Seasonal changes in the morphology of wool follicles in Finewool and Strongwool Merino strains grazing at different stocking rates in southern Australia

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to determine the impact of stocking rate and Merino strain on follicle morphology before and after the break of the season in the highly seasonal Mediterranean environment of southern Australia. Groups of Finewool and Strongwool Merino sheep were allocated to 9 stocking rates on mixed legume-grass pastures, and skin biopsy samples were taken at monthly intervals from February to June. A scoring system, based on the morphology of follicles in transverse section, was used to characterise these samples. The proportion of follicles classified as