
internal organs is limited.
For production of milk, a large quantity of
internal organs is preferred for the digestion of greater quantities of food
and the production of milk, in detriment to the quantity of meat, wool, fat,
and hide.
The sheep bred for wool production possesses a rather narrow and angular
conformation of the body, without the rectangular form of the meat breeds, the
head and neck being proportionally longer and narrower. The long body has narrow forequarters, a moderately
long thorax, deep and spare rib arc, and less developed hindquarters. The line of the back is neither straight nor
parallel with the line of the belly. A
depression in the upper back can be observed, and the rump is oblique in
shape. The line of the flanks equally
presents a lack of parallelism with a depression in the spine. The wool producer has a skeletal structure
of solid bones with good longitude and moderate diameter, with better-developed
head and extremities. Examples:
Rambouillet, Polwarth.
The ideal conformation is one of a rectangular paralleloid (like a
barrel), the lines of the back and belly being straight parallels, the same as
the lines of the flank, without depressions or waves, and a skeleton of strong
bones of great diameter, with small head and extremities. With this specialization, an optimal meat
production can be gained, whose tendency is to achieve the development of the
most valuable areas of the body (upper back, hindquarters, and chest). Examples: Poll Dorset, Suffolk.
The intensification of milk
production in some sheep breeds has determined special morphological
characteristics, which are evidenced in their corporeal conformation and great
development of the mammary gland. The
yield of meat and wool, without being negligible, has a secondary role. Milk producers are large animals with
angular lines, a not very extensive fleece, and large extremities in contrast
to their thorax, which is narrow but long and deep. The rump is well developed. Examples: Friesian, Sarda.
Hide producer.
This type of sheep is
hardy, large, and well developed in the hindquarters, with a fat tail and
fleece of thick hairs and a fine nap. The
hide producer is black in color, while the young adult is light gray. Examples: Karakul, Romanov.
BREEDS EXISTING IN ECUADOR
The Rambouillet originated from the Merino. Evidence indicates that the Merino originated
in Asia Minor in the 8th century BC and afterwards appeared in northern Africa,
arriving in southern Spain brought by the Phoenicians. It was from Spain, precisely, that the
Merino gained great importance as well as international distribution. The Spanish Merino became the genetic base
of many breeds.
In the Iberian
Peninsula, the Merino was perfected through time and became the origin of three
other types: the Escorial, Paular, and Negrete,
characterized by the production of very fine wool, limited development, and low
fleece weight. In the eighteenth
century, the Spanish Merino was introduced to France in a region called
Rambouillet, from which the Rambouillet Merino arose.
In 1765, the first
Merinos arrived in Germany from Spain.
From these animals arose the Saxon Merino and Electoral Merino, both
small in size with notable fineness of fleece, smooth skin, and fleeces heavier
than their Spanish ancestors.
In the eighteenth
century the Spanish Merinos also arrived in North America. From them originated the famous Vermont
Merinos, characterized for being highly wrinkled without great development and
producing ultra-fine wool. The Vermont
Merino was used in the formation of the Australian Merino.
Breed
Characteristics.
Body:
Face: Free of wool up to the eye-line.
Nose: Rose-colored.
The bridge has one or two transversal wrinkles.
Ears: Velvety ears covered with white hair.
Horns: Rams with triangular horns,
ewes with no horns. Now polled rams
exist.
Hooves: White.
Skin: Loose, fine, and pink with two large folds on the
chest.
Fleece:
Diameter: 19 - 24 microns.
Density: 60 - 70 fibers / mm2
Staple Length: 6 - 10 cm.
Crimp: 6 - 8 / cm.
Yield: 45 - 55 %
Defects.
Hairs in the fleece.
Black spots on the hooves, legs, tongue, and other parts of the body.
Short wool, coarse wool.
Long noses.
Loose fleeces.
Excess of wool on the face, long ears covered in wool.
Poor confirmation.
Bowed or bent legs.
Aptitudes
and Climate.
Better adapted to dry climates and land types.
Is not demanding in its feed, hardy.
Wide breeding season.
Weak lambs, sensitive to cold and rain.
High yields of clean wool, due to cleanliness and low level of grease.
Poor meat producer.
En low and humid areas, can present lameness / hoof problems.
The Corriedale was
created because of the need for a sheep capable of high lamb production and
good-quality fleeces, produced commonly by crossing Merinos with long-wooled
breeds. Principally, the Merino and
Lincoln breeds were used, resulting in a dual-purpose animal.
The founder of the
breed is New Zealander James Little.
His ideal was to form a breed with appropriate conformation for meat
production, high-quality wool, and sufficient hardiness. Since 1874, the progeny of these sheep have
been in-bred, crossed with meat-type sheep of the same flock.
Breed
Characteristics.
Body:
Face: Somewhat covered.
