Hi Ann,
On heavily wooled sheep, buildup of manure (especially if the sheep are on
pasture and get the 'pasture trots' in the spring) can result in fly strike
in animals, which is not fun to deal with at all. Not all animals will
develop fly strike under these conditions, but I just feel it's not worth
the risk.
However, some breeds of animals- those with shorter tails, less wooled
tails, or hair breeds of sheep- may not require docking for these purposes-
some breeds even ban docking to be eligible for registry. Many of the
sheep you saw in Scotland may have been more primitive breeds, which often
have shorter tails or less wool on them.
Shearers do not like to shear tails, especially if they are covered in dung
balls which mat and pull when shorn.
Also, it depends on your market. We raise seedstock Dorset sheep, which
have heavily wooled tails. I dock all potential breeding stock shortly
after birth, but typically do not dock those that I know I will be culling.
Our local ethnic markets (I am located in PA) do not mind and often prefer
tailed animals, it helps me quickly ID those animals that are to be culled,
and it adds a few pounds of weight to each lamb at sale time! Plus, these
tailed lambs typically leave the farm prior to the grazing season, so their
rear ends do not become so soiled, except for the year we had an outbreak
of coccidiosis in the lambs- thankfully it was prior to the fly season!
Kathy Soder
At 10:05 PM 3/7/2005, you wrote:
>Can anyone tell me what the most efficient, serious producers do about
>sheep tails? Do they dock them, or do they find it not worth the trouble?
>
>I recall seeing sheep all over northern Scotland with long tails, and
>gathered it isn't worth the effort there. Will I kick myself if we skip
>tail docking in mid-Vermont?
>
>thanks, Ann in Vermont
>_______________________________________________
