The role of selected wether flocks in Merino wool enterprises.

Adult wethers as wool growers are one source of income within a Merino flock. Wether numbers can be quickly and easily modified without losing any genetic progress that has been made from the selection program within the breeding flock. The economic value of different proportions of wethers within flocks of varying fibre diameter was considered at different meat values of surplus sheep. Without effective selection among wethers, there is little economic incentive to keep an adult wether flock. But selection of wethers on fibre diameter in fine and medium wool flocks can lead to substantial economic benefits. The optimal number of adult wethers reduces as the meat value of surplus animals increases.