Nose: Black. The
bridge is covered by soft, dull white hairs.
Ears: Covered in wool.
Horns: Has none.
Hooves: Black.
Skin: Smooth.
Fleece:
Diameter: 25 - 31 microns.
Density: 29 fibers / mm2
Staple Length: 9 - 15 cm
Yield: 60 %
Crimp: 2 - 3 / cm.
General
characteristics.
Good constitution, special characteristics,
manageable, not so nervous. Good appearance,
neither very large nor small. Good mode
of walking. A dual-purpose animal
because of equal dedication to meat and wool production.
Defects.
Bad conformation.
Bowed or bent legs.
Defective mouth.
Heavy horns joined to the bone of the cranium.
Excessive brown or black spots on the head or legs.
Presence of hairs in the fleece.
Wool too fine or coarse.
Excess of folds on the neck.
Fallen ears.
Wool blindness.
Aptitudes
and climate.
Acclimates without difficulty
to extreme environments, a proof of its vigor and hardiness.
Bears climatic forces or soil deficiencies.
Produces excellent lambs, is prolific, produces large quantity of milk.
Serves as a commercial cross.
Rapid development and early maturation encourages faster weight gain.
Medium wool with good luster, silky to the touch, easily dyed, and
highly uniform.
Reviewing history, it is thought that possibly, during Spain’s attempted
conquest of England via the southeast centuries ago, the Spanish Merino was
crossed with the native horned sheep of Wales, and a dual-purpose breed was
born to satisfy the needs of the time.
In England, the breed was called the Horned Dorset.
Though now the breeds are different
owing to different environments and crosses, both have the purpose of producing
meat without having to discard the wool that it produces. The Dorset with the poll characteristic,
apparently resulting from a mutation that occurred in a purebred flock in
Carolina, was accepted into the standards for the breed.
Breed
Characteristics.
Body:
Face: Uncovered, without wool until eye level.
Nose: Pink.
Horns: Both males and females are without horns.
Hooves: White.
Skin: Pink.
Fleece:
Diameter: 26 - 32 microns
Density: 48 - 58 fibers / mm2
Staple Length: 8 - 10 cm.
Yield: 50 - 65 %
General
characteristics.
The Dorset is a medium-sized sheep, with a good body extension and conformation
to produce a desirable animal for the modern-day market. It is long bodied with good musculature.
Defects.
A dark spot on the hair
or wool.
Excessive skin, large
wrinkles.
Excessively large tear
ducts.
Large, dangling ears.
Abnormal testicles.
Inverted eyelids.
Weak points of the
hooves.
Inferior teeth with
defective alignment.
Bowed or bent legs.
Absence of hair in
areas where hair is normally found.
Lack of natural
musculature.
Aptitudes
and climate.
Good mothers, produce
abundant milk.
Need good pasture.
Produces good slaughter
lambs.
Gives birth easily.
Does not do well in
humid climates or land types.
Continual, direct sun
can affect them, producing ulcers and abscesses.
The criolla sheep is a descendent of the Churra
and Manchega breeds that originated in Spain and were introduced into
the country in the epoch of the conquistadores. It is a small, lean animal that produces a
light fleece formed by a mixture of long and coarse hairs with a fine and short
nap, a structure that is characteristic of the ancient breeds. In Ecuador, 90% of the existing sheep belong
to this breed, either having purely criolla blood or crossed.
This breed is found in the Sierra of Ecuador, principally in the
provinces of Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Bolívar, Tungurahua, Pichincha, etc., and is
concentrated in the indigenous communities (INEC, 1993).
Characteristics
of the breed.
Body:
Face: Clean, full of hair of various colors.
Nose: Various colors, pigmented.
Ears: Small, covered with hairs.
Horns: Present from one to various pairs of horns oriented in different
directions. The rams and ewes may or
may not have horns.
Hooves: Vary, principally pigmented.
Skin: Thick.
Adult Weight: 20
- 30 Kg.
Fleece:
Diameter: 45.6 microns.
Staple Length: 12.8 cm.
Greasy Fleece Weight: 1.48
Kg.
Yield: 42 - 44 %
General
Characteristics.
They are small in size,
lean, active, and surefooted, with poor confirmation. They are also healthy, long-lived, and prolific and good
mothers. They are hardy animals with
regard to management as well as illnesses, well adapted to the diverse
climactic conditions of the country.
Wool.
Criolla sheep have
coarse wool mixed with hairs, of various colors ranging from black to
white. The aspect of this animal with
its wool complete must give the appearance that it is wearing a poncho, falling
over the sides and towards the rear.
Upon birth, the lambs have a felt of wool that is absorbed by a layer of
hair that grows continually and rapidly.
The wool production of this breed is practically designed for home use,
as in the fabrication of local crafts.
