Got this little guy out of a local humane society...he is smallish but not dwarfy like a pygmy. Has short, coarse hair...not wooly like a sheep but not soft like a goat, either. He's white with lots of light brown spots. And, his horns are very wide at the base and only about 6 or 8 inches long, more blunt than sharp, not curled. The horns lean or point back, but don't curl under. And, he's completely wild, bouncing off the walls if you get anywhere near him. Far as I know he could be a goat OR a sheep. Anybody got a clue??

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), August 02, 2001

Answers

Sheep can not lift their tails like goats do, and most healthy goats carry their tails up or out from their behinds. Sheep tails go down. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), August 02, 2001.

The coloring sounds like a Jacob sheep. What do his ears look like?

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), August 02, 2001.

Jacob crossed my mind, but don't they have big curvy horns? He has small, Alpine-ish ears. Vickie, I've been watching his tail & the goats', and the goats definitely move their tails more ways than he does. He swishes his to keep away flies, but the goats tails are up, down, all over. I guess his tail does look more like my sheeps' tails than my goats' tails. Thanks for the tip. I'm thinking sheep now...

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), August 02, 2001.

Could also possibly be a "hair sheep" cross -- possibly a Barbados (but they're usually brown), or a Katadin. How long is the tail? If it's short, that suggests Barbados genetics. As Vicki said, goats can hold their tails up, sheep tails generally hang down (but they can lift them when pooping). Is the tail blunt-ended? That would suggest docking -- and then it's a sheep. Is the tail pointy? That would suggest either goat or hair-sheep.

-- Anita Evangelista (ale368s@smsu.edu), August 03, 2001.

Can you post a picture of him? I would smell him. Seriously! sheep smell much different from goats.

-- Rebekah (daniel@itss.net), August 03, 2001.