Navajo-Churro Sheep

The Farm is changing every day. Now that we are getting into "fall weather" finally, the trees are starting to turn so many different pretty colors. I really love the bounty of summer with all the yummy veggies and the trees covered with leaves. After a while though, it becomes monotonous and I look forward to the changing of the seasons. It seemed that this year that change came very late. Now we will concentrate on cold weather chores: Cleaning up the crops that have run their course, getting the animals ready for the colder weather, preparing the ground for our forage crop, planting the winter vegetables and waiting for the fruit trees to go dormant so they can be pruned for next year. I forget that there are so many things that must be done to get ready for winter.

We had a little white faced calf this week. It is really pretty and its mother is Maybelline. She is my favorite cow since she was bottle fed by a little (then) 9 year old boy. We bought her last year at the California Mid State Fair for this little 4H member. He was so concerned tat she would get lost and was relieved to hear this year that we still have her. This is the second calf she has given us.

We also had a baby lamb from one of our two Navajo Churro Sheep. History of the Navajo Churro: Over 400 years ago, Spanish explorers and settlers brought their native sheep, the Churra, to this country. In the 1500's, the Dine' (Navajo people) acquired a few sheep which they nurtured and raised. The sheep name had also been changed to Churros. In the 1930's the Dine' had over 574,821 sheep on their reservations but then our government decided to reduce their flocks by 30%. The government also introduced a program to "improve" the Churros by crossing them with other types of sheep. By the 1970's only around 500 head remained of the original Churros. A Cal Poly professor went to the reservations and rounded up many of the "old type" Churro sheep and brought them back to San Luis Obispo, CA for a breeding/research program. He returned many animals back to the Dine' for continued nurturing and development. In the 1980's, a registry and association were formed called the Navajo-Churro Sheep Association. Today there are over 5000 sheep registered across the US but they are still considered threatened by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. The Navajo-Churro breed rams can have two, four, six, or more horns. This is because they possess the polycerate gene, which is also found in old heritage breeds like the Jacob Sheep. They also have the ability to have fused horns. Ewes (females) also can have horns, or nubs called scurrs. The color can be black, white, or striped. The growth of rams’ horns is slow. A full rack takes at least four to five years to grow out. A ewe's horns can also grow large, but not to the extent of the rams.

Quote for the day:You don't stop laughing because you grow old, You grow old because you stop laughing.