2016 Navajo-Churro Breeding Groups
DoT Frederic 104
Fred is not the largest of rams, but he may well have some of the mightiest fleece of the rams! This guy is low kemp, high volume, with a well balanced fleece that's a joy to dye and spin. He's Mel Gibson's son, so we wouldn't have expected any less, and his dam, CNF Mariah Carey, also has incredible fleece. Due to high demand for white sheep in Navajo Nation, we're trying to bring in more high quality white rams and ewes, so that we balance our flock out a bit more between colored sheep and white sheep. Interestingly, in the Pacific Northwest most people want colored sheep, and fancy color patterns in particular have been in high demand for years. Personally, I prefer single colored animals, because sorting wool on the badger patterns is a real pain, and not everybody has the patience to blend. We have customers who like both though, so while we'll never quit breeding the fancies, our emphasis is definitely shifting more to producing a balanced fare of fancy sheep and traditional white. Fred's sire Mel Gibson produced many colored and white lambs, so there's a chance that Fred could produce just about anything.
Frederic's Sire: Mel Gibson (N-CSA #4771-06); Sire's Sire: Griffindor; Sire's Dam: Yak (N-CSA #3157-02).
Frederic's Dam: CNF Mariah Carey (N-CSA #5624-09); Dam's Sire: ALG Gandalf II; Dam's Dam: CNF Marie Osmund (N-CSA #B3161-02).
ALS Smoke (N-CSA #A6772-13)
Smoke used to be one of the shyest sheep we had, but in the past few years she's settled in to be a bossy treat snatching ewe. A little on the smaller side, but by no means undersized, Smoke is a bit stockier than most of our sheep. Her wool is always lustrous, and she has a silkier hand than most of our other black sheep. This makes her particularly popular with the handspinners, especially since her inner and outer coat blend into a lustrous and rich pewter color. She surprised us with Jango and gave us a huge black & tan ewe lamb with a big white blaze, so it's possible we could get more patterened lambs out of her. We have no idea what sort of lambs she'll produce with Fred, but we're certain they'll have the highest quality fleece.
Smoke's Sire: CW Lonesome (N-CSA #6809-13); Sire's Sire: baw Jacob (N-CSA #B4130); Sire's Dam: OV Ma.
Smoke's Dam: RNJ Spice Girl (N-CSA #A5387-08); Dam's Sire: MAYW Dolittle (N-CSA #4500-05); Dam's Dam: 3JL Buffy (N-CSA #3942).
ALS Storm (N-CSA #A6803-13)
Storm is one of those ewes that's a real pain to handle, but she's so pretty that we haven't eaten her yet. She's a 4 horned ewe (although technically, I think she's more like a 4 scurred ewe) and her fleece is absolutely magnificent. With a soft, lofty inner coat and a silky outer coat, she's an absolute dream for the handspinner. It's really a shame that with such a pretty coat, she couldn't be a little more personable. She has good flocking instincts, but she is incredibly flighty, and she'll stampede the entire flock out of the barn if she thinks we're about to shut the gate. This makes her a wonderful range ewe, but a real jerk for those of us who need to accomplish hoof trimmings, fecal checks and shearing. She has mellowed a little since having lambs last year, and we're hoping that she will continue to chill out. She gave us a big white ram from Rodeo last year, so we are expecting more white lambs out of Fred.
Storm's Sire: DAM Giddeon (N-CSA #6638-12) Sire's Sire: Unknown Sire's Dam: DAM Briana (N-CSA #6636-12)
Storm's Dam: CNF Luthien Tinuvial (N-CSA #A5764-09) Dam's Sire: CNF Patrick (N-CSA #B3552-03) Dam's Dam: Galadriel (N-CSA #3159-02)
FCC Hot Lips Houlihan
Hot Lips is out of the Deanna Thomas Flynn Creek Churros flock that we took a few years ago. She's matured into a moderately flighty but undeniably gorgeous ewe. Her fleece is very open, with a good undercoat and a silky hand. A lot of Navajo-Churros with an open coat have heavier, coarser wool, but Hot Lips is actually on the finer side of the norm. Deanna was herself a fiber artist, so her breeding program focused mainly on wool quality and well balanced headss. Hot Lips was born here, but she acts like she's new here with the amount of suspicion that she treats everybody with. Her dam is very friendly, so we're hoping that she'll mellow out after lambing a few times. We're expecting more white lambs with great fleece out of the union between her and Fred, hopefully with Fred's fantastic wide spread horns.
