Booroola Merino
{{Short description|Breed of sheep}}
The Booroola is a Merino strain that has a high rate of multiple births.
Booroola's prolificacy was studied extensively by New Zealand researchers, who provided one of the first examples of the practical application of gene mapping in sheep, by mapping the Booroola gene to chromosome 6
| last = Montgomery
| first = G.W.
|author2=Galloway, S.M.|author3=Davis, G.H.|author4=McNatty, K.P.
| title = Genes controlling ovulation rate in sheep
| journal = Reproduction
| issue = 6
| pages = 843–852
| year = 2001
| doi = 10.1530/rep.0.1210843
| volume = 121
| pmid=11373170| doi-access = free
}}
History
The Booroola Merino was started by Jack and Dick Seears of Booroola, Cooma using ewes from their Egelabra flock that gave multiple-births.{{cite book
| last = Turner
| first = Sydney
|author2=Sydney Young
| title = Quantitative genetics in sheep breeding
| publisher = Cornell University Press [1969]
| year = 1969
| location = Ithaca, N.Y. }} The Seears gave the CSIRO a quintuplet ram in 1958, another in 1959 and a sextuplet ewe in 1960. In 1958, the CSIRO purchased 12 ewes (triplets or quadruplets) and a ewe who had given birth to triplets. When the Booroola flock was dispersed in 1965, the CSIRO purchased 91 mixed-age multiple-born ewes and moved their Booroola flock from Deniliquin to Armidale.
The Egelabra and Mumblebone strains of the Merino can be traced to Gamboola; these were derived from Samuel Marsden's flock, and like Macarther's flock, Marsden's flock was based on South African Escurial, Cape and Bengal Sheep. The Bengal was a prolific sheep imported from Calcutta.
Notes
- {{cite book
| last = Cottle
| first = D.J.
| title = Australian Sheep and Wool Handbook
| publisher = Inkata Press
| year = 1991
| location = Melbourne, Australia
| pages = 20–23
| isbn = 0-909605-60-2 }}
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- [http://www.biolreprod.org/cgi/content/abstract/66/6/1869 DNA Tests in Prolific Sheep from Eight Countries Provide New Evidence on Origin of the Booroola (FecB) Mutation]
{{Sheep breeds of Australia and New Zealand}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Booroola Merino (Sheep)}}
Category:Sheep breeds originating in Australia
{{sheep-stub}}