[Jacob-list] Tails - comparison across the Pond

[gordon johnston]

It has been fascinating reading about your views on tail length and docking. I was intrigued to see how the rules compare over here in Britain.
The relevant section of the JSS breed standards says of tails : 'Back - straight, level from base of neck to setting on of tail, which should be broad.......Tail to be well set up on chine.....'  And that's it !
In 'An Introduction to Jacob Sheep - their care and selection', a pamphlet which is sent out to all new members, the author says of tail docking : Remember that the Jacob breed is a hill sheep so tails should only be docked sufficiently to keep them clean in adult life - hold the lamb's tail out straight and place the rubber ring approximately one-third from the tip'.

I had a look in the latest Journal to see what actually happens here.  Of course most of the sheep are looking at the camera, being inveterately curious, but of those snapped from the rear most are either undocked or docked as descibed above.  However, I know from seeing others flocks that a few owners here do dock shorter - mainly I think commercial farmers who also keep other breeds. However, there are rules here about docking  too short in any breed , on welfare grounds - I'm not sure if that applies to England too.
We no longer dock tails - we find the beautiful waggling appendages to be both eloquent and useful to the animal. They do seem to form a part of the sheep's body language, to be read by the rest of the flock - stumps just are not the same !
Fly strike can be a problem but we have never had it on the tails themselves, and have seen it on the occasional Shetland with a very short 'northern short tailed' tail. We now use a preventive 'pour-on' against fly strike, which seems to have increased dramatically in our area since compulsory dipping was stopped.  Sheep have mobile tails which can be moved aside during defaecation and they only seem to 'hit wool' when they are scouring, when the liquid faeces pour down the body wool, rather than the tail.  We struggle to keep some lambs clean when the grass starts to grow in the Spring, but tail length seems to make no difference.
Interestingly, the Hebridean, which is a northern short tailed breed, has in it's breed description (not 'breed standard', as it is a primitive, non-commercial breed) that tails do not extend below the hock.  There is a reason for this as in the past Black Wesh Mountain and Jacob blood is thought to have been used to increase size , and the tell-tale (tail?) of this is longer tails. The Hebs do not have the extremely short 'fluke' tails of the Shetlands, Gotlands, Soay, etc, but are believed to have only 12-14 vertebrae instead of the 20+ of long-tailed breeds.  Hebrideans are never docked, and would be deregistered if found to be so.
Perhaps the concern of your breed societies about tail length is to exclude a similar problem with introduced blood from other breeds which may have taken place since Jacobs arrived in Canada and the US.  Of course all you are doing is selecting out the longer tails but not any of the other features coming from the other breeds, which will not be bound to the tail length and may not be so easily visible...... Pink noses are an obsession over here and I believe this dates back to some surreptitious crossing with Dorsets, but again you are only tweaking the phenotype not the genotype.
Juliet in Scotland UK
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