[Jacob-list] Re: Breed Standard on Docked Tails

[Betty Berlenbach]

Putting all those statements about tail length together, and not taking them
as individual entries, it seems to me what it is saying is that what we want
to perpetuate is sheep with medium length tails, not too short, not too
long, not hairy, not fluke shaped, and anything else is really NOT first
class, in terms of registration.  Perhaps a perfect sheep with a long tail
could be registered, but a sheep with four iffy borderline traits, including
the tail, would surely fail, and the tail would be a factor.  An
inappropriate tail in either tail length or covering is an indication that
possibly there is some crossbreeding in there somewhere a few generations
back.  The sheep is still a great sheep, but the question is: do you want to
perpetuate that long tail? Short tail? Hairy tail?  And then the opposing
question: how much do you want to limit the look of the jacob: surely you
don't want them to all look the same.  As far as I'm concerned, a tail whose
bone comes below the hock is not going to be submitted for registration by
me nor bred by me.  A sheep whose fleece comes below the hock but not the
bone is one which I carefully evaluate in terms of the rest of its qualities
before I decide whether to submit it for registration or not.  And I most
certainly would not submit a ram with a long tail!  That's just too much
proliferation of an undesireable trait.

My sheep vary greatly in looks, because I never line breed, and I generally
don't keep progeny, but sell the lambs and buy a new unrelated ewe each
year, so as to have variety here and in the lambs I sell (the more
differennt kinds of lambs I have, the more customers are likely to find what
they want.)  However, I try not to have "undesireable" traited sheep out
there on the pasture, if possible.  I think there's plenty of variation
within the standard in the desireable category, without having to move into
the undesireable category.  This is of course, a generalization, and I will
keep a sheep with one undesireable trait, if it's not extreme and the rest
of the sheep is spectacular.  (I also would cull a ewe who didn't clean up
her lamb when and if it had diarrhea, by the way!  I've never had a jacob
like that, but I once saw a romanov at a fair with a baby with a poopy
bottom and was totally shocked that the mother paid it no mind.  I expect my
mothers to keep their babies clean.  I did! )

I'm small potatoes, in terms of flocks the country over.  I'll never have
more than 20 sheep, because I can't afford more and have no facility to
store hay for more. (With 7 months of winter, you need a lot of hay per
sheep up here!)  I have little or no money for national advertising, and
tend to sell my lambs within the area here, with a few exceptions.  I guess
I'm an "evangelizer" in that I tend to sell jacobs and shetlands to people
wanting sheep who've never had them before, and mentor them along into being
tomorrow's big rare breeds farmers!  Since I change rams quite often, and my
ewes are mostly unrelated to each other,  I do have a lot of repeat
customers.  There is no "look" to a Berlenbach flock because for the most
part, my flock is made up of other flocks' sheep.  That's the way I like it.
I know a couple of other breeders up here think I'm crazy, which I won't
deny, but there's room in the world for crazies like me, I think.
(Actually, at the moment, I have several daughters of the original ewes, as
they are getting old, or have died...so there are a number of actualy Maple
HIll breeding animals on campus.  But they are all unrelated to each other
as well, for the most part, because they have different fathers as well as
different mothers.  Generally, I use a ram no more than two years before
getting another one.  Right now, I'm trying to let go of the two rams I need
to and I've become so attached to them, that it's been difficult.  So, I've
actually used them on some of the ewes for a third time...but have a third
ram for the daughters...

Oh, well, enough rambling.  Another break: it's not -25, just -11,
positively balmy, and the day has lightened enough for me to see out there,
so I guess it's time to go feed the critters.

It's fun talking about all these issues.  Please understand that what I hold
myself to, I don't necessarily see as the only way to fly, just the way I
prefer flying!  Dock, if you want to: it doesn't bother me in the least,
except as it effects what sheep I buy.  I'm sure you can still sell them
like crazy docked to other people with more money than I'll ever have! Go
for it.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <BIDEWEE at aol.com>
To: <jacob-list at jacobsheep.com>; <lambfarm at sover.net>
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2004 9:27 PM
Subject: [Jacob-list] Re: Breed Standard on Docked Tails


> In a message dated 1/15/2004 4:18:15 PM Eastern Standard Time,
lambfarm at sover.net writes:
>
> > know that as long as there is a breed standard which requires the tail
to be no longer than the hock, I (and others) aren't going to buy sheep
whose tails have been docked which means we don't know if the sheep meets
the breed standard or not.<
>
> Hi Betty,
> Re: your comments about tail length and the breed standard... I can't
comment on the JSC Breed standard as I don't have a copy here, but I
couldn't find anything in the JSBA breed standard that disqualifies a lamb
if it's tail is longer than the hock.
>
> I could only find two references to tail length...
> 1 ) In the "Desirable Traits" section it says "The natural Jacob tail
reaches almost to the hock; is wooly, not hairy."
>
> 2) In the Unacceptable/Disqualifying Traits" section it lists "Fat or
short tailed" (which would indicate crossing with a fat tailed breed - like
Karakul, or a Northern short tail breed - like Shetland or Icelandic)
>
> I see nothing that indicates that a lamb with a tail longer (or shorter)
then the hock is an automatic cull.  To my way of thinking it would just
have a "less desirable" tail.  Have I missed something?
>
> We dock tails here, have had no problems and will continue to do so.  But,
we also take photos of all lambs shortly after birth when their tails are
still very attached.  That helps us document color percentage, wool type,
tail length, etc. and helps us identify them later if they lose an ear tag.
>
> I'm guessing that taking photos of the new lambs is a fairly common
practice among Jacob breeders, especially since the lambs are so cute.  If
your primary concern with docked tails is that you can't determine the
natural tail length you could always ask to see a lamb photo.
>
> Based on the many photos I've seen in the past few years of American Jacob
sheep I'd have to say that the majority have docked tails.  It seems to me
that rejecting potential breeding stock because of docked tails would
certainly narrow your genetic options.
>
> Karen Lobb
> bide a wee farm
> www.bideaweefarm.com
>
>
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