Reviving the Navajo-Churro: A Rhode Island Farm’s Role in Saving an Endangered Breed

Eleven-year-old Izzy Hoffman of Foster, Rhode Island, is raising Navajo-Churro sheep on her grandparents’ Bayberry Knoll Farm. In spring she welcomed a chocolate-colored lamb named Cadbury, the offspring of a ewe called Arizona that the Livestock Conservancy assigned to her. Hoffman’s goal is to expand a flock one lamb at a time, contributing to a breed-conservation program that lists the Navajo-Churro as “critical.”

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The Navajo-Churro arrived in North America with Spanish explorers and became the first domesticated sheep in the region. During the 1800s “Scorched Earth Campaign,” a federal policy that displaced Indigenous peoples, the breed was nearly eliminated. It survived but remains on a critical list of endangered farm animals.

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Key participants include Izzy Hoffman, her grandmother Deb Procopio, who teaches wool processing, and the Livestock Conservancy, which supplies ewes and sets stewardship criteria. Navajo tribes historically use the breed’s wool for traditional blankets.

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The Conservancy program obliges participants to raise the assigned ewe, breed subsequent lambs, exhibit the animals at county fairs, and produce a finished garment from the wool. Navajo-Churro wool has two coats—a rough outer layer and a softer inner layer—and a distinctive “rivery” curl. The thick outer coat is valued for tapestries, clothing, rugs, and Navajo blankets.

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Preserving the Navajo-Churro sustains Indigenous weaving traditions and maintains a source of wool for tapestries, clothing, rugs, and traditional blankets. For the Hoffman family, the project reinforces intergenerational bonds and provides hands-on farming experience for a young participant.

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The Livestock Conservancy, an organization dedicated to protecting endangered farm animals, runs a program that awards endangered-breed ewes to families who agree to raise, breed, exhibit the animals and craft a garment from the wool.

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• “They’re an endangered species, and they’re very important to the farmlands,” — Izzy Hoffman, 11-year-old farmer

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• “She’s just this adorable little creature that I think is just amazing,” — Izzy Hoffman

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• “Where you spin the wool and then you weave it and then you have a garment. I wash the wool and then I take the plants that we grow or forage and we dye the wool … There is something sacred about it,” — Deb Procopio, grandmother

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• “I like to think of it as a very important bond between me and my grandmother. I couldn’t have done any of it without her.” — Izzy Hoffman

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Hoffman intends to show her Navajo-Churro lambs at upcoming county fairs, continue breeding, and finish a woven shawl dyed with locally foraged plants. The Conservancy’s program provides ewes to families for such efforts.

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