The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: woollyval on April 01, 2012, 05:37:23 pm

Title: hermaphrodite
Post by: woollyval on April 01, 2012, 05:37:23 pm
we have a horned shearling who is quite male in her behaviour and hasn't got in lamb, she was a twin with a polled ram lamb......ouessant ewes are polled and rams are horned. anyone else come across this??
Title: Re: hermaphrodite
Post by: kanisha on April 01, 2012, 06:17:08 pm
well it does sound as if something odd has gone on. Ouessants rarely twin so that in its self is out of the norm. There are some ram lambs born polled and certainly the one I had was also slightly hermaphrodite I bought him as a castrate knowing he was polled ( 5 months no horn growth) purely for my own interests of study.
Title: Re: hermaphrodite
Post by: YorkshireLass on April 01, 2012, 06:17:33 pm
Interesting....can she be scanned or checked to see if her innards are present and correct?
I know there are "freemartins" in cattle but never heard of an equivalent in sheep. If her twin was very butch  ::) I'd guess at very high levels of testosterone floating around during gestation, but it doesn't sound like he's "to blame" really!
Title: Re: hermaphrodite
Post by: SallyintNorth on April 01, 2012, 08:44:57 pm
We used to get the odd North Country Mule that never bred, and our shearer would pick them out at clipping time, saying, "She's a man!" - jug-ugly head, no udder development whatever.  We kept one or two on to see if he was right - none of them were ever tupped and all were geld.