Merino

A breed, or group of breeds, of domestic sheep known for very fine, soft wool, which originated on the Iberian Peninsula during the High Middle Ages, where it was kept as a strict Spanish monopoly and exporting the animals was once punishable by death. Flocks were distributed to other European courts during the eighteenth century and later spread to South America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, giving rise to variants such as the American Merino, the Australian Merino and the Rambouillet. Merinos are excellent foragers and highly adaptable, bred above all for wool; rams of most Merino breeds carry long horns that spiral close to the head while ewes are usually hornless, though the Australian Poll Merino is hornless in both sexes. Merino wool is exceptionally fine and soft, with staples typically 65 to 100 millimeters long and fiber diameters that can run under 24 microns at the ultra fine end, making it highly valued for textiles worldwide.