Hot Lips Houlihan's Sire: Unknown; Sire's Sire: Unknown; Sire's Dam: Unknown.
Hot Lips Houlihan's Dam: FCC Marita's Girl; Dam's Sire: Unknown; Dam's Dam: baw Marita (N-CSA #B3248-02)
ALS Buffalo (N-CSA #B6546-12)
Buffalo is a pretty brown ewe, and super friendly. She's an excellent mother who has produced a rainbow of lambs in color and patterns. She does get very fuzzy in winter, but during the summer her face, legs, and belly all shed out clean. The seasonal fuzziness is pretty common in browns, and Buffalo actually cleans up really nice during the summer. She's one of our most approachable sheep, although some might characterize that as greedy, because she is definitely all about searching your pockets for treats! We're not really sure what color of offspring we'll get out of Fred and Buffalo, but our fingers are crossed for cutting down some of the seasonal fuzziness in their offspring.
Buffalo's Sire: baw Reese (N-CSA #C4146); Sire's Sire: BSM Sandoval (N-CSA #B3460-03); Sire's Dam: baw Baby P (N-CSA #B4057).
Buffalo's Dam: RNJ Goody (N-CSA #A5353-08); Dam's Sire: CMW Applejack (N-CSA #A4703-06); Dam's Dam: MAYW Daffodil (N-CSA #4497-05).
FCC Agate
Agate is one of the cleanest brown ewes we've ever seen. Her legs and face, even in the dead of winter, hardly get any fuzz at all, and even her belly stays mostly smooth year around. She gets a tiny bit of a neckbeard in the winter, and it sheds out completely in late spring/early summer. Her summer fleece has good luster, her inner coat has great loft and not a touch of crimp, and she spins out as the most divine milk chocolate brown. To top off her already wonderful traits, she's an absolute sweetheart of a ewe, and a real joy to shear and work around. This will be her first lambing, and we look forward to seeing what she produces.
Agate's Sire: Unknown; Sire's Sire: Unknown; Sire's Dam: Unknown.
Agate's Dam: Little Blue (N-CSA #6791-13); Dam's Sire: Unknown; Dam's Dam: Unknown.
HtP Teddy Bear
Next up in our new line of white rams is Teddy Bear. Most of you who've bought from us know that Mickey's supremely picky about four horned rams, but this big boy deserves a double take. From Hubbell Trading Post, Teddy Bear brings us a fresh infusion of absolutely unrelated blood to anything we already have. He's actually a very well behaved animal, and while he doesn't hesitate to step up aggressions with our other rams, he has offered no aggression towards humans at all, even during loading and transport. It's always a little sketchy to bring in a mature ram from somewhere else, especially when there's no real personal history on him, but we were confident that this guy would be worth the risk. We're hoping that this guy will contribute many more years of his unique heritage and glossy fleece to our flock.
Teddy Bear's Sire: Unknown.
Teddy Bear's Dam: Unknown.
Aphrodite
This ewe has stolen our hearts and become our absolute favorite white sheep on the entire ranch. From Simonson Ranch up in Piñon, AZ, she is as sweet as she is stunning. Super lustrous wool with ultra low kemp, she has perfectly formed locks with a great balance between inner and outer coat. She has a great conformation with a lower shoulder, a trait that allows for more agility and better resilience beneath the weight of a ram. As a yearling, she's not even close to finished growing, and she's already taller than many of our ewes. The black spots on her leg and face tell us that genetically she is most likely a black sheep with a dominant white color pattern over the top, so we expect that we'll see mostly white lambs and possibly a Churra marked lamb or two come out of her. We've got our fingers crossed for a ram lamb from her and Teddy Bear, because that lamb would be completely unrelated to anything in our flock. If Aphrodite's fleece passes on, we have no doubts that her ram lamb could have strong potential as a foundation sire for future years.
