Sometimes you just have to jump in, and see where you end up...

  Everyone must start somewhere, and that is exactly what I did.  
  Once upon a time, somewhere in West Virginia,  a little ram lamb emerged from the womb.  He was the first of twins, and when his brother was born his mother forgot she had had a first.  She refused to feed him and so he became a bottle lamb.  It was then that I received the call, and jumped in. Charlie was the name Dain gave him, and because he was the only sheep we had, he came into the house and lived in the dog crate that had belonged to our dog eddie.  Every two to three hours Charlie fed from the bottle.  Day and night.

  Now at this point we also had a two week old chick, in another crate, next to Charlie.  Her name was puffin and she belonged to Shayna, my daughter.  Now this was an example of poor timing on so many levels, most obviously the season both of these critters appeared.  This was also an example of human raised animals, both the best and worst.  

Puffin was by far the best hen we have ever had and will be remembered always.  She lived in the house for about a month or so and was a highly trained chicken.  she would sit on your shoulder without pooping.  This was a great feat for a chicken and was patiently taught by Shayna the chicken whisperer. This time house raising worked out though I wouldn't suggest this with a rooster.

Now Charlie was a different story, 140 pounds of different.  While his beginnings were small with laptop feedings and  head butts at playtime, as he grew his behaviors became hurty and at times dangerous.   For charlie we were his herd and he liked to play with us.  Normally head butting is an acceptable game within a herd of sheep, but for people its a dangerous nuisance.  Charlie did not recognize the difference.  While we knew we were in for it on some level, I had hoped we could train him out of his bad habits.  All hopes for that were soon dashed when his hormones started raging that fall.  I began carrying a large stick with me every time I entered the pen.  Not cool.

Charlie was huge and had horns that curled around the sides of his head.  A solid whack to his head hurt your stick holding hand and did nothing to him.  While I could deal with him, I was scared anyone else would be pummeled.  Puts a damper on vacations.  Charlie was my lesson, never try to hand raise anything male.  Their instinct to dominate is too strong.  He did end up tasting great though...