Improvement of the Navajo Sheep

Returning Navajo-Churro Sheep for Navajo Weaving

“…Fleece from some Navajo-Churro ewes can be spun without carding, another quality that takes the weaver from fleece to loom more quickly. Navajo-Churro wool-coarse, long staple, low crimp, low grease-is well suited for Navajo textile production (Blunn 1940(Blunn .1943Grandstaff 1942;Heise and Christman 1989;Phillips 1941;Wheat 2003).…”

“…An unknown number of Navajo sheep had survived in the remote canyons of Navajo lands (Bailey 1964;Blunn 1940). Reservation Agents, however, attempted to increase wool yield and meat production by crossbreeding the Navajo sheep with high-production breeds.…”

“…Although charged with identifying improved breeds best suited to crossbreed with Navajo-Churro, SRSBL animal scientists recommended selective breeding of Navajo-Churro sheep to produce the most suitable fleece qualities preferred by Navajo weavers. Nevertheless, crossbred sheep with wool unsuitable for either commercial or traditional hand textile production continued to predominate on the reservation (Blunn 1940(Blunn ,1943Grandstaff 1942). fter the Second World War, the isolation ofthe Navajo people lessened. Road construction, wage labor, mandatory education, and off-reservation travel increased contact between Navajo and Anglo people and cultures.…”

Restoring Navajo-Churro sheep: community-based influences on a traditional Navajo fiber resource and textile

“…The outer coat of coarse hair fibers characteristic of unimproved sheep has decreased; the inner coat of fine, soft wool fibers characteristic of improved sheep has increased-from 15 microns in wild sheep to a typical value of 20 microns for fine wool (Ryder, 1997). Although the Navajo-Churro coat grows continuously and must be shorn, it has retained the double coat (outer coarse hair fibers and inner fine wool fibers) and kemp fibers of unimproved sheep breeds (Blunn, 1940(Blunn, , 1943Grandstaf% 1942;Phillips, 1941). The wool yield from Navajo-Churro sheep is lower in general than that for improved breeds.…”

“…The wool yield from Navajo-Churro sheep is lower in general than that for improved breeds. Fleece at shearing time for a mature Navajo-Churro ewe averages four to 6ve pounds (Heise & Christman, 1989), and that from an improved breed sheep may produce eight to twelve pounds of fleece (Blunn, 1940).…”