Author Topic: do castrated tup lambs still grow horns? (Read 9887 times)

egglady · « **on:** April 23, 2011, 10:03:54 pm »

i think they do but a friend asked me today and as we dont castrate, i realised i didnt really know! said i'd ask much cleverer people than me and get back to him LOL

Anke · « **Reply #1 on:** April 23, 2011, 10:34:37 pm »

Mine don't. There are wee stumps that they keep knocking out during the summer (watch for flystrike on the wounds - purple spray or tar spray are good and quick), by winter they are farly flat.

Fleecewife · « **Reply #2 on:** April 23, 2011, 10:39:21 pm »

Well I'm not cleverer

but we have castrated - wethers grow little horns, similar in size to ewes. If they are castrated when they are older then their horns will be proportionally bigger. Wethers are easily confused with ewes, as a few red-faced judges have failed to discover in the show ring

Interesting yours don't Anke. The breeds we have castrated are Jacob and Hebridean (both 2 and multi-horned) , Soay and Shetland - thinking about it, the Shetlands didn't always develop horns so maybe it's to do with whether or not the ewes of that breed are horned or polled

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #3 on:** April 23, 2011, 11:43:27 pm »

Yes I think you probably have it there Fleecewife. Swaley wethers have horns similar to the ewe lambs, crosses on Swaleys and offspring of North Country Mules and of 'Texdales' may have horns which will be larger if the lamb is left entire - in all cases the original horned breed is one where the ewe has horns.

kanisha · « **Reply #4 on:** April 24, 2011, 07:56:55 am »

I find that as long as they are castrated very young they don't develop horns but once the horns have started to develop they often continue to produce a horn the later they are done the greater the residual horn. ewes are hornless in ouessants.

egglady · « **Reply #5 on:** April 24, 2011, 07:15:56 pm »

thanks folks, will pass your answers on.

Anke · « **Reply #6 on:** April 25, 2011, 08:24:46 pm »

Well mine grow wee things early on, and I have the odd one that goes abit further (and then usually needs trimmed as it grows in an odd angle, like straight into the eye...), but almost all knock theirs off while still lambs and have a small bare patch of skin. My ewes are polled, but the interesting thing was that the Bowmont Shetland X boys had quite strong wee stumps on their head - as they also have a topknot of long wool, well hidden, and numerous bruises on my legs later....

So with crosses horns are a bit of a lottery!

madmulligan · « **Reply #7 on:** April 26, 2011, 07:09:47 am »

Hi,
We have Wiltshire Horns and castrate early. The boys continue to grow their horns and they are still noticably bigger than the ewes', although this is only until they go to slaughter at 6-9 months, what happens after that I couldn't really say $:-\$

Fleecewife · « **Reply #8 on:** April 26, 2011, 01:09:39 pm »

Quote from: madmulligan on April 26, 2011, 07:09:47 am

Hi,
We have Wiltshire Horns and castrate early. The boys continue to grow their horns and they are still noticably bigger than the ewes', although this is only until they go to slaughter at 6-9 months, what happens after that I couldn't really say $:-\$

Not a lot probably because their heads will have been chopped off and put through the grinder

sorry.......

Maybe your wethers horns are growing bigger because Wilthsire Horns are a heavily horned breed, compared to breeds I have kept which have medium weight horns.

Elissian · « **Reply #9 on:** April 26, 2011, 04:35:59 pm »

I've kept a wilts on for mutton, he's 2 yrs at the moment and he looks exactly like his mum, so still plenty of horn growth but much thinner with less coils than a ram.

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #10 on:** April 26, 2011, 10:32:48 pm »

Swaley wethers are for the most part indistinguishable from their sisters up to about 8-9 months. We kept a couple on to 24 months for mutton - they had more horn than their mums but nothing like as much as their dads. They would have been castrated at about 36 hours old.