[JHeath]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070511/ap_on_.../odd_bonus_nose

Wis. farmer finds new calf has two noses

Mark Krombholz had to look twice at his new calf, Lucy — one time for each nose. "I didn't notice anything too different about her until I got her in the barn," Krombholz said, "and all of a sudden I went to feed her a bottle of milk, and I thought maybe she'd been kicked in the nose and there were two noses there."

The second, smaller nose sits on top of the first.

"It's a functioning nose because the middle of her second nose, the flap would go in and out when she drank out of the bottle like that," Krombholz said. "It was kind of funny."

Breeder Scott Grund said Lucy's noses seem to be working fine.

"It looked like she was comfortable laying there in her bedding and breathing and spunky just like you want to see," Grund said. "It's just that she's got two noses."

That kind of rare deformity is usually not the result of genetics, he said. But breeders do track such mutations.

"We'll fill out a form, send that on to the company in Shawano and they will keep record of it," Grund said. "If by chance this would occur more than a few times, they would start looking at maybe the sire that we're using."

Krombholz said Lucy, who was born May 4, will be a pet and bred if she's able.

[Max Main]

This is disgusting. Yecch.

Is there any more word on the rate of mutation in cattle? I sense a whole new area of discussion! It is like the androgynous fish in the East.

[Ang]

This is disgusting. Yecch.

Is there any more word on the rate of mutation in cattle? I sense a whole new area of discussion! It is like the androgynous fish in the East.

Or the pig in China with two heads. Actually, it had two of everything, but only three eyes. Very strange looking.

Then there's the duck with four feet.

So, Max, what do you suppose is causing these mutations? Could it be radiation poisoning, food poisoning, or what? Too many drugs in the 60's? What are your thoughts on this?

This post has been edited by Ang: May 14 2007, 11:42 AM

[Max Main]

I cant remem ber the name of the river where the androgynous fish are found, but the investigators found very high levels of estrogen compounds. They theorized that the heavy use of birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy has led to much higher levels of those coumpunds in waste water, which ends up in the rivers. This directly affects the fish.

As far as far-out livestock goes, i don't think I have yet heard of any tie-dyed calves being born. Yet.

[Ang]

As far as far-out livestock goes, i don't think I have yet heard of any tie-dyed calves being born. Yet.

I saw one once. He was driving a VW bus