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Tail docking compliance for Md. 4-H is voluntary
1.08.2008
By BRUCE HOTCHKISS
Senior Editor
The 2008 Maryland 4-H lamb tail docking policy remains unchanged for 2008.
With one exception: Compliance is voluntary.
That variance in policy, according to Susan Schoenian, University of Maryland sheep and goat specialist stationed at the Western Maryland Research and Education Center, will be re-evaluated at the end of 2008.
Schoenian said that lifting the mandatory policy could solve a number of problems.
“Unfortunately,” she said, “enforcing the problem has taken precedence over educating 4-Hers and breeders about good management. Extension is supposed to be about education.”
From a practical standpoint, the policy remains the same. 4-H lambs should be docked no shorter than the distal end of the caudal tail fold. The caudal fold is a flap of skin attached to the underside of the tail near the rectum and is clearly visible when the tail is lifted.
The policy establishes that lambs docked in this manner will have a minimum tail length of 0.7 inches at the time of show.
Purchased lambs — for market and breeding — should have a minimum tail length of 1.4 inches at the time of “weaning.”
This gives a high probability that the lamb’s tail will measure at least 0.7 inches at the time of show.
4-Hers should use the “DeTail” device to select lambs that have been properly docked, Schoenian said in a memorandum to 4-H and Extension officials and staffers across the state.
In 2008, under voluntary compliance, Schoenian said, lamb tails (docks) will not be officially measured at Maryland 4-H activities. No lambs will be disqualified from showing due to tail length, unless the short dock results in a rectal prolapse.
Any sheep or lamb that exhibits a rectal prolapse at a 4-H activity will be ineligible for the activity and sent home by the Extension agent, the sheep superintendent or other appropriate official, Schoenian said.
She said this guideline will be used to determine occurrence of a rectal prolapse: “A rectal prolapse is defined as an inversion of the rectum that protrudes 4 centimeters (1.6 inches) or more outside the body and remains exterior to the body while the animal is standing.”
If a lamb is observed with a rectal prolapse by any one of those 4-H officials charged with that responsibility, and at some future time is not observed with a rectal prolapse, the lamb shall still be classified as having a rectal prolapse.
This, said Schoenian, was the criteria used in the 2003 multi-year study published in the Journal of Animal Science that established a scientific link between tail length and the incidence of rectal prolapses in lambs fed concentrate diets.