[Jacob-list] Horns on ram lamb

[Linda]

You'd have to compare your ewe and ram horns to Neal's ewe and ram horns in order to draw any conclusions.  Maybe Neal's ewes have bigger horns? 

I've read, probably on this list or in the JSC Journal, that horn growth on wethers can be an indicator of the presence of the sex-linked horned gene.  If a wether doesn't develop further horn growth after castration, it could be an indicator that he carries the genetics of a breed that is only horned in rams.   I don't have any personal experience with the theory.  I did see a wether, Pokey, at a friend's farm that had pretty darn impressive horns - well, they were big - and forward, but they got alot bigger than ewe horns.  If I'm not mistaken (and I don't think I am this time), he was wethered by vet so he was a real wether.  I have a yearling wether at the moment that I had wethered at around 6 months at the vets.  His horns are bigger than a ewe's horns, but not as big as a ram's horns.

Linda


www.patchworkfibers.com
Registered Jacob Sheep, Angora Rabbits, Handspun Yarn

On Sun,  5 Mar 2006 17:31:19 -0500, fayg at mebtel.net wrote:
> Neil,
>
> Not to be disagreeable ... but my 4 horn rams by volume are 6-10
> times the size of my oldest ewes, probably 5 x on length. I cant
> bring myself to band demasculate any of by rams, but I have two
> twins of one of each .... would make an interesting study ...
>
> My favorite statistics quote is, there are 3 kinds of lies, lies,
> damn lies and statistics.
>
> G
>
> Quoting Neal and Louise Grose <nlgrose at yadtel.net>:
>
>> There seems to be a difference of opinion on horn growth on
>> wethers. I have heard reports before of everything from ewe size
>> to near ram size (though not as robust). It is possible that all
>> of these are correct.
>>
>> In our flock, ram horns seem to be about 3 times the size of
>> ewe's. Wether horns seem to grow about 50% larger than ewe horns.
>>
>> Just as an informal study, do several people have wethers that
>> are siblings to ewes and/or rams that could be measured and
>> compared?
>>
>> Neal Grose
>>
>> "Statistics gives you a correct answer. That does not mean you
>> have asked the right question." STAT301
>>
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>
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