Awful Docks

[aggieterpkatie]

I took a few pictures at the county fair of some of the worst docks I've ever seen before. I'm not sure why anyone thinks this is a good practice or looks good. You can clearly see the one is almost prolapsing. We as an industry need to put a stop to this! This gives the whole industry a black eye. If more people spoke out, maybe we could get the "standard" changed. Please don't buy lambs with ultra short docks, and please speapk out when you see something like this.

 

[ksalvagno]

Wow, that is horrible! Don't they need some sort of protection from the flies?

 

[Beekissed]

At some fairs, these types of docks are immediately disqualified. I've read that short docking can cause damage to the sacral plexus nerves and contributes to prolapse and lambing difficulties.

Why in the world would anyone need it that short?

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Unfortunately, the judges "we" are using are not talented enough to look at a lamb with a tail and be able to judge them. IMO, any judge who can't look past a 1" or 2" tail to see the lamb should not be judging. These are the lambs that place, so people buy them.

These lambs in the picture above look like they've been re-docked, and that's probably why they're still scabby.

Unfortunately, the rule in MD is that unless the lamb is actually prolapsing, they won't be disqualified. There is a "voluntary" tail docking "rule" but people don't listen.

 

[Beekissed]

I guess they feel that, being market lambs, they are headed for slaughter anyway.

I think its a crying shame to teach kids to mutilate a good animal so you can win. Win at any costs. I am no bleeding heart animal lover kind of person but I generally like my animals in their natural state if possible.

God didn't really make any accidents and lambs tails are no exception. I would say, if they tend to get soiled and gather flies that this may be due to grain rations that they really didn't feed in the past. Ruminants are designed for grass...its only man who feels that they need that animal to~ fatten sooner, grow quicker, make more lambs~ that introduced more grains into their diets.

If I had woollies and the tails seemed to be a problem, I would just shear that area more than once a year. How horrible to not have a way to swat at flies when you need to or cover your butt in the cold weather.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I agree that this is mutilation, and I don't have a problem with regular docking.

When sheep naturally shed their wool, they didn't need docking. Now that man has bred them to retain their wool (save hair breeds), it definitely can cause issues with hygiene having long tails. When you have many sheep, it's not practical to shear more time per year than absolutely necessary.

Yes, it's true that these are mostly terminal sheep, but I hate that they're teaching this is the "right" way to do it. I wonder how many of these club lamb breeders dock their ewes this way?


And I'm not sure how much a sheep's tail helps with swatting flies. Maybe if those flies are directly near the rump, but sheep tails aren't nearly as handy as a horse's tail.

 

[Beekissed]

No...probably not, but my girls use theirs constantly to swish away flies. The only place flies really bother them is at their tail end and their noses, so I guess their tails are just like they ought to be for sheep and their ears are just floppy enough to flap away flies at the nose.

 

[goodhors]

YUCK, sure glad we don't see hardly any of this on sheep around us anymore! Gives the round "apple-but" profile. Yeah for a bit the prolapsing was not uncommon with docking like that. No rule against prolapsed sheep locally, the kids just pushed it back in and showing. Part of working with that lamb, keeping lamb looking good. Judges did place them then, but not so much now.

None of our lambs looked like the photos. And by that I mean all the lambs at the Fair and our personal lambs. Docked more like the lamb in the photo about showing, short and neat. Gives a nice profile look.

I think it is a phase, styles change every few years and Judges have to catch up or are setting new styles by choosing different trims. You find older judges still choosing old styles of body and trims. Younger guys are going for the "modern" look in choices. Different body styles come and go. Long necks are quite popular, but can be overdone. One lamb at a show looked more like a Llama, had a REALLY long neck when stretched out. Bizarre appearance, and didn't place well in Individual class.

 

[Beekissed]

Now...don't these tails look more comfortable and healthy?

 

[big brown horse]

Look at those cute buns!!





Those pics made my tummy turn. Imagine how children feel looking at that. :/ I know my 13yo daughter would be sad to see that. And we are both "country" girls.

My kat has a nice tail and I also opted to leave my Icelandic cross' tail natural too.

(My border cheviot came docked, but it is nicely done.)

Any lambs my girls have will have natural tails.