Chip's Graduation Day

Meet Chip, our Babydoll Southdown cross sheep. He is absolutely lovable and adorable. And thus, he is a pet, never to be butchered and eaten.

Chip loves to have the sides of his face rubbed, loves to eat, and I'm pretty sure he thinks he's one of the cows simply because that's who he's around all the time.

The other day, hubby and I were standing in the barn discussing barn clean out and rearrangement of gates for pens when I commented, "Chip's gate is kind of hard to open to get him out for walks. It would sure be nice if there was an easier way to get him out."

As soon as I said that, Chip, who was silently standing in front of us in his pen, took a flying leap over his gate and landed upright in a pile of hay! We stared at him in disbelief. How could such a stocky thing make such a graceful leap? Hubby looked at me and asked," Has he ever done that before?" I shook my head. "No, never. But I guess he was just showing me an easier way to get him out of his pen. Without messing with the gate!"

And with that, we decided it was time for Chip to graduate to bigger, greener pastures. Literally. We let him out in the pasture with the steers and calves where he's had a great time kicking up his heels and munching on grass with the cows.

No more flying leaps over gates. Unless of course he decides he needs to explore the garden or something else interesting on the other side of the fence!