[Jacob-list] docking

[Penelope]

Sometime around 12:22 1/14/2004, Betty Berlenbach typed:

>I still say when you have a breed standard which includes the length of a 
>tail, you can't tell if the sheep meets the breed standard or not, if the 
>tail is docked.  Hence, if you buy a ram with a docked Long Tail, the long 
>tail may be passed along to a bevy of babies!  This is not good!  So long 
>as there is mention of tail length in breed standard, I won't buy a sheep 
>with a docked tail, unless there is a photo of the animal as a lamb before 
>the tail was docked, to give some idea of tail length...and only then, if 
>the animal is so incredibly great that I can't resist.  I've too often 
>ended up with a bunch of long tailed babies from a docked tail ram, whose 
>tail was obviously too long to meet the breed standard, or else he had 
>genes for long tail, can't be sure!  Luckily, that hasn't happened 
>recently.  But I've had to cull rams who consistently produce lambs who 
>wouldn't meet the breed standard because of too long tails, despite their 
>obvious beauty in other departments.


Absolutely!  (John says he concurs also)  This is one of the nagging 
reasons docking Jacob tails bugs me - it's in the breed standard!  Why are 
people lopping off part of what defines a "good" Jacob?  (Okay, I know 
why.  You don't have to answer that one.)

In a similar area, Dairy Goat people often tell me about the dangers of 
leaving the horns on my milk goats.  Can you imagine Jacob owners 
disbudding their lambs, and then expecting people to belive the horns were 
fine, but "dangerous" and had to be removed?

Penelope, viewing recent traditions for ruminants with destain


   --
Penelope pcj at efn.org : keeping busy in Oregon
chasing a small person, reading email and usenet, typing, knitting,
gardening, keeping Jacob Sheep and Dairy Goats,  nursing
a small person, taking small person everywhere,
starting with honeybees, running errands moving
in to a geodesic dome:   What free time?

http://www.dreamsandbones.net/blog

-- 
Penelope Jacob pcj at efn.org
parent, doula, farmer, birth & breastfeeding activist.
***War doesn't decide who is right. Only who's left.***
Attachment parenting and planning to homeschool
a busy, spirited, nursing, opinionated toddler.



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