Evaluation of Tail Docking
Background
It is becoming increasingly important for wool growers to justify the need for husbandry practices that may cause temporary discomfort to sheep or lambs.
Aim of the project
- To determine whether tail docking has an influence on the prevalence of breech strike.
- To determine whether tail docking has an influence on weight gain.
- To determine whether long tails has an influence on reproduction.
- To determine whether tail docking facilitates ease of shearing.
General
This study assessed the impact of tail docking in fine wool Merino lambs at Tygerhoek Research farm. The tails of lambs in the control group were left intact while the tails of lambs in the docked group (treatment group) were docked with a hot iron at the third palpable joint at roughly 3 weeks of age. Lambs were randomly allocated to either treatment within sexes (lambing seasons 2016 & 2017).
Milestones against set goals
a) To determine whether tail docking has an influence on the prevalence of breech strike.
Of the total of 161 tail intact lambs (control group) born across birth years, 12 suffered from breech strike (7.5%). A total of 14 docked lambs (treatment group) out of 164 present across years were struck (8.5%). When these frequencies were compared in a Chi²-test, it was evident that no treatment effect was present.
b) To determine whether tail docking has an influence on weight gain
Weaning weight therefore wasn’t influenced by treatment.
c) To determine whether long tails has an influence on reproduction
Second lambing season was from end of March to May 2019- data still to be analyzed.
d) To determine whether tail docking facilitates ease of shearing
At present there is no clear indication that tail docking has a beneficial effect on the shearing process, either in terms of time spent per sheep, or on the welfare of the sheep during the shearing process. Further studies on lifetime reproduction and breech strike susceptibility is being conducted.
