>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?
It will all depend on the breed, environment and management. Breeds
that develop long wool covered tails are at risk for flystrike in
places where that can occur and IMO it would be cruel not to dock
tails on those sheep. OTOH some breeds, even with long tails, Like my
Black Welsh have no wool on the underside and are considered
resistant to flystrike. In our breed docking the tails results in the
loss of registration status for your entire flock. The belief is that
failing to cull on the basis of sheep that get flystruck by not
testing them with long undocked tails will, over time, lead to
problems in the breed characteristics. So we never dock tails at all.
Short tailed sheep and hair sheep also probably do not need their tails docked.
A small flock where the shepherd can catch flystrike early probably
does not need tails docked where a larger flock does.
Some markets will penalize you for long tailed sheep, others will pay
a premium so it pays to know your market too.
In any case, if you do decide to dock tails be sure you dock long
enough for the entire vulva of the ewe to be covered and about the
same for a ram lamb. The minimum is the end of the caudal fold but I
think a bit longer is better. Short docks can lead to increased
prolapses and other problems.
--
Oogie McGuire - oogiem@desertweyr.com
Weyr Associates - Multimedia and Web Authoring Services & Consulting
Desert Weyr - CMK Arabian horses and Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
http://www.desertweyr.com/
Paonia, CO USA
