[Jacob-list] "Intersex" lambs

[honeybucket at attbi.com]

We also had a similar experience with a "ewe" lamb which 
the mother did NOT reject.  We thought we would have a 
lovely pair of yearling ewe and ram lambs to show--they 
were very nice--but as the fair grew closer, the "ewe" 
became more and more suspicious.  Her horns were 
beautiful....but not for a ewe!  We kept her until her 
death from undiagnosed causes during her second year, 
not an unwelcome event since she insisted in challenging 
us and seemed very frustrated most of the time.  The vet 
said this happens occasionally but rarely with primitive 
breeds.

Patty Berke
Flying Coyote Farm
Olympia  WA
> Sorry to jump in here, but we were the ones to report this lamb to Fred, so
> thought it might be helpful to answer. My husband says officially now
> everything that can happen, has happened to us in the relatively short time
> we have had Jacob, both good, bad and strange. I assured him the sheep
> still had some fast ones to pull... However, this WAS one of the strange
> ones:
> 
> Last year, we had triplets born here, pretty much outbred and immediately
> the mother rejected one...a cute little ewe lamb.  I was disappointed since
> this was the first bad mothering experience we had.  But the mother was
> insistent and the lamb became our first(and only) bottle lamb. (now I think
> kindly of the ewe for recognizing a problem. How do they know that??)
>  It almost died during all of that, but was a fighter and soon was running
> thru the house and playing with the dog.  The dog took to cleaning it up
> and I later noticed a tiny piece of skin coming out of her vulva.  I
> worried the dog had done damage and immediately separated them.  The lamb
> went to a woman who did not want to breed and just wanted a pet.  It took
> over her house and from what i heard later the woman bottle fed til it was
> about a year old.  This spring the woman called me and was worried cause
> the sheep was now butting her.  I thought it was having a temper tantrum
> from having been bottle fed so long, and wasn't able to offer much advice. 
> I did mention that this is a problem with pet rams, but I haven't thought
> of it as a problem with ewes.  (She was a bit of a worrier, so I chalked it
> up to that.)  
> 
> The previous fall she had called and said that the lamb had been developing
> a budge out of its vulva and she and her vet were worried about a growth of
> some sort...they were planning to remove it, but after they heard the dog
> story, they assumed that it was damaged in some way and since it did not
> seem to be a problem, left it alone.  I was feeling a bit bad, but...
> 
> So... apparently in the spring it grew a bit and the Vet checked it out
> again. Turned out to be a testicle, with the other one growing on the
> inside!  The Vet called and let us know. You can imagine my husband's face,
> i am sure.  I have not had contact with them for a while now so don't know
> if what has happened to the she/he, but my husband was able to see the
> yearling hermaphrodite in full fleece and reports the animal was
> magnificent.  Larger horns than a ewe (I think she was a fused 4 horn).
> Wish I had a picture.
> 
> Interestingly, a friend of ours had a child born with ambiguous genitalia
> around the same time we heard about the lamb.  I was told in both
> situations the cause was most likely not genetic but a fluke of multiple
> births!
> Katrina Lefever
> Chicory Lane Farm
> Hanover Pa
> http://wwwfac.wmdc.edu/HTMLpages/Graduate/TI/pages/lefever/chicory.htm 
> 
> > [Original Message]
> > From: Susan Nielsen <snielsen at orednet.org>
> > To: <jacob-list at jacobsheep.com>
>  > Date: 9/13/02 1:19:23 PM
> > Subject: [Jacob-list] "Intersex" lambs
> >
> > I was re-reading my Jacob Sheep Conservancy newsletter, and noted
> > that Fred mentioned an occurrance of an "intersex" lamb in his
> > tally of congenital defects.
> > 
> > Fred: Would you describe the physical appearance of an intersex
> > lamb?
> > 
> > Susan
> > --
> > Susan Layne Nielsen, Shambles Workshops      	|"...Gently down the
> > Beavercreek, OR, USA -- snielsen at orednet.org  	|stream..." -- Anon.
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Purveyors of fine honey, Jacob Sheep, Ashford spinning products
> > 			and Interweave books
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
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