Raising Sheep: Ewe might love it

​My brother and I were active members of FFA during our high school years in the early 1970s. Because we lived in town, we asked one of our relatives that had a small farm if we could raise a calf or something on his farm for our FFA project. After some discussion about our involvement in the project we decided instead of raising a calf to raise a few sheep instead. We found that we could buy 5 sheep for the price of 1 calf. Over the next few years we grew the herd to about 60 sheep and we split the income from the sale of wool and buck lambs. We were expected to spend about a month every year working on the farm as our contribution for expenses incurred in raising them. We raised mostly bare-faced sheep such as Suffolk and Columbia. However, we had one ewe that was a different variety and its face would get covered with wool to the point that she was pretty much blind. We named her Dufus. Being the only blind sheep in the herd made her the leader! Wherever Dufus went the herd would follow. If she had stuck her head in through the woven wire fence and got stuck the herd would be all around her. I'm not sure if they were protecting her or if there was some weird rule about making her the leader. Of course we would trim her face from time to time but whether she could see or not didn't seem to bother her or the rest of the herd. Anyone that has raised sheep will know why the Bible refers to us as sheep that have gone astray and that we've got a good shepherd watching over us.
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