Lamb born without upper jaw...?

Question

I seem to recall reading something about this.... we had a lamb born she appears to have no upper jaw and I dont suspect she will survive.. healthy otherwise, but appears she cannot eat/drink..

her face looks like a Pug dog..

anyhow mom had another healthy lamb.. is there a reason for this or is it just genetic fluke???

Answer 1

We had a calf born like that the poor thing actually suffacated itself one night, It drank it's milk and everything, I think it lived about 6 days, before it passed away, don't really know what would cause that just a birth defect, wouldn't think the mother would have another one like that ever again.

Answer 2

I did a lot of research on this topic.  I raise goats.  I aquired a couple of does who had malformed upper jaws (which is why I did the research).

I found out there is a problem with some of the stuff that is sprayed on crops (potatoes) causing these types of problems.  Some may be caused by the pesticides, but more commonly it is believed that the fungicides (for potatoes) are the cause of this problem.  It's also affecting wild deer populations.

The two does I got (11 goats from that farm altogether) were surrounded by potato farms.  Their upper jaws were a little over an inch too short.  You could clearly see thier teeth on their bottom jaw.

They produced healthy offspring, as has every doe from that farm.  In my goats case I believe it was caused by the fungicides sprayed on potatoes.

It is possible you lamb just had a defect that is not inheriant.  If that ewe ever produces another malformed lamb cull her, and all of her offpring and send them off to slaughter.  If another ewe produces that problem cull the ram if it is the same one, along with all the offpring (male and female) he produced.  

If it crops up again with a differnt ewe, unrelated to the first ewe who was covered by a different ram, then it's time to worry about your water supply, and the land your sheep are grazing on.  If you hear about this problem on any farms near you, it's also time to worry about your water quality, and what is trickling onto your land from commercial farming.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 3

its most likely a genetic fluke, especially if the other lamb was its twin (which i am assuming it is),,but if the other lamb was born at a different time, it could be that something happened to the lamb in ewe-tero that caused it to be deformed---i.e. did the mother ingest anything toxic.  you will probably have to feed her througha tube, though, and i woulnt expect her to live very long.

Answer 4

how are the other lambs. i would say its just a fluke. it happens

Answer 5

Sounds like cleft palate in people.  You might as well knock it in the head now because it'll never be able to graze or anything.  Most likely it's just one of those genetic abberations that's unlikely to happen again.  I once had a ewe miscarry, the lamb was premature, had no ears or eyes.  The sockets were there but had skin over them with no eyeballs.

If you have lambs that are overshot or undershot (parrot mouth), now that is genetically inherited.

ADDITIONAL

I just remembered something, if you use the wormer Valbazen during a certain time of the ewe's pregnancy, it can cause physical deformities.  It says on the label when.  If you must worm the ewe, use Velamisole (orally) or the ivermectin products.

Answer 6

I agree with the previous replys.

Genetically probably ok,

must have been a developmental problem.

This happens in life.

Ya could be environmental,

but might just be bad luck.

If she has and other mothers have more deformed babies,

then might be environmental.

If she had another and the other moms are all normal,

consider retire her, might be genetic.

If her vet or the university have no interest in studying it,

You might consider euthanizing the lamb,

so not to prolong the mysery.