White Navajo churro fleece by craigeann on flickr
The fiber of the Navajo churro is classified as coarse and has 3 distinct types of fiber. There is kemp, an outer coat, and an inner coat.
The many colors of Navajo Churro Sheep by lemudillo on flickr
The outer coat has a staple of 6-12 inches and has a micron count of 35+. The kemp is short (an inch or shorter) and is 65+ microns. Finally,the inner coat measures about 3-4 inches and the micron count is 10-15 microns.
My unwashed navajo churro
The fleeces range from 4-8 pds in weight. This fleece has no visible crimp pattern but that said you can see the pattern on separate pieces. I’m not even sure how it stays together as it is very open.
All washed up!
I found this fiber to be quite crunchy like horse mane or tail hair with a slight softening underneath. Definitely not for next to skin wear. I would love to mix the yarns in with some older llama I am hoping to weave into a rug. The colors are truly amazing. My undercoat was really short so I decided use my wool cards to mix it up.
My rolags
close-up of rolags
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