[Jacob-list] tail of wet ewe

[Betty Berlenbach]

Another possibility to consider is culling the ewe.  Especially if this might be a congenital thing that she passes along to progeny.  I wouldn't keep a ewe with this problem.  And I have no interest in sheep who have to have their tails docked to keep clean.  To me, that weakens the breed and the gene pool.  I always suspect docked tailed ewes to be ones who have lost the ability to keep themselves clean.  It also looks strange to me for the sheep to end abruptly, rather than have the line of the tail.  I have had three cases of fly strike in 10 years: one beneath the stub of a docked romney, one on the back of a black crossbred, and one beneath the tail of an undocked jacob.  The undocked jacob was by far the simplest, probably, because with the tail intact, it was immediately discernable that there was a problem, because a ring of wet appears around the tail in the area of the flystrike (verified by others who've experienced flystrike on undocked tails) so you have an early warning system built in.  I was able to get the maggots out very early on with little or no damage to the area they had inhabited. With the others, it took longer to notice the problem, and there was some lasting damage, fleece discoloration, skin scarring.  So, I keep the tails on, and cull any animals who don't know how to effectively use their tails as they should and raise them when they should.  I know others feel differently, and that's fine...I just thought it might be helpful to offer the opposite opinion.
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