Aphrodite's Sire: Big White Ram; Sire's Sire: Unknown; Sire's Dam: Unknown.
Aphrodite's Dam: Unknown; Dam's Sire: Unknown; Dam's Dam: Unknown.
Red Bird
Red Bird came from Red Willow Springs, AZ, and she was one of three ewes we brought back from elder Etta Begay's flock. She has a very interesting fleece composition, with an ultra coarse but fragile outer coat that's prone to break when she rubs on things. Her inner coat is robust with good luster and a very soft hand, and is actually one of the finer inner coats we've seen. We're waiting to see if this is a response to a new climate, to the selenium deficiency between Arizona and Oregon, or if Red Bird's coat will always be weighted heavier towards the inner coat. Red Bird is a very sweet and personable ewe, although if she doesn't like you crowding her, she will head butt. Her color pattern is brown brockle, which is Mickey's favorite color pattern. Her lambs will not be available for purchase, as Red Bird holds genes that we want to establish more securely.
Red Bird's Sire: Etta's Brown Ram; Sire's Sire: Unknown; Sire's Dam: Unknown.
Red Bird's Dam: Unknown; Dam's Sire: Unknown; Dam's Dam: Unknown.
DoT Tamarind
Tamarind was our surprise black & tan ewe out of Jango. We found out after talking to Jango's breeder that he actually had some black & tan in his background, so we're hoping Tamarind will give us some more of this lovely color pattern. Throwing her in with a white ram is a total roll of the dice, but we know one thing, with fleece like hers, we won't fail no matter what colors her lambs are!
Tamarind's Sire: VRI Jango (N-CSA #A6806-13); Sire's Sire: SW Fuego (N-CSA #5923-10); Sire's Dam: HwS Athena (N-CSA #A5766-09).
Tamarind's Dam: ALS Smoke (N-CSA #A6772-13); Dam's Sire: CW Lonesome (N-CSA #6809-13); Dam's Dam: (N-CSA #A5387-08).
HwS Greasy (N-CSA #6801-13)
This lovely ewe came in from Chuck Wales of Hovenweep Sheep. For the longest time, we thought her name was Breezy, but it turns out Chuck had actually named her Greasy in honor of her super lustrous and ultra black fleece. She stayed a true black for quite a while, and then all of a sudden she just came in this lovely blued charcoal. Her inner coat is still very dark, but her outer coat exchanged super glossy black for a lustrous and deep blue-gray. A joy to work with, she has a great balance of inner to outer coat, and the heavy, beautifully open long coat that we just love to see. With super clean face, legs, and belly, it'll be interesting to see what this girl produces when mated to Teddy Bear.
Greasy's Sire: Red Bird; Sire's Sire: Unknown; Sire's Dam: Unknown.
Greasy's Dam: HwS Squeaky; Dam's Sire: HwS Gilligan (N-CSA #B5916-10); Dam's Dam: Luna (N-CSA #4788-06).
DoT Corolla
Corolla and Midnight Moon are like our two Bobbsey Twins. Both ewes have the same sire, VRI Jango, but different dams. They both have Jango's characteristic white marked faces and foreheads, his exceptional height and rusted black color, and his fat body type. Corolla here is slightly larger, has slightly different horns, and is lacking the white chin that Midnight Moon has, otherwise it's pretty difficult to tell them apart. Corolla is a bit less friendly than Midnight Moon, so it's a lot harder to get good photos of her. She has a slightly coarser outer coat, and a little more of an old spanish style Churra look to her, but if you didn't know them both well, you probably wouldn't spot the differences. We're thinking that Teddy Bear might bring a little more fleece length to Corolla's lambs, but honestly, there really isn't much to improve on either Teddy Bear or Corolla.
Corolla's Sire: VRI Jango(N-CSA #A6806-13); Sire's Sire: SW Fuego (N-CSA #5923-10); Sire's Dam: HwS Athena (N-CSA #A5766-09).
Corolla's Dam: Sumatra (N-CSA #6796-13); Dam's Sire: Unknown; Dam's Dam: Unknown.
