Sheep breed
Hungarian Merino
Hungarian Merino
A dual-purpose (meat and wool) Hungarian Merino, perfectly adapted to the Hungarian climate and able to lamb all year round.
Hungarian Merino ewe (after shearing), Zsámbék, 2018. Photo: Globetrotter19 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
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Description2
The Hungarian Merino is a white Merino breed with medium meat conformation, well adapted to Hungarian weather, feeding and husbandry conditions and suited to semi-intensive management.
It has good maternal traits and lamb-rearing ability and can lamb throughout the year. Today the main breeding goals are improving prolificacy, lamb-rearing and milking ability, maternal traits and muscling, while preserving the wool quality typical of the Merino.
The fleece is staple-structured, even and white. Wool covers the forehead, the forelegs down to the knee and the hind legs down to the hock.
History2
Mid-1700s
Merino sheep keeping begins in Hungary.
1920s–30s
The predecessor breed, the Hungarian combing Merino, emerges from crossing Electoral-Negretti Merinos with local breeds (Racka, long-wooled German-Swabian sheep).
After World War II
Soviet Merino breeds (Caucasian, Stavropol, Grozny and above all Askanian) are used in breeding.
From the 1960s
Breeding for meat: French Mérinos Précoce, then German Mutton Merinos.
1993
Separate herdbook – work on a unified Hungarian Merino begins.
Breed standard and breed society
The official breed description, breeding goal and herdbook rules are published by the recognised breed society (MJKSZ).
- Magyar Juh- és Kecsketenyésztő Szövetség (MJKSZ) – fajtaleírás, tenyésztési cél, törzskönyvhttps://mjksz.hu/tenyesztes/fajtak/magyar-merino-juh
- NÉBIH – elismert tenyésztő szervezetek fajtanyilvántartója (024/95)https://portal.nebih.gov.hu/documents/10182/379191/Honlapra_NEBIH+fajtanyilvantarto.pdf/b9c77093-8ccb-1547-b870-e676112487d8?t=1781163930044
Photo gallery
All photos are freely licensed (Wikimedia Commons, Flickr); author, source and licence are shown under each image.
Related breeds
Sources
- NÉBIH – Elismert tenyésztő szervezetek fajtanyilvántartója (2026. 10. 15.)
- MJKSZ – Magyar merinó juh fajtaleírás
Accessed: 2026-10-18.