[Jacob-list] Re: tails

[Kelley Rambo]

I have found many people have the conception that if a sheep has a tail,
the sheep will have maggots.  That has not been my experience with my
Jacobs.  If you keep their diet "clean" (not changing it suddenly, etc.),
they will stay clean.  I have even had a few over the years get diarrhea
and STILL NO maggots.  Some people, I have read, speculate that Jacobs are
more inclined to raise their tails when they pee, but I don't know.  My
Cotswold crosses do fine, too.  Other people have said that it is easier
and more efficient to dock tails when breeding ewes, as well.  Again, I
find that my tailed sheep have NO problem breeding.  We had 17 lambs born
one year.  

I think the docking thing is more for industrial farms with hundreds of
sheep, not little farms like mine or yours which when someone is off we
know it right away.  I think it's just one of those USDA/Coop Ext
recommended practices that lost its original reason.

My two cents,
Kelley