FCC Trinity (N-CSA #6822-13)
FCC Trinity is an amazing Rio Grande Brown ewe. She is an excellent mother, even in the face of great adversity, as last year, when she defended her lamb who had a broken leg against coyotes by ramming the coyotes with all the fearless ferocity of a desperate mother. Both lamb and mom came through the experience just fine, and my respect for this ewe rose quite a bit that day. She carries the 4 horn gene, but she only has three horns (one side fused, one side single). Her fleece is immaculate, lustrous, with perfect definition, and she is a very clean ewe in the summer, although she does grow a little belly wool during winter. So far, she's given us a pretty wide range of lamb colors, mostly leaning towards black & tan and some really interesting grays and rio grande browns. We have no idea what to expect out of her union with Teddy Bear, but we're hoping for some more browns, or some gray & tans.
FCC Trinity's Sire: Unknown; Sire's Sire: Unknown; Sire's Dam: Unknown.
FCC Trinity's Dam: Unknown; Dam's Sire: Unknown; Dam's Dam: Unknown.
FCC Lightening
Lightening was a bottle lamb, and so she tends to be one of the friendliest ewes in the flock. More than a bit of a pocket pet, she enjoys chest scratches, butt rubs, and jumping into whatever bucket is being carried at the moment in the hopes that it's full of treats. Luckily, she also has amazing fleece to go with her sterling personality. A really neat color, she's an NSP Blue, which is a fancy way of saying that her outer coat turned silver while her inner coat stayed black. When her fleece is spun or felted, it is a really nice silver with a faint blue tint. Her coat is one of my favorite types, with a strong and open outer fleece, and a lofty inner fleece that separates well when needed. We're hoping for some gray lambs from her and Teddy Bear, and maybe a bit more robust of an inner coat for our folks who like a softer yarn.
Lightening's Sire: Unknown; Sire's Sire: Unknown; Sire's Dam: Unknown.
Lightening's Dam: FCC Azula (N-CSA #6823-13); Dam's Sire: Unknown; Dam's Dam: Unknown.
DoT Tomoko's Wish (N-CSA #A6827-13)
Tomoko's Wish was the first ewe lamb born on Dot Ranch, and to date, she is still the largest lamb ever birthed here. She is, no surprise, one of the largest ewes here, and while she is a bit shy to strangers, she's pretty easy to handle. Her fleece is an improved version of her sire PDF Bryce's fleece, with a heavy and well defined lock structure, abundant inner coat, and low kemp. Tomoko's Wish has very clean legs, belly, and face, especially considering the heft of fleece that she puts on. Her last lamb was everything we'd hoped for, clean featured and stout with a beautiful fleece. White can be a dominant color pattern, but she has produced colored lambs before. We expect a white out of her and Teddy Bear, and we're nearly certain that they will produce a lamb with exemplary, low kemp fleece with high value for dyeing.
Tomoko's Wish's Sire: PDF Bryce (N-CSA #B4537-05); Sire's Sire: PDF Chipmunk (N-CSA #A3413-03); Sire's Dam: PDF Kaia (N-CSA #A2854-01)
Tomoko's Wish's Dam: NSP Athena (N-CSA #5375-08); Dam's Sire: baw Walla Walla (N-CSA #B4385-05); Dam's Dam: Meredith Howell's Jennifer
DoT Lt. Haverson
In Memoriam
Lt. Haverson was always our favorite ram, for both his unbelievable fleece and his incredible attitude. This guy used to act more like a dog than a ram, and he would often "escort" Mickey around when strangers visited the ranch, walking between her and the suspicious new folks without ever offering aggression, just his looming presence. In a freak accident right after shearing, Lt. Haverson and Teddy Bear had their horns become entangled. During the ensuing struggle to break free of eachother, Lt. Haverson sustained fatal injuries. It was one of the saddest days here at Dot Ranch when Lt. Haverson had to be put down.The circle of life at a ranch is complete, and spares no one, not the slightest insect to the greatest human. We respect the sacrifices that our animals make to sustain us, especially the ones who touched us the deepest. In light of this unexpected loss, we will not be selling Lt. Haverson's 2016 ewe lambs.
Lt. Haverson's Sire: MTF Sebastian; Sire's Sire: EA Ollie (N-CSA #B4053-04); Sire's Dam: baw Dixie (N-CSA #B2878-01).
Lt. Haverson's Dam: BHF Zalinga (N-CSA #A6820-13); Dam's Sire: PDF Bryce (N-CSA #B4537-05); Dam's Dam: NSP Skunky (N-CSA #5276-08).
CMW Sprinkles (N-CSA #B5958-10)
Sprinkles is an absolutely gorgeous white brockle face ewe. Her fleece has a luxurious outercoat with high luster, and her inner coat is highly dense. She is another larger bodied ewe, with very clean legs and face, as well as a glossy clean stomach in the summer. She's really won our hearts over, as a highly personable older ewe with little fear of people and a great love of treats and affection. Sprinkles is one amazing producer of lambs as well, and her last breeding to DoT Lt. Haverson gave us some absolutely gorgeous triplets. We're not exactly looking for triplets again, but the quality of those lambs was so fine that we're really hoping for some ewe lambs out of Sprinkles and the Lt. We know that they can produce some pretty flashy color patterns together as well, so here's to hoping for some nice colored lambs this year!
CMW Sprinkles' Sire: CMW Applejack (N-CSA #A4703-06); Sire's Sire: CF Lewisky (N-CSA #B3112-02); Sire's Dam: AM Manzanita (N-CSA #3589-03)
CMW Sprinkles' Dam: CMW Malarky (N-CSA #A3304-02); Dam's Sire: IB Yazzie (N-CSA #2781-01); Dam's Dam: CMW Banshee (N-CSA #A0869-92)
Yellow Bird
Yellow Bird is another of the Red Willow Springs flock, and the one with the nicest fleece quality. She's a pretty unusual looking ewe by modern Navajo-Churro standards, and she's very "typey" to Western Navajo flocks. She has the small ears that are specifically mentioned in the N-CSA breed standards as being a rare but acceptable trait, and she also has wattles, or long fleshy proturbences hanging beneath the jaw from the neck. In dairy goats, wattles are an indicator of higher quality milk production, and while there's no study to date on sheep, it's a pretty good bet that the same is true for them as well. This will be Yellow Bird's first breeding, so we'll get a great opportunity to compare her lamb's growth rate to that of another ewe from the same flock who doesn't have wattles, in Red Bird. Yellow Bird's fleece is very heavy and dense, with a coarse outer coat and a very springy but not crimpy inner coat that is tightly packed. We're hoping her lambs get a bit of a more open fleece from Lt. Haverson's side, and we have no idea what colors we'll see out of this union.
Yellow Bird's Sire: Etta's Brown Ram; Sire's Sire: Unknown; Sire's Dam: Unknown.
Yellow Bird's Dam: Unknown; Dam's Sire: Unknown; Dam's Dam: Unknown.
ALS Mist (N-CSA #B6802-13)
Mist is one of our most outgoing and friendly ewes, but she's also a very placid, Zen sort of sheep. She is a beautiful brown without a trace of gray, and her fleece is absolutely lovely. She has a very well proportioned inner coat with lots of luster and a very fine character, and her outer coat is equally lustrous with a wonderful to spin silky hand. She is a nice, low grease ewe, and her fleece readily washes with cold water and a light detergent. The roving from this ewe is simply divine, and her wool takes orange and red dyes very nicely, giving them a deep luster and complexity that white wool doesn't quite match. She's a pretty big girl, and while she does get some winter fuzz, she cleans up very nice in the summer time. We're hoping for some interesting colors from her and Lt. Haverson, and for an improved fleece that's a little more open and less prone to cotting in their lambs.
