He may not be a black sheep, but he certainly stands out from the flock, as you can see from feeding time.  Jeffrey’s personality can best be described as “species confused” and explained most easily by his youth here at the farm.  He belongs to an… “elite” group of sheep: the first group of sheep we purchased, to whom we feel a special attachment, and who we simply could not bear to butcher or sell.  Therefore these sheep all have names: Ankatrine, Stephan, PigPen, Whitie, and Jeffrey.  Pigpen has since been lost or stolen (yes, really, that happens).  As a group, they were the first animals on the farm belonging to us (after the kitty) and Jeffrey came to us as a lamb with his mother, both of whom were attacked by a neighborhood dog.  Jeffrey was only wounded but his mother did not survive.  Shortly after we began nursing him, Maisy, our puppy arrived, and the two of them were weaned together.  We think this started Jeffrey’s species confusion.  Sometimes he thinks he’s a dog… sometimes he thinks he’s a sheep.  Occasionally we see him chasing the kitten or chewing grass side by side with the donkey.  Then he got a little older and began mounting things, and the confusion translated.  He will never grow to full height because he never received enough mother’s milk.  He will probably never receive status in the flock.  But he is unafraid of humans, playful, adventurous, and sweet.  And of all the sheep, he’s the only one that can tolerate our dog… because he thinks he is one.

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