# undocked tails in Wales (warning: photos)



## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

My husband and I went hiking on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales this past summer and saw many sheep with long, undocked tails. I don't know if it's never been customary on that island or if it's new to leave the tails, but it gives the sheep a whole 'nuther look.


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## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

No fly strike? Interesting - when we were hiking, there were no mosquitoes to bother us at all, which was wonderful, but there were some pesky biting flies. Nothing as bad as the blackflies here, though.


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## mistletoad (Apr 17, 2003)

I'm pretty sure the 2007 animal cruelty act banned docking of tails in England and Wales, but many farmers weren't docking anyway. But not all farmers are as lucky as Rose's friends, DEFRA estimates 80% of flocks have 1 or more cases per year.


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## RiverPines (Dec 12, 2006)

I dont dock tails and I am in Wisconsin! 
I have long wool breeds too!
No fly strike either.

There are precautions that can be taken such as keeping the tails sheared in summer. Keeping the tails clean if the sheep gets soft poo for some reason.
Using insecticides in the wool around the butt and tail area.

Docking I can see if you have a lot of sheep and keeping them clean and groomed is to time consuming. But for a small flock, I see no reason to dock tails.

The sheep use the tails too for swatting insects.

The few docked sheep I had had probs in summer with mosquito bites on pooches and flies always buzzing around their rear ends. My long tailed sheep dont have either problem thanks to their intact flyswatter! 

Rule for long tails..keep it clean and keep it sheared.


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## Freeholder (Jun 19, 2004)

The docking issue is one reason why, if I am ever able to get sheep again, I'll get one of the short-tailed breeds (either Shetland or Icelandic). That way it becomes a non-issue.

Kathleen


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

I stopped docking mine, but hair sheep dont have the problems wool sheep do anyway.


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## ShortSheep (Aug 8, 2004)

Back when we had Babydolls & some crosses, we did a long dock. Made sure the tail well covered the vulva & anus of the sheep. Some of our foundation stock had been short docked, the poor girls had sunburn and couldn't keep the flies off their parts. It was disgusting! 
They hold their tails out when they poop anyway, so the long docks stayed just as clean as my current naturally short tailed sheep.


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## thequeensblessing (Mar 30, 2003)

We have hair sheep, and we don't dock either. I love the looks of those fat tails on sheep!


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## DairyGoatSlave (Dec 27, 2008)

Im a non sheep person and have been lurking a bit. Are fly the only reason that you dock tails? Or is the mess too? Iv got goats(if ya didnt know that already or couldnt tell by my screen name  ) so we dont have to worry about that stuff. Sorry Just curious!


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## YuccaFlatsRanch (May 3, 2004)

Sheep with undocked tails look like Great Pyenees dogs.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I don't dock my sheep's tails. Never had fly strike. I did once have a problem with the runs, but it was after they had all been shorn so it wasn't too hard to wipe off the runny stuff and be done with it. The underside of the tail, 1/3 to 1/2 way down, doesn't have wool.


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## Olivia67 (Mar 6, 2008)

We have both sheep and goats and personally I like the look of a short tail on my sheep. If anyone (including myself) wants to show them, those tails have to come off. However the current show trend is to have their tails completely docked, which can cause problems with delivering a lamb and even pooping so we dock them by banding so they will have enough tail to cover their private areas back there and they have enough to wag too. And our sheep do wag their tails a lot, esp if they are happy. I'd rather band a lamb than burn those baby horns on our goats, but we do that too because we feel it's necessary and more humane for the goat. You know that most of our livestock will live a relatively long life and they may have several owners, if something has to be done, I'd rather have us do it properly when they are babies then later on when it would really be a problem. Tails are banded when the lambs are around a week or so old, just like when we burn the horns on the baby kids. 

Olivia67


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## DairyGoatSlave (Dec 27, 2008)

thanks! I thought it might be health reason


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