Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1910-07-15
THE VERMONT MERINOS
Famous StrainOf Sheep Developed
From Spanish Importations
Stock Is Now Sent from Addison County
to South Africa and Australia for
Breeding Purposes.

Breeding Purposes.
zadock Thompson estimated in 1924
that the number Of sheep in Vermont
was 475,OOO, and predicted that Vermont
would become a great wool producing
state. But for various reasons 1t has not and
comparatively few small fiocks scattered
about the state, a sort of side line for the
dairy farmers, make up its sheep popula-
ton. Yet Vermont developed what is
probably the finest sheep raised today
and furnishes much OF the breeding stock
for the great sheep raisers and wool
growers of the world
Carl Church, who represented Whiting
in the legislature of 1908, has been inter-
ested in the sheep industry of Addison
county and has made 20 or more trips to
South Africa with breeding stock, the
last trip being made last summer, and
there are several firms who make a bust
ness of raising and buying sheep for the
Australian and South African market,
the best known shippers being Sprague,
Charles Witherell and Wright, Cart
nell and Cook. Among the Vermont
sheep raisers whose sheep have lineal de-
scendants among great producing flocks
of Australia are II. c.. Burwell, ]. c. c.
Hamilton, L. S. Burwel, c. II. Smith,
f. ]. Carpenter, Charles Parish, G. 7.
Stckney, +. d. Barton and C. p. Nor
rison.
The Merno sheep, like the Morgan
horse. is distinctively Vermont product
but the Merinos have been well bred and
carefully cared for, so there Is no need
for the government to step in, as it has
done in the case Of the Morgans, to pre-
serve the strain.
Though the Merino as now known is a
Vermont product and the best breeding
| stock in the world is produced in this
state, the breed did not originate here.
1t is one Of the oldest strains in the
world II had a home in Spain before
the Christian era. When the Saracens
! conquered Spain in the eighth century
| they found flocks and looms and suffi-
! cient evidence to justify the belief that
! the Mernos are the lineal descendants Of
! the fine wool sheep described by Roman
! writer's before Christian civilization had
| made its appearance. In fact 1t is some
| times questioned II the Merinos may not
| have produced the original golden fleece
that tempted Jason on his Argonautic
| expedition.
These Spanish sheep were distinct in
! character from any other breeds known
| In the world. They were divided into
| small flocks which were kept separate
from each other and subjected to special
modes of breeding which created the
! characters Of the separate families. The
! first important division in Spain was into
| two principal families, known as the
| Transhumanites and the Estantes, the
former OF which were travelling fiocks
and the latter stationary. The Transhu-
| NANTES were regarded as the more val
! liable and were owned largely by kings
| and mobiles, SO that they were designated
as the aristocratic Merino Among the
! esteemed families OF migratory sheep
| were the Escurial, which possessed the
finest wool in Gaudaloupe. which had the
| most perfect form and We're celebrated
for the quantity and quality Of their
! wool. the Paulers, also noted as being
| large wool producers; and the Infanta-
dos, with hairy fleece. The Negretti
were the largest and strongest OF all the
Spanish sheep.
But the American. or Vermont. Mer-
| inc today bears little resemblance to its
| Spanish ancestors. 1t has been improved
! in size and wool producing qualities, I'M
til an ordinary Merno today is superior
to the finest ever owned by any grandee
OF Spain.
Thomas Jefferson by some has been
! given credit for bringing the Merinos
into this country, and as he is known to
have been greatly interested in the i'm
provement Of stock and the development
| Of agriculture, that might readily be be-
| lieved. But those who have made a study
OF MerIno history believe that while JEFF
ferson may have brought Merinos here
very early the first importation from
| Spain was made by Col. David Hum
| phreys. Col Humphreys. who was the
American minister to Spain, made a ship
| ment on April 10, 1902. of 100 sheep,
which We're taken to his farm at Derby,
| Conn, and became the founders of the
| American Merinos. These were care
| fully bred and the stock improved so that
| in 1913 stephen Atwood of Woodbury.,
! Conn. paid Col. Humphreys s120 for a
/ eve, remarkable price for those days.
Mr.. Atwood was a practical man and paid
close attention to pedigrees. His family
| soon became a favorite with breeders
and the closely inbred fine wool Atwood
| MernoS became very popular. Ed
| ward Hammond of Middlebury, though,
made the greatest improvement in the
Atwood Merinos and brought them to
their highest state of perfection.
William Jarvis of Weathersfield Amer
| lean consul to Lisbon. was the largest
| Importer of Spanish sheep, and 1t Is
probably due to his efforts more than to
| those of any other one man that the
| Vermont Merino was developed. He
! took advantage of an offer of the Span
! ish junta to sell the confscated fiocks
of some of the Spanish mobiles and ship
| ped to this country $3.50 sheep, 1850 OF
which were pastured on Vermont farms.
| This was in lS09-l0 and for years the
| descendants of the Paulers, believed to
be the best bred animals in Spain. whit
ened the hlllsides of his Weathersfield
| pastures. Men now living recall the
time when hundreds of sheep were
pastured on his farm.
The farmers and breeders of those
| days knew something of the science Of
| breeding, though there were no agricul-
| tural colleges and experiment stations to
| give them scientific instruction, BY care
full selection of breeding stock, improved
feeding and attention to details they so
| improved the breed that the weight OF a
| fleece increased from eight to As pounds
Sheep breeding and wool raising was
| profitable in those days, for in 1908 the
| price of wool was 81 a pound and during
the 1872 war 1t reached at one time $50
| Vermont breeders continued to take great
pains with their stock and raising Meri-
nos was the principal industry on many
| Vermont farm, Back in the fifties
there are said to have been more than
| thousand Merino breeders in Rutland
and Addison counties. and the industry
still fourishes there, though sheep are
not raised in so large numbers as for
merly.
The prices brought by some animals
Of high quality were remarkable. Edwin
| Hammond of Middlebury. who developed
the Atwood strain, sold two ewes to Bot
tom and Benedict of SALISBURY in 1868
for $500. and in 1885 refused $4,000 for
his famous Merino ram Gold Drop. M T.
| Shackett of Waltham was offered $1,000
for ram that produced 3Oh pounds of
wool at one shearing. The animal weigh
ed 123 pounds, so the price named was
| abOut enough m malra him vyorfb 1,tg