Here are some other pics of older lambs...
sunnin... while out side the wind whips and roars...
Then, there is this guy. I have never seen or heard of anything like this, but have been warned of the possibility that this ram lamb may have what is called Border Disease, or hairy shaker disease. I am inclined to believe it is genetic though, because I have read up on BD and don't see how we could have possibly contracted it here (it is viral), as there are no other reports of it in this area, and the only real symptom that he is showing of BD is his ...fur. All the rest of our lambs are fine, but this guy has fur. Not to mention a bald nose and half bald ears. Oh, and he was born with no teeth... could he just be a premie?
See how silky he is (click to biggify)? I don't get it... this ewe had perfect twins last year, this year I bred her to Gus instead of Carmine. All the other lambs out of Gus are fine. The only way I can find out if this is BD is by blood testing the ewe, and I cant afford to do that right now.
Any input would be welcome.
4 comments:
Wow, he looks like a hair sheep. I want to pet him, he looks so soft! It will be interesting to see if that "fur" falls out and wool comes in; I've heard of that happening with Shetlands....
Becky! How much does it cost? Contact me on this, I may be able to help with this if it's not in the $1,000 range!
Very odd it will be interesting to see how he grows!
It's not BD - he's just a mutant... Every so often, a recessive gene shows up that will produce hair (silky) instead of wool. Since this ram/ewe cross produced this lamb, both parents carry it. You should seriously think about culling them to prevent perpetuating that trait in the gene pool. (Did you know that the trouble with the gene pool is that there's no life guard?). Anyway, he's cute, but will have trouble staying warm until your weather warms up, since the hair doesn't have the insulative value that wool does. I'm sure he'll taste just fine...
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