What eye problem is this wonderful ram likely to be suffering from, is he likely to pass it to his offspring and how would you treat him?
This is a four horned Hebridean ram and these
animals have unusual colobomas in their upper eyelids, as can be seen here.
The coloboma, or absence of tissue, in the middle of the upper eyelid can lead to trichiasis, hair abrading the cornea, and pigmentation as above or frank ulceration as in two of this ram’s offspring, as shown below.
Surgery to close the defect may be required when the ocular surface pathology is this severe. The abnormality is closely associated with the four-horned-ness of these sheep, though the exact heritability is currently under investigation .