Lavender the showjumping sheep

Okay, the link to this post and supermarkets is going to be even more tenuous than usual (hey - I'm blogging every day so there's only so much I can find to write about Tesco) but this is so fantastic I had to share it, and it's about a farm animal.... which is sort of relevant.

This woolly jumper's show jumping skills have saved him from the pot - or from becoming part of a supermarket ready meal (see - I knew I'd squeeze a link in somewhere!).

We've featured Lavender the ram in today's Derby Telegraph and you can also see a video of him jumping out our website.

Farmer's granddaughter Isobel Brown, 13, taught him how to jump using a special hurdle she designed for him in fields in Staffordshire, using foodie bribes ranging from corn to croissants (and to be fair, I think I'd try to hurdle a brook if there was a nice warm pastry at the other side!).

Isobel told our reporter Sophie Evans that she shows Lavender how to tackle the jumps by taking them on herself first. She said: "I show him a jump, I jump it, and then he follows me - most of the time."

Lavender had been destined for the slaughter house before his showed off his agility, but now Isobel has been told she can keep him.

See - they're not just dumb animals....