Lambs have tails

[ambereeree]

Today I went for a walk in the country. As an ex city dweller I have little experience of animals. I saw baby lambs and was shocked to see they have long tails. Has anybody else discovered that after 4 decades they really lack basic knowledge?

Is mulesing done in this country? That seems so cruel.

I’ve never ever seen or heard of it done in this country. It’s completely unnecessary.

Sheep farmer here too - I have never heard of anyone practicing mulesing in the U.K. - seems to be an antipodean thing.

I grew up on a hill farm in wales and we used to cut lamb tails off when they were a bit older. The dogs did love them and they are indeed pretty meaty. as small kids it was our job to count them so we knew how many lambs we’d got - we had to collect them up as they fell and chase the dogs away from the buckets they were collected in before they were counted so it didn’t spoil the count! It sounds awful but they were some of the best days because it was a real family event where everyone got involved.

Fly strike is hideous and it’s my biggest fear as a farmer. It’s like slow torture of the animal and it seems to kill their soul long before it kills them. If I find one in our flock I feel like I’ve failed it as it is something you can remedy if you catch it in time. We go out very early in the morning / late in the evening to check for it - reason being that struck sheep don’t generally go out to graze in the the high sun as it makes the maggots really active (painful) so they tend to hide in the shade in sheds / behind walls / in nettles etc. So they get a double whammy of pain from the maggots and hunger from not being able to trickle graze all day. It is truly horrible and I don’t hesitate to dock tails. You can also apply topical medical products to deter the flies from laying eggs in the first place. They do work but they’re not particularly nice products and can’t be used in organic systems. There are strict rules in place about “withdrawal periods” ie how soon you are allowed to slaughter animals for human consumption after treatment.

I'd never, ever heard of mulesing before. That is horrific. Does anyone know how to find out which suppliers use mulesing-free wool?

Are all sheep used for their wool? or just breeding?

You get around 70p-£1.30 ish per fleece. And it costs £1-1.40 per sheep to get it sheared. So no one in their right minds keeps a sheep for its wool these days!

All for meat, ultimately. Some breed with all the lambs going for fat. Some breed replacement ewes to breed more lambs for fat. And some breed pedigrees as replacement breeding stock (with a tiny number as pets). So ultimately all with producing lamb as the goal.

High welfare is always the goal though with all farming. Not only because most farmers aren’t cruel - but happy healthy animals do better and make you more money.

I'd never, ever heard of mulesing before. That is horrific. Does anyone know how to find out which suppliers use mulesing-free wool?

I have a lot to do with the sheep industry and I’ve never even heard of it happening in the uk. Stick with British and you should be fine.

That applies to all animal products. Our welfare standards are the highest in the world.

You don’t only get maggots in tails though - they’ll lay eggs anywhere on a sheep where there’s shit. Often on the back.
Timely shearing and using pour on (topical medicine to stop the flies) is pretty essential. Especially in warm wet summers.

Thank you @WellErrr

@Elouera

No it is illegal to dock dog's tails and cut their ears. It's a cruel practice when it is done to dogs because it is done for aesthetic reasons. It was done because deluded people thought it made them look aesthetically pleasing, and not for health reasons like with lambs.

I live in NZ and I don't eat any part of a sheep - and especially not lamb tails!!

Cardigan corgis have tails - if anyone is interested.

Mulesing was banned in New Zealand a couple of years ago, but still legal in Australia.
It's not done in UK.
Sheep have been bred for their wool and domestic sheep don't shed. As PP said, wool isn't profitable any more, but they still need to be shorn, so it's more a by-product of the meat industry.
Here's what happens if you don't sheer them!
www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/rip-shrek-the-sheep-that-bewitched-a-nation-2294361.html

It's a cruel practice when it is done to dogs because it is done for aesthetic reasons.
Some breeds of dog are very prone to tail injuries, which are extremely hard to heal. In the UK, you can still get those docked, under strict rules, if the puppy is likely to go into work.

@Littlemeadow123- Agree! I never said I condoned docking dogs tail or ears, and already said I thought it was illegal in the UK (some American states allow it I believe).

The point of the post was things you didn't realise till later in life. I didn't realise that a certain breed of dog naturally have a long tail, as I'd only seen that breed with them docked as a child!

The right wool is still profitable, it's just that hardly anyone in the UK produces it. We produce superfine merino wool, under 18.5 micron, and even with current relatively low wool prices, it's still worthwhile. We also get a small premium for non-mulesed wool. Not all sheep wool is fine enough to make clothing, especially clothing worn against the skin- most of the British breeds have quite coarse wool that wouldn't be worth much.

Like many Australian farmers, we breed merino ewes to British breed rams (terminal sires) and sell the lambs for meat. Crossbred wool is less valuable than merino, but still gets reasonable prices.

Only merino sheep are ever mulesed, and it's a far less drastic procedure than commonly portrayed in media (and almost always involves pain relief). Crossbreds aren't mulesed, and many farmers aren't mulesing in general.

Lots of people don't realise that all sheep don't produce wool, that different ages and breeds of sheep produce different sorts of wool, and that their meat tastes different (and depends on the conditions in which they're raised).

I'm from NZ and never knew eating lambs' tails was even a thing.

Mind you I grew up in the inner city... Hardly ever set foot on a farm

We're a farming and hunting family and have owned docked tailed dogs. When they're working I'd agree it's needed. I remember a friends gun dog ripped its tail wide open jumping a barbed wire fence. Right beside the part of the fence where the wire was wrapped (for them jumping over safely. Daft dog!)

I think it's appalling that aesthetic tail docking, ear cropping and de-clawing cats is still legal in modern developed countries.

We did have a docked Great Dane once too. She used to get so excited she would whack her tail like a whip off everything so hard she would burst it open, spraying blood everywhere. And when it was stitched up she'd do it again. The vet tried everything including putting a syringe tube over it to protect it which turned her tail into a dangerous weapon. Eventually we had to admit defeat

Also, people thought lambs grew on trees;
www.wired.com/2014/04/fantastically-wrong-vegetable-lamb-tartary/

@Ninkanink a perfect example of the Schlesinger-Holpfeffer Paradox.

The point of the post was things you didn't realise till later in life. I didn't realise that a certain breed of dog naturally have a long tail, as I'd only seen that breed with them docked as a child!

As a small child, DD deduced that the presence or absence of dogs' bollocks was a breed characteristic. We found this misapprehension out when, after our first neutered dachshund died we got a young entire dog. Obviously this was the sort of thing a small child finds very interesting in a matter-of-fact sort of way, and included the information that he hadn't been 'newted' in a little letter she wrote to someone with news of our latest pet.

De clawing cats is illegal in the U.K. My in-laws used to live in the US and they adopted a rescue cat which had been declawed. They then moved back to the U.K. with the cat and had to do a lot of explaining to their new vet who had never seen a declawed cat before. I always felt so sorry for the poor thing, it was really nervous which according to them was a result of it not having any claws (although it could have been from being a rescue or just a randomly nervous cat). I can see why docking dogs can sometimes be necessary, but if you don’t want your furniture scratched just don’t get a cat.

We were surprised when we lived in the US that it seemed to be entirely the norm, among generally nice kind people that they'd have declawed 'indoor' cats which would be terrified it you showed them an open door. (of course, it's arguably equally odd that many 'animal lovers' in the U.K. keep cats which roam around killing birds and other wildlife)

De barking dogs is apparently also a thing in the US and elsewhere.