Rambouillet sheep

The development of the Rambouillet breed started in 1786,[1]: 44–46  when Louis XVI purchased over 300 Spanish Merinos (318 ewes, 41 rams, seven wethers[citation needed]) from his cousin Charles III of Spain.

[citation needed] The flock was subsequently developed on an experimental royal farm, the Bergerie royale (now Bergerie nationale) built during the reign of Louis XVI, at his request, on his domain of Rambouillet, 50 km southwest of Paris, which Louis XVI had purchased in December 1783 from his cousin Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre.

[citation needed] The flock was raised exclusively at the Bergerie, with no sheep being sold for years,[1]: 44–46  well into the 19th century.

In 1889, a Rambouillet Association was formed in the United States by Larmon Bronson Townsend & Larmon George Townsend in Ionia, Michigan, with the aim of preserving the breed.

The fleece was valuable in the manufacture of cloth, at times being woven in a mixed fabric of cotton warp and wool weft.