The seasonal influence on Merino wool production

Abstract

The Merino sheep does not show seasonal changes in wool fineness in a varying Karroo climate provided the feed is kept constant. As regards length, several workers have shown that the rate of growth is constant from month to month (Burns, 1931; Fraser, 1931) and from year to year (Duerden and Mare,1931) if the feed is kept constant. It follows, therefore, that in the Karroo at least there is no seasonal influence on the dimensional attributes of fineness and length which affect the volume of wool produced by Merino sheep, provided the nutrition is not changed.