The Old Ram-Australia
Herd Master
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- Jan 18, 2011
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So why do we “dock” sheep’s tails? Sheep evolved with tails, unlike Goats, so there must be a reason and if you look at the least developed breeds (not interfered with by humans) such as the desert types like the Black Headed Persian their tails are shorter but are utilized by the animal as a “energy store” much like a camels hump.
It seems that the folks who control the Breed Society’s decided that the animal “looked better” with a “docked tail” and this thought has been carried to the extreme especially in the USA and to such an extent that Dorpers/Suffolk’s are now docked right back to between the buttocks, so what’s the point of a fat tail breed? While we are on the subject of Dorpers what’s behind “shearing” a hair breed for the show ring? So let’s assume the tail has a purpose and it is to store energy in times of “plenty”.
If you reduce its capacity to store do you not force the animal to store the “fats” higher up the body of the animal(say near the pin bones) around what is the birth canal? As a ewe approaches parturition the muscles around the birth canal naturally “relax”, but the stored “fats” do not react in this way and so an obstruction can occur increasing the stress on both mother and lamb. There have been claims that certain breeds lambs are “slow risers”, perhaps it’s from exhaustion of a difficult birth?
Is it possible that the extreme short docking can result in muscle damage which pre-disposes males to anal prolapse and females to virginal prolapse? There are those who advocate no tail docking but in some breeds this causes a lot more “crutching” to be carried out, my own preference is to dock at the end of the “bare patch” on the lower side of the tail. This system has served me well over the years I have been using it.T.O.R.
It seems that the folks who control the Breed Society’s decided that the animal “looked better” with a “docked tail” and this thought has been carried to the extreme especially in the USA and to such an extent that Dorpers/Suffolk’s are now docked right back to between the buttocks, so what’s the point of a fat tail breed? While we are on the subject of Dorpers what’s behind “shearing” a hair breed for the show ring? So let’s assume the tail has a purpose and it is to store energy in times of “plenty”.
If you reduce its capacity to store do you not force the animal to store the “fats” higher up the body of the animal(say near the pin bones) around what is the birth canal? As a ewe approaches parturition the muscles around the birth canal naturally “relax”, but the stored “fats” do not react in this way and so an obstruction can occur increasing the stress on both mother and lamb. There have been claims that certain breeds lambs are “slow risers”, perhaps it’s from exhaustion of a difficult birth?
Is it possible that the extreme short docking can result in muscle damage which pre-disposes males to anal prolapse and females to virginal prolapse? There are those who advocate no tail docking but in some breeds this causes a lot more “crutching” to be carried out, my own preference is to dock at the end of the “bare patch” on the lower side of the tail. This system has served me well over the years I have been using it.T.O.R.