Adobe Gallery Blog

The Spaniards bred two kinds of sheep, the churro and merino.  Churro sheep were well adapted to sparse countryside and the merino was the finest sheep in the world, so fine it was reserved for the royal family and the nobility and its export from Spain was punishable by death.  Based on this, it is obvious that the Spaniards brought churro sheep to the American Southwest and left the merino sheep for royalty.  They adapted well to the southwest which had a climate similar to Spain.

Churro sheep produced fine, long-stapled wool which was well suited to the Navajo hand-spindle. The Navajo acquired their churro sheep by raids on Spanish rancheros and Pueblo Indian farms.  They lost all their sheep during their forced relocation and containment at Bosque Redondo in the 1860s.  After Bosque Redondo, the government allotted $30,000 to re-stock sheep for the Navajo as they returned to their homeland. The replacement sheep were churro as well.

Read more about this Navajo rug here.