I could not resist naming this beautiful Navajo Churro ram “Pharaoh”. He looked every bit exotic and totally in charge.
The Navajo Churro sheep have been in North America since 1538, when Hernando Cortez brought the first of this species to his hacienda near Mexico City.
The introduction of the Churro to the Navajo people of the Southwest has been noted as ‘revolutionary’, because these settlers relied on the Churros for food and fiber and developed the renowned Rio Grande weaving style. The Churros built up slowly for nearly 150 years increasing their impact on Navajo lives to be of equal importance to farming, resulting in the ‘churra’ being the dominant genotype in Navajo flocks.
In addition to solid white, and brown and black spots on the ears and face and around the eyes, there are also solid color variations of black, brown and gray. This lovely Churro is brown. I loved the way his horns curled into magnificent swirls, showing off the ridges along the top, smoothing out as the horns curled, making a loop, and finally ending just as magnificently as they had started. He resides with a small herd of Churros at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum.