Jacob lamb's horns falling off

[TeamChaos]

Olivia lamb is about 5 months old. She is a four horned jacob bottle baby. We noticed a while back that the two little horns on the side were wiggly but nothing seemed to come of it. Today I noticed that one of her top horns was bloody and very loose, by the end of the day it was dangling off so I cut it free. As I was cleaning her up, she knocked the other top horn into my hand and it started to bleed around the base. I put blood stop on it but I suspect I'll be snipping it off tomorrow. What in the world is going on??

 

[Godsgrl]

Was Olivia born on your farm? If not, could her horns have been banded before you bought her? I hope you find some answers to this dilemma.

 

[TeamChaos]

Nope, she wasn't born on our farm but I'm sure her horns were not banded. Her tail was, but not the other end! Thanks for the good wishes!

 

[Matthew3590]

I have almost no experience but if I think horns are kind of like bones so maybe not enough calcium or protein?

 

[TeamChaos]

I did end up snipping the second horn off today... hope I did the right thing. I sprayed it with blu-kote but didn't get to clean it up too well. I'm wondering how quickly horns grow, if maybe it's a consequence of being bottle fed.

 

[the12catlady]

She'll be ok - and they will grow back. sounds like she has "scurs" little nubbins of horns that don't get very big and are alwayse wobbly - one of my ewes has them (also 4! - she's a jacob's/shetland cross) as well as my mother's ram. they knock them off from time to time (mainly the ram...

) so long as they arn't bleeding alot or dangling by a scrap of skin they heal without incident. DEFINATELY has NOTHING to do with being a bottle baby - or nutrition...
Jennifer