[daveh]

I have recently had to put down a two month old Castlemilk Moorit ewe lamb that had no anus. She was the bigger of twin ewe lambs and seemed to be thriving. I happened to notice that she was straining to pass faeces which I put down to the fact that worming was due. A couple of days later I saw the same lamb straining and then excrement appeared out of her vagina. A closer examination showed she had no anus. The vet attended and said although unusual it was not unknown.


I have spoken to several commercial sheep farmers with large flocks who have been shepherds for many years and none of them have come across a similar case. Has anyone on this forum heard of it?

[twizzel]

I've seen it once in a lamb... it made it to slaughter weight if I remember rightly (it wasn't mine) but did get flystrike and was quite dirty around its back end.

[roddycm]

I have heard of this happening a couple of times with friends commercial flock. The lambs in those cases died soon after birth. In your case sounds different as she excreted vaginally! Had she grown normally?

[SallyintNorth]

It’s not common but it’s not rare.

We had several over the course of three years in approx 1000 lambs born each year.  ‘Anus’ became one of our standard   newborn lamb checks.  The vet told us it happened sometimes and didn’t seem to be hereditary, although we did cull mothers who had lambs with the condition and of course didn’t keep daughters for breeding.

It occurred in males and females.  Sometimes you got the fissure into the vagina as you’ve described; those lambs could usually make it to slaughter weight. Sometimes everything was present except the hole, so the vet (or you if you were brave) could open it up.  And sometimes - the majority in our few cases - there was nothing and the lamb would die or be Pts.

The ewes on that farm were predominantly Swaledales, with some NoE Mules (who were daughters of the Swales.).  I can’t recall having the problem in other than pure Swaledale lambs, although we produced mainly Mule lambs.  So there could be a breed factor there.

On the next farm it was commercial sheep, Texel and Charolais crosses, with Blackface ancestry and a few with Swaledale ancestry.  In seven years there, with around 400 lambs per year, I only saw it twice. I don’t recall whether the mothers of those two had Swaledale ancestry.

[shep53]

Male lambs are problematic as said some die even if the vet makes a hole , ewe lambs seem to be ok so long as you keep them clean ,had a ram produced 2 one year both thrived until fat .  Farmer on another forum had a ewe lambed and only then did he see it had no anus

[bj_cardiff]

I had a ewe lamb with no anus about 6 years ago. She was always a bit weedy and mucky and as I was trimming her and realised she was straining and could see it was coming out in the wrong place. She must of been around 4-5 months old. She had always seemed a bit 'odd' and sometimes kept away from the flock and slept in a quiet place. As soon as I realised what the issue was I called fallen stock and had her PTS the next day. Poor thing must of been in a lot of pain..

[BenBhoy]

Blind anus. Not that uncommon in big flocks.

[nimbusllama]

Hi Dave
I had a Castlemilk ewe lamb born as a twin about 3 years ago that had the same problem.  It also had a slightly deformed tail which is what drew my attention to the area.  I discovered it within 2 hours of birth, so took her to the vets and had her PTS as the prognosis was not good for the future.
Brian

[Coximus]

Their are two types - no anus full stop - nothing at all, no sphincter etc - they usually die, and then the more common which is a thin membrane of skin over the anus that forms for whatever reason in the womb, often these tear when the lamb does its first poo - but sometimes not. Those can be opened up without issue.
Sometimes if no way out the pressure can cause it to tear out into the vagina, but thats usually what kills them, bleeding and faeces not a great combo!

Otherwise clean, look after, maybe keep seperate and get sent off!