[Jacob-list] lost horn injury? and when to reintroduce to other sheep.

[Heather Hettick]

Hello,

Does anyone have a ram who has lost a large horn, and how did it heal up?

My ex-4-horned yearling ram broke off a top horn at the skull a week or so
ago and has a nasty 3-inch hole in his head, but is doing surprisingly well
under vet's advice.  I am just not sure how this injury will heal.

The vet said to treat it like a dehorning because the wound is basically
clean.  I have him on antibiotics and the vet said once the blood was
stopped, to just bandage it lightly to keep out contaminants and leave it
alone until the bandage falls off by itself.  The ram has been scratching at
his head some, so I have had to change dressings a few times and it just
looks like a mess inside his head, but no sign of infection.  Does the bone
grow over the hole eventually or what, and what is a normal time frame for
recovery for something like this?

I'm also concerned that the ram is lonely.  Could I give him a hornless ewe
lamb for company or would she be likely to make things worse.  When the
accident first happened, a couple of the lambs decided to try to attack him
while he was hurting and disoriented so we immediately put him in a stall by
himself to recover.  I'm not ready to put him back with the flock, but I
have a young Tunis/Romney ewe who seems pretty mild mannered and I thought
she might be a good companion for him now that it looks like he may be
cooped up for some time.

Heather Hettick
Moonstruck Jacob Sheep
Creston, OH
hettick.1 at osu.edu