[Jacob-list] tails

[Neal and Louise Grose]

We have pretty much stopped docking tails, though here in North Carolina, there is some greater need. This is more for cleaner looks than for health. There is a greater tendency to tag. They do make a nice jingling sound when they run. We have also stopped castrating, since our primary market is for our Muslim friends.

I know the Breed Standard is for a tail approximately the length of the hocks, but I am not willing to bet the farm that there is not some natural variation in length. It would be interesting to get some feed-back on number of vertebra, and how this compares with actual length.

By the way, somewhere I read that years ago, domestic sheep WERE bred for longer tails as a status symbol or something. We have forgotten more through the years than we know.

Neal Grose
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Dave & Katrina 
  To: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com ; Betty Berlenbach 
  Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2004 6:25 PM
  Subject: RE: [Jacob-list] tails



  ....JSBA standards (the notebook description) says that tail length is an indication of breed purity.   Other shepherds have also said that tail length is one indication of primitiveness/commercial...that is, most primitive sheep have short tails (above the hock), most domesticated sheep have long tails (below the hock).  I wonder why that is?  Surely we would not have tried to breed for long tails!  ....


  Katrina Lefever, Chicory Lane Farm


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