100 years of breed improvement - the merino

A Grand Champion from the turn of the 1900s

I decided to upload this after seeing the dog "improvement" album here.
http://imgur.com/gallery/r4fSh
The Merino has probably changed even more in the last century... I think, for the better.

Taken from the group shot below. Contrasted to the last two images, of modern Merino rams. To be a grand champion ram, means that it exhibited all the traits that were desirable at the time.

Notice the large body wrinkles (visible even through a full coat of wool) and wooly muzzle. Both traits, that today would make this example totally unacceptable (a cull, in fact).

Champion Merino rams ranging from 1895 to 1935

A quick, dodgy hacked together group of photos, taken from a collection of old images in a frame, showing the champion Merino Rams from the end of the 19th century, into the first part of the 20th century. Eve in the 40 years that these images range over, you can notice a visible difference, mainly in the reduction of body wrinkle.

A modern merino ram

Another modern ram

These two are just a couple of examples of rams bought by us, in the 21st century. Notice the almost complete lack of any visible body wrinkle and muzzle (face) with no wool on it.

The modern Merino has slowly changed throughout the 20th century, and still is, to make caring for them easier, and to reduce negative impacts of parasites and the environment. Body wrinkle encouraged fly trouble, and wooly faces meant that they couldn't see and got grass seeds in their eyes.

There are of course many other, less visible changes that have happened. For example, increased size and wool cut, better quality wool (technical stuff), longer legs, and many more polled merinos being bred now.