LALLAVE

The farm of the Hidalgo Pérez brothers, de Sena de Luna (León), had great importance in the first half of the 20th century, being the only Leonese farm that has managed to reach our days. Its origin possibly dates back to the nineteenth century. The sheep come from the old and famous sheep farm of the Duque de Fernán Núñez, who owned a large area of ​​land close to the border area between the regions of La Serena and La Siberia, with ancestral home in Siruela (Badajoz).

Probably, some ancestor of the Hidalgos was a shepherd in the house of the Duke of Fernán Núñez and this is how could have all started.. The Hidalgos farm was never very large, in the twentieth century did not exceed 3,000 sheeps, but it was very selected.

GO BACK

Our sheeps have an average of 1.5 births per year and many of them are twins, so this number increases.
Prolificacy and survivals are factors traditionally considered incompatible, but today these are the elements that we have to improve our rates of reproduction. The handling of twin sheeps has become of great importance. It is very important to identify sheeps with multiple pregnancies that must be managed separately in order to pay attention to their nutrition.
The weight at birth and the availability of the first shots of colostrum are factors of paramount importance for the survival of the twins. The improvement of the nutritional level of sheep breeding twins, through quality pastures and possibly with supplement concentrates, allows reducing substantially the mortality of this type of animals.

GO BACK

Dehesa is a forest formed by arboreal species of Quercus, with lower layers of pastures or bushes, where the activity of the human being has been intense, and are generally intended for livestock maintenance.
It is a typical example of "agrosilvopastoral" system and typical of the western area of ​​Spain. The developed system has great economic and social importance in Extremadura, both because of its superficial extension and because of the function of fixing the rural population in its centres.

Extensión Extension 40,000 square kilometres
4 millones hectares in the Iberian Peninsula.

GO BACK

Sheep (Ovis orientalis aries) Merino breed is an ungulate quadruped mammal, ruminant, artiodactyl, or animal with hooves.

Possibly comes from the wild mouflon of Europe and Asia, which were one of the first animals to be domesticated for their wool, meat and milk.
The merino is a compact breed, with short neck and legs, an image that is reinforced due to its abundant, fine and curly wool. This one is of better quality in the animals that are bred in the south. The color of the mantle is whitish and without spots. Only in some cases the males have short and spiral horns.

Once the export of the breed was allowed, it has undergone different adaptations to the territories where it was raised, being famous the Rambouillet (Mérinos de Rambouillet), the Vermont, the Negretti, the Delaine, the American and the Australian merino.

The main exploitation area of ​​the Merina breed is the dehesa. An important step taken in the last decades is the use of pasture in the meadow with the merino sheep, through the application of the fence system. With this procedure, the ordering and utilization of pastures is improved; and soil fertilization is favoured.

GO BACK

The history of the Merino breed is linked to the history of Spain and dates back to the colonization of the benimerines (banu marin) of Morocco that invaded the province of Cádiz in the 14th century.
Other theories relate his name to the tax collectors of the Kingdom of León "the Merino" who collected the tithes in the form of wool, cheese or jerky. The origins of the breed, that could have had its beginnings in North Africa, in Carthage or perhaps n the Near East, are not known exactly, but its exploitation and valorization corresponds to the Honorable Council of the Mesta de Pastors that was created in 1273 by Alfonso X the Wise.
In 1786 France secretly acquires a herd of merino sheep under a treaty signed by Louis XVI that will give rise to the Rambouille race of great importance in the past.
For centuries the monopoly of wool held by Spain was the object of laws that prohibited the exit of merino from the country.

La raza Merina. Bibliografía: Biblioteca y archivo de la Asociación de Criadores de Ganado Merino

Proyecto de investigación. Antonio Granero Vázquez

Origen y antecedentes de la raza Merina. Antonio Granero Vázquez
GO BACK

Finca Los Almaracejos is located in the council of Torrecilla de la Tiesa in the province of Cáceres next to the E90 highway (Madrid - Badajoz) near Trujillo (Spain)

The estate Los Almaracejos
Dimensions: 400 hectares approximately

GO BACK

The shepherds are a team of professionals who know their job very well and know how to meet all the needs of a modern sheep farm. People using new technologies and aware of the advances that make livestock more efficient.

Our team of shepherds counts on the invaluable help of the Border Collie shepherd dogs that handle the movements of the herd greatly.

GO BACK

- Head; wide and short. It presents straight fronto-nasal profile in females and rectum or subconvex in males. Little outgoing orbits. Wide forehead. Thick nose, with one or several skin folds above the characteristic nostrils in the males. Wide nose and thick lips. Ears small, in horizontal position. The horns, when they occur, are strong in the males, nacreous in color, with a finely fluted surface, with ostensible transversal grooves and a triangular section; They adopt a spiral shape with two turns. In females, the presence of horns is very rare, and they are generally rudimentary.

- Neck; short, strong. Frequently, it presents cutaneous folds: double chin, ties, etc., although less and less developed, since, in Spain, the selection tends to the elimination of these folds.

- Torso; of medium length. Wide cross, without standing out from the dorso-lumbar line, which tends towards straightness. Rounded back and well attached to the dorso. Arched ribs. Well proportioned belly. Chest descended. Square rump and slightly inclined.

- Limbs; vigorous and of medium height. Broad joints. Strong and depigmented hooves. A very characteristic and differentiating sign is the outstanding width of the hock.

- Skin, hair and mucous membranes; the skin is thin, flexible, with a tendency to form folds. It lacks primary follicles, supports of the medullated fibers. The covering hair, in the deslanadas zones, is fine, smooth, with silky reflections. The mucous membranes are clear.

- Color; uniform white or black, according to variety.

- Fleece; it is the element that best identifies the Merino breed and serves to differentiate it from other sheep breeds. Very widespread, it covers the trunk, neck, head (front and cheeks), testicles and limbs up to the hooves; although in Spain, due to the difficult environment in which it lives, the distal parts of the extremities are usually devoid of wool. Likewise, in the head, the wool generally does not descend below the line located at eye level. In the breast, in your case, it disappears after the first lactation. Of white or black color, according to variety, the fleece is closed, formed by square wicks, lubricated with fluid, colorless or slightly yellowish suarda. The wicks are made up of fine fibers, at most the fibers can reach up to 23 microns in diameter in the Blanca and Negra varieties, and up to 25 microns in the Montes Universal variety, of medium length, very uniform and with special characteristics regarding the fineness, curling, elasticity and resistance. They have a density much higher than that of sheep of other breeds.

- Variety: White, Black and Universal Montes.

GO BACK