[Jacob-list] to keep or not to keep

[Heather Hettick]

Johann asked:  What does everyone out there think about this?  Should I keep
my favorite ewe lamb who has so many desirable traits and just cull any
offspring of hers that exhibit longer tails, or should I put her in the
freezer and keep one of the other ewe lambs?  Her tail stays clean, but I
think she sat on it the wrong way when she was only a few days old cause it
has crooks in it like it got broken (she never seemed to be in any pain from
it).  She probably carries genes for both the hock length tail and the
slightly longer tail since both her twin and her half sister have hock
length tails.

I look forward to everyone's responses.

Hi Johann,

I would keep the one you like the best.  When I have to pick and it is
close, I list and weight the individual traits according to how important
they are to me - some are breed qualities and some are personal preference.
I guess if the longer tail is something you are really against it may out
weigh her good traits.  I personally dock tails, but would cull based on an
unusually long tail on a lamb.  Mine all seem to come in right around their
hocks or shorter, but it's just not a big consideration for me.  My current
ram has his tail and I left a tail on one of my cross lambs (.75 Jacob/.25
Tunis) this year because it was really cool looking (like a big fox tail),
but usually I dock and she's going to be a meat lamb anyway.  I don't need
to dock my Icelandic/Jacob crosses though.  My first ewe lamb I ever kept
wasn't docked and she died of a prolapsed uterus at age 8.  I think her
dirty tail contributed to her not surviving. Plus the shearers like to
complain about tails.  

Heather Hettick
Moonstruck Farm
Creston, OH
www.moonstruckfarm.wordpress.com