The history of wool and mohair in South Africa

Merino Sheep

“The true origin of the Merino remains a mystery, hidden forever in the shadows of time, but the evidence of their importance and value shines brightly across the centuries. The wool of the Merino has both shaken and shored national economies. It has lured adventurers and inspired the growth of far flung colonies.”
(Heritage Merino – A history of greatness by Malcolm McCosker)

South Africa was the first country outside Europe to own Merinos. This history dates back as far as 1789, when the Netherlands government donated two Spanish Merino rams and four Spanish Merino ewes to Col. Jacob Gordon, the then military commander of the Cape, to experiment with.

The Merinos were at first the property of the Spanish king, who had the sole right to send Merinos out of the country. He sent a number of sheep from his well-known Escoriale Merino flock as a gift to the House of Orange. The sheep could not adapt to the high rainfall in Holland and thus became the property of Col. Gordon. He immediately saw the possibilities of the race and decided to keep the race pure on the Company’s farm, Groenkloof, 55 km from Cape Town.

During 1791, the colonel received an official request from Holland to return the Merinos because they evidently should never have been sent to the Cape. Fortunately for the future of the South African Merino, he only returned the original number and kept the offspring here, which are regarded as the basis of the Merino in South Africa.

SA Mutton Merino

The first Mutton Merinos were imported from Germany to South Africa in 1932 by the Department of Agriculture. Through the years, the build and the breed were improved by selecting better wool, without doing injustice to the good mutton characteristics.

Today, the SA Mutton Merino is the third largest sheep breed in South Africa, produced in all nine provinces. Adequate proof of its excellent cross-breeding potential is that it is the paternal breed of three South African breeds: the Dohne Merino (SAMM crossed with Merino), the Dormer (SAMM crossed with Dorset Horn) and the Afrino (SAMM crossed with Afrikaner/Merino).

The breed is especially known for its outstanding tender, juicy and tasty mutton quality. The breeding was aimed mainly at good maternal characteristics with an excellent reproduction rate and the ability to rear twins.

Dohne Merino

In 1939, it was decided to initiate experiments at the Dohne Agricultural Research Station, aimed at the development of a woolled mutton sheep which would be well adapted to prevailing climate and nutritional conditions. High fertility and sufficient milk to allow for fast growth of lambs were considered prerequisites for such a breed. In addition, a substantial quantity of wool without hair, coloured fibers or kemp and a quality which would not detract from the South African fine wool clip, were required. Regular lambing in both autumn and spring was favoured.

German Merino rams were obtained from the Stellenbosch-Elsenburg College of Agriculture from 1939 onwards and crossed with Merino ewes. The development programmes were always closely associated with the Dohne Agricultural Research Station; hence the origin of the breed name.

Angora Goats

In 1839, the Mosenthal family first imported angora goats from Turkey. The region in Turkey where the goats came from is called Ankara or Angora, hence the name ‘angora goat’.

These goats, two ewes and one ram arrived, accompanied by their Turkish handlers. On arrival in Port Elizabeth, it was discovered that the ram had been sterilised prior to leaving Turkey but one of the two ewes was later found to be pregnant and gave birth to a ram kid, which was the start of our South African Mohair clip.

An interesting fact is that in 1988 there were 2,9 million angora goats which produced 12,2 million kilograms of mohair. There are now an estimated one million angora goats producing 4,2 million kilograms of mohair.