Mist's Sire: SDA Mahogany (N-CSA #A5037-07); Sire's Sire: CNF Moab Thackeray (N-CSA #B4405-05); Sire's Dam: SDA Anna Nichole (N-CSA #4399-05)
Mist's Dam: ALS Rose (N-CSA #B5627-09); Dam's Sire: baw Reese (N-CSA #C4146); Dam's Dam: ALS Lavender (N-CSA #A5391-08)
ROB Rusty (N-CSA #5670-09)
Rusty was one of our first ewes, purchased in 2012 from Robbin Robbinson in Arizona. Rusty's fleece has excellent lock structure, and while her horns are a little tight, they aren't posing a health issue to her. She's an interestingly patterned cream and white ewe, an excellent mother, and often a producer of twins. We're expecting that she'll give us some phenomenal lambs when paired with Lt. Haverson. Rusty has given us a pretty wide range of colors, and we don't know what she'll produce when put in with an NSP Blue ram.
Rusty's Sire: ROB Abraham (N-CSA #A5140-07) Sire's Sire: ROB Crazy Eddie (N-CSA #A4679-06) Sire's Dam: ROB Sister Isabella (N-CSA #4545-05)
Rusty's Dam: ROB Dziniba (N-CSA #B4099) Dam's Sire: Shash Yazai (N-CSA #A3113-02) Dam's Dam: ROB Calypso (N-CSA #B2686-00)
Espresso (N-CSA #6821-13)
Espresso is another of the Idaho flock that was purchased in June 2012. Her fleece texture is particularly interesting, because her outer coat, while well defined, is very coarse for a ewe coat, almost more in line with a ram's outer coat. Her inner coat appears coarse to the eye, but is supremely dense and springy. The inner coat has super soft hand, despite the fact that it looks a bit like a brillo pad. She does not have crimp, it's more a gentle texture and super loft. Her fleece is a favorite with felters and people doing needle felting, because it's soft, but extraordinarily strong, even for Churro wool. She held her black color for quite a while, only beginning to frost gray in 2014. She's starting to pick up some rust in her outer coat, and her inner coat is still a deep black, which makes her fleece blend out into a rich and complex soft black. Espresso has given us a pretty wide range of lamb colors, but we're expecting that she'll provide us some grays or possibly blues when bred to Lt. Haverson.
Espresso's Sire: Ben Slatter's Rambo Sire's Sire: Unknown Sire's Dam: Unknown
Espresso's Dam: Latte Dam's Sire: Unknown Dam's Dam: Unknown
ALS Honey Badger
Honey Badger is a stout Churro ewe with an extra coarse fleece. Her fleece has a texture somewhat like that of a brillo pad, with no crimp but a distinct harshness to the hand. Her inner coat is unusually coarse as well, and her fleece is exemplary for felting, but difficult to spin. She has a pretty sparse outer coat, and tends to be very wooly in the winter, yet shed out clean in the summer. In short, she's definitely not a beauty queen, but she's still a valuable animal because she harbors some traits of old style Churros. Interestingly, many of her lambs are very fine fleeced, and she has given us a number of different colored and white lambs. We're excited to see what she produces with Lt. Haverson, and we're pretty confident that his superior wool genes plus her old time hardiness will make some good looking animals.
Honey Badger's Sire: baw Reese (N-CSA #C4146); Sire's Sire: BSM Sandoval (N-CSA #B3460-03); Sire's Dam: baw Baby P (N-CSA #B4057)
Honey Badger's Dam: HwS Magnolia (N-CSA #A5385-08); Dam's Sire: CNF Prince (N-CSA #4790-05); Dam's Dam: CNF Poppy (N-CSA #5089-07)
Sumatra (N-CSA #6796-13)
Sumatra is a beautiful ewe, tall and strong. She's a black ewe, but her fleece has faded to a gorgeous blue-gray. Many of her lambs develop the same color, although a few of her lambs are genuine non fading blacks. Sumatra is scurred, but her ram lambs all have normal horns, and she's given both polled and horned ewe lambs. She has an exceptionally clean face and legs, and her belly is almost always clean, even in bad weather. She's out of the Idaho flock, and we really look forward to seeing what she produces when bred to Lt. Haverson.
Sumatra's Sire: Unknown Sire's Sire: Unknown Sire's Dam: Unknown
Sumatra's Dam: Unknown Dam's Sire: Unknown Dam's Dam: Unknown
