SHEEP RAISING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21277, 2 September 1932, Page 5

SHEEP RAISING

LOSSES IN DOCKING t RISKS SOMETIMES OVERLOOKED BY H.B.T There is no doubt that a good deal of avoidable loss occurs at docking time, and as no avenue of increasing the income from sheep can be neglected at present, common mistakes might profitably be brought before the notice of farmers who will shortly be undertaking this annual job. In the first place many farmers, in an attempt to minimise the work, leave docking and earmarking until all the ewes have finished lambing, and the youngest lambs are a week or perhaps a fortnight old. This certainly entails only one muster, and eliminates drafting the ewes out of the flock as they lamb, but many of the lambs are, under this system, six weeks or two months old before they are docked. Such lambs suffer a bigger check at docking than those operated upon when only a week or two old. They lose a comparatively greater quantity of blood, their wounds tako longer to heal, and they are more likely to become mismothered than are very young lambs which are more carefully attended by their mothers after the operation. Thero is also more trouble and risk of dislocated joints in catching and holding the older lambs at this time. Everything points, therefore, to the advantage of docking in each paddock at least twice, where this is practicable.

A Common Fault A common fault at docking time is to commence operations immediately the ewes and lambs are yarded. Lambs become very excited and do a lot of unnecessary running about on their first mustering and yarding. Their blood becomes heated, and if docked in this condition they lose an unnecessarily large amount of blood. In this weakened condition mismothering is more prevalent. It pays to start the docking muster early in tho morning, before the sheep have left their night camps. This saves a lot of tinio and running about getting them together. They should be brought in as quickly as possible, led by a quiet dog, and with the noisy huntaways kept well in hand. The less dogs are allowed to work on ewes with lambs, the better. When the ewes and lambs are about to be yarded, use docking sheets to prevent breaks, and take plenty of time over the business. The early start will make it possible to let the sheep settle down for an hour or two. Thus one will avoid docking while the lambs are heated, and it also gives the lambs time to mother up, which is important later on in the proceedings, as the drafts of owes will then go out very shortly after their youngsters have been operated upon, and will , have no difficulty in finding and suckling them quickly. Change ol Venue

It, is not always possible, though desirable, to erect docking yards on fresh ground every season, but docking yards should not bo used during the year for other sheep work, such as l'oot-rotting, or for work tho refuse from which would breed germs, otherwise two evils > are likely to affect the lambs. Tho first of these is blood-poisoning, which takes a toll of more lambs than is usually realised. Tetanus is equally likely to result from newly-docked lambs lying on infected ground. The chief evil resulting from docking in dirty yards is, however, undoubtedly lymphadenitis. This is really a mild form of blood poisoning. Tho germs, or poison, enter the wounds and start to make their way through tho blood stream back toward the heart. There are, however, glands placed at various points of tho body, notably where tho limbs join tho carcase, which arrest, and if possible absorb these germs and poisons, destroying them before they can pollute the whole blood system. These glands becotno swollen with lymph and other matter during tho process of their beneficial work, and if the lamb is killed while they are in this state the carcase is usually rejected on account of " lymphadenitis." A visit to the freezing works when lambs arc being inspected for this trouble will convince any fanner of the seriousness of this so-called disease, from the point of view of tho lamb-fattener. Need For Care During the process of docking, a small number of ewes and lambs should bo quiollv run into tho catching pen at a time. If this is properly done tho lambs will go in with their own mothers. Directly all the lambs from a pen have been caught and operated upon, tho ewes should be turned out to them and not dogged away from the yards until they have picked their own lambs again. This, often means that both ewes and lambs are hanging close about the yards for some time, which always increases the risk of the latter picking up germs from tho surface soil. To correct this, it would pay to spray tho surroundings, and especially where tho lambs are* first, dropped after docking, with a fairly strong solution of carbolic sheep dip or other disinfectant,. One hears frequently of records put up by operators at (locking. Personally, I am not a believer in creating records ;it this business. Tho advantage of getting the owes and lambs back on to their country as soon as possible is much more than counter-balancec} by evils of rough catching, careless operating and genera! hustle, which tend to excite and heat the lambs and considerably increases niisuiothering. Of the operations of docking it is unnecessary to say much to readers who have probably gone through it year after your, except that careful work remains a living memorial to the man who did it, while careless work brands the operator for a number of years as nno who did not know his job. Length of the Docks

It hn.s been the practice with the Longwools for many years to leave sufficient tail to cover the organs. Recently, however, with tho increasing importance of the fat-lamb export business, even with Longwool lambs and of the mutton trade with older sheep, it has become the rule to favour a very sliort dock. The advantage of this is that when the carcase is frozen there is less liability of the tail being broken off, thus disfiguring the carcase. Although some farmers claim, quite groundlessly, that a short dock permits chills to tlie female organs, which produce the familiar " bearing trouble," this is abundantly refuted by scientificallyknown causes of this trouble, also by the fact that Southdown ewes, which as a rule arc docked right lo the base of the tail, do not suffer more than any other breeds from bearing trouble.