Meet Pippi's Lambs

On May 27th, 2024, Pippi had two lambs. She was the last of the original three ewes to lamb. She had a boy and a girl, so of course I named them Tommy and Anika. They looked a lot like Pippi, but they did not look like the other Navajo-Churros. Their wool was very tight and crimpy. Now that all of the lambs had been born, it was very clear that they had 3 different fathers. (Multiple rams had been in the pen with them.) Cotton's ram lambs were all white like her. Brownie's ewe lamb's were multi-colored, and Pippi's 2 lambs had faces that looked like hers, but distinctly different wool from any of the other churros.

Now, at this point, we had gone from 3 sheep to 9. (We had also purchased 4 goats, one of which was a real thorn in my side.) To say that we were a little overwhelmed was an understatement. Also, the amount of hay we were feeding tripled. My husband and I decided that we would not be breeding any of the sheep in the fall. We had kept all of the ram lambs in tact, so we set about building another pen to separate them so that we didn't have any more lambs. We learned quickly that it isn't just the males that want to mate! One morning I came out to find that the girls had broken into the ram pen. (I could tell by the way the latch was bent.) Oh, well, best laid plans.

We watched and waited and in the end, it was Pippi that dropped 3 new lambs on March 4th, 2025. It was not at all difficult to figure out who sired the lambs. (I named them Puppy, Pepper, and Salty.)

Hmmm.... Who could the father be?

We were able to schedule a shearer out to our hobby farm in early May. He informed me that Tommy and Anika were not Navajo-Churros, they were Barbados Black Belly hair sheep. Their wool was very light in comparison to the churros and it got all over the place because it was considered hair. There really wasn't any lanolin in it at all. In fact, it should have eventually shed if they were true hair sheep. Since they were half Navajo-Churro, I have no idea if it would have shed or not. Barbados Black Belly sheep are bred for meat. Apparently, they mature much faster than Navajo-Churros and they can breed year round. This would explain why Tommy (the youngest of the rams) was the only one who reproduced.

Later, when we decided that we needed to downsize the flock, I decided that Tommy and Anika needed to go. They weren't true Navajo-Churros or Barbados Black Belly. I couldn't be sure that they would shed their hair since they were still half Navajo-Churro. We do still have a little piece of Tommy left in the new lambs who would be considered three quarters churro and only one quarter Barbados Black Belly. We are planning to have the shearer come back in September this year. The lambs will be at least 6 months old at that point and we will have them sheared. Their wool definitely feels different from the hair sheep, but I won't know if I like it until I am able to try it out.