[Jacob-list] Question

[stonecroft235 at juno.com]

Hopefully someone on the list can give me advice for the following:  
Last year one of our ewe's twinned - both ram lambs and one born dead
with no obvious cause of death.  The remaining lamb was here for a year,
was somewhat petite in size but grew normally.  However, he was always
somewhat clumsy, stumbled easily, and as an adult ram became somewhat
swaybacked.  He had 4 large horns and as they grew it even appeared that
the weight of his horns were somewhat of a problem for him, adding to his
clumsiness.  That ram ended up in a freezer- however, this year a
yearling ewe gave birth to a single 4H ram (this ram lamb is out of the
same sire as last years).  He was vigorous at birth, was up quickly and
nursed quickly, but from day one seemed rather clumsy - which I
attributed early on to his being rather leggy and young.........at birth
his legs seemed extra long and his tail was VERY long, with the tip
nearly at the ground.    Well, the clumsiness has intensified and it
appears that his back legs are very unstable - his rear end sways, he
stumbles down to his knees easily and is generally a
klutz........although he is growing and maintaining weight.  The other
sheep have discovered that he is a klutz and are quick to butt him out of
the way, adding to his hardships, although his mama treats him perfectly
normally.   All our other lambs are normal in every way - I feed a free
feed mineral mix with selenium in it.  My understanding of white muscle
disease is that it would manifest itself in more severe symptoms that
would prevent growth and development - what do you think this is?  What
should I be looking for?  How should I treat him?  Incidentally, he is
slated for the freezer this Fall and his sire is no longer being used
here.   If this is white muscle disease, how does that impact using his
meat for human consumption?  Thanks for your input and help. 

And, just as an aside - it was great seeing some of you at the AGM in
North Carolina............I am convinced that "sheep people" are some of
the nicest people in the world!!

Sue Martin
Stonecroft
 

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