Hope some of you can shed some light on these questions about the horns of my Soays - I only got my 4 Soay (2 ewes, 1 wether, 1 ram) about 8 weeks ago so I'm very new to all this.
They all came from the same flock/breeder; all except the ram were home-bred by him, and are just over a year old. These 3 all have a bit of uneven growth in their horns, to various degrees. Not sure how to best describe it, at the point where the horn bends it looks broken, but it isn't - the horns are sound but the surface at that spot looks ragged/cracked. After that bit the horn growth is normal again up to the tip.
Would this be due to some mineral deficiency on the pasture where they grew up, during just a particular stage of growth - or pregnancy? Or could this be genetic? (I note the ram who was bred somewhere else has smooth horns all around.)
Is there something I can do about it now?. It's not a problem, just a minor cosmetic smudge, but obviously an indication of something not having been quite right at some stage and I'd like to avoid this when I get into breeding myself.
One more question: is there a possibility that the inside of the horn could be somehow exposed through these 'cracks'? It didn't look like the cracks where exposing anything, but today I noticed a waxy white substance stuck in one of those cracks on one ewe. Could something be oozing out??
She is the very tame one, so I do get a close look everyday. It wasn't there yesterday, she is not bothered by it, she doesn't mind me poking it (but I didn't dare to really scrape it off in case it did go any deeper), no flies hovering. Maybe it's just something that got stuck in there, wouldn't be suprising as it is so ragged, just can't think of anything whitish and waxy growing on that field.
Very grateful for any suggestions!