A bright future awaits the Merino

The Merino is the ideal breed for sustainable and profitable sheep breeding in South Africa, according to LeRoux Fourie, owner of Fourie Boerdery’s Merino Stud near Brandfort. He told Annelie Coleman that the dual-purpose breed’s full potential had not yet been realised.

- Annelie Coleman

The Merino offers breeders a double income in the form of mutton and lamb for the local market and high-quality wool for the export market, says LeRoux Fourie, owner of Fourie Boerdery Merino Stud near Brandfort in the Free State.

He explains that it is a highly adaptable breed that can be farmed profitably in a wide array of climates and environments, adding that the modern Merino ewe is highly fertile and comfortably weans her lamb at 50% of her own weight at 100 days.

“The breed is known for top-quality and durable wool that’s internationally sought after. And it allows breeders the best of both worlds: valuable wool and excellent meat,” he says.

THE FARM

Fourie keeps his stud on 1 680ha divided into 12 natural grazing camps and 12 grain fields with individual watering points. His great-grandfather, Frans, started farming Merinos here in 1910, and the stud was registered in 1989.

Merinos have played an integral part in the mixed farming concern since Frans began farming. The sheep enterprise includes a commercial flock and a sheep feedlot.

Fourie says that he decided to establish a stud to add optimal value and supply superior breeding material adapted to extensive farming conditions. He was further motivated to do so by the stud industry’s selection support through systems such as performance recording and best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP).

Ongoing selection for fertility, efficiency and adaptability, and veld-testing of rams, officially branded and certified by the VeldbullRam organisation of Southern Africa, underpin the stud.

SELECTION