[Jacob-list] tails

[Betty Berlenbach]

I think the situation is that where adult showing of sheep is prevalent, docking takes place and I think it started because judges were used to seeing docked tails,m and so as not to get points taken off, tails started to be docked.  In New England, only children show sheep, not adults, and so we tend to go with what I was led to believe was the original standard for jacobs: non-docked tails.  Perhaps I was misinformed, but I agree with Thom: the only sheep you see in New England with docked tails are those which were imported!  There seems to be a wariness up here about showing sheep, and thereby capitulating to judges' ideas of what a jacob is, instead of the association's, so show sheep are clipped, often too fat, so that their backbone pleases the judges who dont' know that jacob backbones aren't supposed to be like Dorset backbones, and tend to hav tails docked.  ONe of the selling points of jacobs, for me and by me, is that their mothers make sure the babies stay clean.  All of us up here tend to cull mothers who don't have good hygiene and mothering abilities.  Once, at a show, a woman brought romanov with two babies, one of which had the runs:  I was absolutely stunned,since I'd never seen a mother ignore such a thing before!  My ewes keep up with the mess, clean their babies, and would never dream of ignoring such a health hazard as poopy tails in their babies.  The only excuse for same is a sick mama!  I see this as part of their primitive ability to survive without having their bodies altered.  It is,. for me, in the same category as horns that prevent them from eating: cull, cull,cull.  The beauty of these sheep is they don't NEED humans for such simply things.  We do need to be attentive to fencing, although my sheep beat up dogs who break through the fences, and probably would a coyote, as well.  Certainly Janet Sillers' rams beat up a bunch of coyotes who attacked her flock.  Maybe after years of breeding in the west, the jacobs out there have lost some of their primitive qualities and can't take care of their babies anymore?  It is a heads up for me, if I decide to purchase another ewe from out west: the question, "Has the mother cleaned up any diarrhea in her lambs or have you had to?" ought to be among the first I ask.  I sure don't need to add unhygienic animals to my flock!

However, I suspect that docking has more to do with showing than with hygiene, if you really want to know.

My concern is that with docked animals, you NEVER know if the tail meets the breed standard or not, because it has been cut off, so you could be inadvertantly raising animals that don't meet the standard!

I have vowed never to buy another sheep with a docked tail.  There's too many questions unanswered in such a situation.

I admit that I've never had any rampant diarrhea in my flock, which might lead me to change my mind.  Once in a while a baby gets the runs, but that's it.  Maybe it's the organic grain, since my friend, Donald, says coccidia is present in all soil.  There must be something (supreme health?) that keeps my sheep from succumbing to it.  But then, they get so little grain...nevertheless, they've not eaten any urea, which is godknowswhat and probably animal byproducts, which probably shouldn't be fed to ruminants, who are vegetarians by nature.  Perhaps if we fed no feeds with animal byproducts, there would be less succumbing to coccidia?  It would make an interesting study.  I've seen photos in Paula Whatshername's book of a rumen on pellets, and one without any pellets?  What about all you folks who feed only grass and no animal byproducts?  That is, no commercial grain or blocks or anything with urea as part of it.  Do you find your flocks succumbing to coccidiosis or other forms of rampant diarrhea?  Other than an occasional lamb.  It would be helpful to figure this out.  Of course, it could be simply a difference in climate, moisture, types of germs found in soil, combinations of types of germs found in soil, etc., that makes diarrhea such a threat out west that docking is an important health consideration.  Comments?  Betty
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