No more horns: Are Poll Merinos the future or will the old Merino hold on?

Poll Merinos have leaped ahead of their horned, traditional Merino peers in recent years and the popularity trend looks set to continue.

Many of the Merino studs still producing both types of sheep saw seasonal conditions affect their ram sales last year.

Within this, it was often the traditional horned Merino rams that saw the biggest dip in demand, compared to their poll peers.

Koole Vale Merino stud principal Alan Harris, Costerfield, said he had "dramatically" changed his stud flock over the past 10 years, in line with the trend.

"We're only probably joining 15 per cent of our ewes to horned rams now," he said.

"We have them because we like them and we've got a few clients that buy them but it's limited."

He said it was a shame to see the horned Merino decline in numbers as they had a lot of history in Australia.

"Historically, they've cut more wool and probably had better wool cuts and quality in the past," he said.

Bennmann Poll Merino stud principal Dean Bennett, Everton Upper, said it seemed to him that all commercial woolgrowers were looking for poll rams.

"As far as handling an animal, you haven't got to deal with the horns and it's a bit safer," he explained.

"You don't seem to get the fly strike around the horns that some of the other sheep get."

He said Poll Merinos were more suited to a dual-purpose ewe flock, and they were easier to handle come shearing time.

"They're certainly easier to handle and the sheep are planing up a lot more than they used to," he said.

"You need to do that because the shearers demand not having too much wrinkle on the sheep any more."

Mr Bennett said this was important in getting shearers to come and shear, when they were in short supply.

"You must have a pretty good skin on them," he said.

Tamaleuca Poll Merino stud principal Kevin Crook, Ouyen, had changed his stud flock to totally polled sheep, following demand trends for rams.

"We used to be 50/50 and then once people started getting the polls, they stayed with the polls," he said.

"They gave away the horns very quickly."

Mr Crook said the Poll Merino was much easier to care for than the traditional Merino.

"Probably the polls, they're a slightly more meatier animal, a more dual-purpose type sheep," he said.

"The whole industry is heading to a dual-purpose sheep, not a wool sheep any more."

He said polled ewes simply did better on his country.

Hynam Poll Merino stud principal Kevin Hynam, Longwood, said horned sheep were becoming few and far between now.

He also said the Poll Merino was easier to handle and woolgrowers with them had less fly strike issues.

Montrose Hill Merino stud principal George McKenzie, was holding on tightly to his traditional Merino genetics but also now bred the poll sheep.

He had a list of regular clients for the horned rams but thought he "paid the price" at his spring 2024 ram sale.

Horned rams saw a lower clearance rate and average price at the sale, compared to polled.

"That seems to be the way people want to go," he said.