Welcome to RQL Farms!  Located in the Sourland Mountain region of central New Jersey about half way between New York City and Philadelphia, RQL Farms is owned and operated by David and Sandra Rock.  In 1995, we began raising Tunis sheep for show and sale and maintain the flock on a small farm in Hillsborough Township. We have sold animals to breeders in New York, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington.  A number of our animals have been selected for their fleece quality as some lines within the flock produce high quality fleeces.  We tell our friends that the operation is a 4-H project gone wild.  What started out in 1995 as one yearling ewe and one ewe lamb each for our son’s and daughter’s 4-H project has grown to a flock of 20 to 25 breeding ewes with replacements and rams. 
 

Our Tunis bloodlines are based mainly on Fingerlakes, Seavey and S&T breeding for the ewes.  We are currently using rams from Kleman, Howe and Fingerlakes bloodlines.  We try very hard to maintain a strong commitment to breed character including a deep red color and strong Tunis head, especially the ears, yet select animals with size, scale and correct leg conformation.  Our practice is to gene check all of our breeding animals for Scrapie susceptibility and have made this a priority when selecting rams for future breeding.

When not keeping up with the sheep, David is research director for a major animal health company in New Jersey having earned a PhD from the University of Nebraska.  Sandra is self-employed providing bookkeeping services to a number of local businesses which allows her the flexibility to play a little more with the sheep, the fleeces, dye wool and of course, SPIN!