avram davidson treasury

I'm slowly working my way through this book, that certainly earns the title treasury. I forget who introduces "The House The Blakeneys Built" but they mention the freemartins breeding and what is "really" going on in the story ... Um, how do freemartins breed? PS - The story reminded me (sorta) of that XFiles episode entitled Home ..

The American Heritage Dictionary says a freemartin is a sterile or otherwise sexually imperfect female calf born as the twin of a bull calf. Several sources say that freemartinism is recognized as one of the most severe forms of sexual abnormality among cattle, found references to horses as well. This condition causes infertility in the female cattle born twin to a male. Perhaps more detail than necessary: Although the male twin in this case is only affected by reduced fertility, in over ninety percent of the cases, the female twin is completely infertile. Because of a transfer of hormones or a transfer of cells, the heifer's reproductive tract is severely underdeveloped and sometimes even contains some elements of a bull's reproductive tract. A freemartin is genetically female, but has many characteristics of a male. The ovaries of the freemartin do not develop correctly, and they remain very small. Also, the ovaries of a freemartin do not produce the hormones necessary to induce the behavioral signs of heat. The external vulvar region can range from a very normal looking female to a female that appears to be male. It would appear that freemartins can't breed but are sterile females who can resemble males. Does this make sense to the story? I didn't look it up before posting this. Phoebe