Tranquil Morning Farm is the home to heritage and rare breeds of sheep, goats and alpaca. For many years we have raised Shetland Sheep, a heritage breed of sheep listed now as "recovering" on the Livestock Conservancy's list of endangered breeds of livestock. A couple years ago we added a flock of Finnsheep, a rare breed of sheep. This past year we were blessed enough to start a flock of Santa Cruz Island sheep. These sheep are not only rare and a heritage breed, but are a breed that are listed as "critically endangered" by the Livestock Conservancy. There are only around 200 Santa Cruz Sheep in existence. We hope that we will be able to grow our flock and eventually start other breeders with this interesting and useful breed of sheep.
Santa Cruz sheep are a feral sheep breed originating in the Channel Islands off the coast of San Diego, California. They were ranched on Santa Cruz Island in the 1800s and early 1900s and then abandoned on the island when the ranchers left. In the 1980s the island was sold to the Nature Conservancy and the sheep needed to be removed so the native wildlife could recover. Though most of the sheep were hunted, some were removed by the Livestock Conservancy and placed with farmers. There are currently a handful of breeders across the country who are trying to preserve the breed.
Similar to the story of the Santa Cruz Sheep, San Clemente Goats were brought to San Clemente Island in the early 1800s, and eventually abandoned to live feral on the island, owned by the US Navy. They eventually needed to be removed from the island, and while most were hunted, some were removed and placed with farmers. We love that these two breeds have such a similar history prior to arriving on our farm.
