Tibial hemimelia, meningocele, and abdominal hernia in Shorthorn cattle

Six genetically related Shorthorn calves were affected with the tibial hemi melia syndrome. The lesions included bilaterally malformed or absent tibia and abdominal hernia in all animals, a long shaggy haircoat, retained testi cles in males, and meningocele in three animals. The malformations were sim ilar to those described previously in Galloway calves. Pedigree analysis de monstrated a mechanism by which a recessive allele in a homozygous state co uld be responsible for the disorder. The condition in these calves was cons idered the result of a recurrence of a genetic mutation affecting a putativ e hemimelia locus.