[Ag-eq] Probably the final report on lambing

[Jody W Ianuzzi]

Hello Jewel
What are the advantages and disadvantages of docking lamb's tails?

How is the one yew doing with the sore on her neck?

How old are the lambs when you sell then?




JODY

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!" Thomas Jefferson

On Sep 18, 2013, at 9:50 PM, "Jewel" <jewelblanch at kinect.co.nz> wrote:

> I think that all the ewes may have dropped their bundles.  I haven't seen all the lambs but I seem 
> to have more ewe than ram
> lambs.
> When they are all out in the paddock, which will be within the next day or two:  that is:  when I 
> have finished feeding out the opened bale of hay, I will get Sam, my honorary shepherd, to count 
> them, but it will not be until I get them back in for docking and castration that I will know, 
> precisely, what I have.
> Last lambing which, for me,  was 2011, I had heard a sheep farmer saying that he was going to try 
> leaving the tails on the lambs.  He gave a number of quite valid reasons:  after all, wild sheep 
> survive very well with tails and in many parts of the world, they aren't docked at all:  more of 
> that shortly:  so I left the tails on too.
> However, I don't think that I will do it:  that is:  leave the tails on:  again as the disadvantages 
> far outweigh the advantages.
> I had 3 ewes that did not get into lamb, and 2 of them were those that I had left tails on;  must 
> have been coincidence surely, but it does make one wonder!
> I would not be surprised if Europe, with all its namby-pamby animal welfare regulations,  started 
> putting up trade barriers against importing lamb meat where the animal had been docked;  all quite 
> ridiculous as to import the meat, the animal had had to be * killed which makes the operation of 
> docking seem to be of very small moment, but ridiculous or not, it wouldn't surprise me if that is 
> what happened, and in the not so distant future either!
> 
> Jewel
> | 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Ag-eq mailing list
> Ag-eq at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ag-eq_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Ag-eq:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/ag-eq_nfbnet.org/jody%40thewhitehats.com
>