# Docking tail of 2 1/2 week old lambs



## sunflowerparrot (Mar 8, 2014)

I'm new to raising lambs and purchased 2 2-week old lambs earlier this week. They are bottle feeding and doing great! But - they have long tails. From what I read, it can be a health problem for sheep to have long tails due to flies and maggots. 

My question: Can I band their tails at 2 1/2 weeks old or are they past the age for banding?


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## Womwotai (Mar 8, 2014)

Many people now choose to leave the tails undocked.  I have my first lambs this year, that are now 2 and 3 weeks old.  I haven't docked either of them.  The ewe lamb is a hair sheep so I'm less concerned about her.  The ram lamb will be butchered later in the year so I decided to leave him undocked and see how he does, since he will only go through one summer.  My flock ram's tail was never docked and he didn't have any issues with flies last summer.


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## BrownSheep (Mar 8, 2014)

They should be fine. It will just take a bit longer to lose their tails. I've done tails at three weeks but I wouldn't let it go past 4.


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## sunflowerparrot (Mar 9, 2014)

Womwotai said:


> Many people now choose to leave the tails undocked.  I have my first lambs this year, that are now 2 and 3 weeks old.  I haven't docked either of them.  The ewe lamb is a hair sheep so I'm less concerned about her.  The ram lamb will be butchered later in the year so I decided to leave him undocked and see how he does, since he will only go through one summer.  My flock ram's tail was never docked and he didn't have any issues with flies last summer.


I am planning on castrating the buckling too - can I do that now or should I wait until the tail trauma is over?


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## BrownSheep (Mar 9, 2014)

I personally like to do it at the same time. I think it actually shortens the amount of time they are stressed.


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## PyrOfTheFlock (Mar 13, 2014)

I think it depends on whether they are wooly or hair sheep. My hair sheep don't have much hair or wool on the underside of their tails even in winter, so they don't get a build up of dirt or feces back there even on the ones I chose not to dock. On the otherhand, I have two wool ewes, rambouillet/merino mixes, that just lambed and even though their tails are docked quite short their rears are complete and utter messes that I am planning to shear as soon as my shears are fixed. If their tails had not been docked they would have a plethora of buildup and bacteria back there causing all sorts of problems and probably infection. So I've concluded that I won't dock my hair sheep because it's really just uneeded stress and pain for them, but I will dock my woolies because it would probably cause more stress and pain down the road if they go undocked.


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