Lamb tail docking – do you really need to?
Tail docking of sheep is covered by the “painful husbandry procedures” section of the Codes of Welfare. The minimum standards (legal requirements) include that: “Tail docking of sheep must only be undertaken where there is significant risk of faecal and urine contamination, and/or flystrike, that leads to poor hygiene, health and welfare and/or failing to do so adds a significant cost to the farm system.”.
It can be hard to know whether docking will reduce the risk of flystrike for specific animals or farms. So long as sheep are kept clean and shorn flystrike risk can often be managed without docking. However, if your property has a history of flystrike, docking correctly may be an important part of prevention.
Legal requirements
Sheep under six months old can legally have their tails docked with a hot iron or rubber ring without pain relief. Sheep over six months old can only have their tails docked by a veterinarian with the use of pain relief throughout the procedure. Regardless of age, a sheep’s tail must not be docked shorter than the caudal tail folds (where the two folds of skin attach on the underside of the tail). The tail length is important to minimise pain, prevent damaging the muscles that control defecation, and to allow normal behaviours. Tails that are docked too short can increase the risk of flystrike.
How to – Best Practice
It is best practice to perform tail docking when lambs are under six weeks old and to provide pain relief. If our techs do your tail docking, we are happy to provide pain relief regardless of the lamb’s age. It is also recommended to vaccinate lambs against clostridial diseases at or before the time of docking to reduce the risk of life-threatening infection. Conventional rubber rings are the ideal method of tail docking.
Before placing the rubber ring make sure the tail is clean. A good guide to tail length is that it should cover the vulva in female sheep and be a similar length in males, this may leave the tail longer than where the caudal tail folds attach (see below MPI’s The bottom line on tail-docking). After applying tail rings make sure to check on your lambs daily for infection, broken rings, or signs of pain. The tail tissue dies quickly after the ring cuts off blood supply but can stay attached for several weeks. If you have any concerns about lamb tail docking give us a call.
Image from MPI’s The bottom line on tail docking
