Tail docking and castrating lambs are considered essential management procedures by many farmers to protect the lifetime welfare of the animal and to meet supply chain requirements.
Tail docking helps prevent lambs from getting dirty and therefore less prone to fly strike as an alternative to costly and time-consuming treatment and prevention strategies.
Similarly, castrating lambs means male and female lambs can be kept together without concern over unwanted pregnancies or extra management costs from running separate sex groups.
Castrated males also ensures as many markets are as accessible as possible, as there can be difficulties with entire finished or store lambs being sold to markets or abattoirs.
Ultimately, castrating and tail docking lambs are vital for business management, supporting profitability, and the welfare of the lambs over the life of the animal.
The primary tool used for this in England and Wales are rubber rings.
“Even though lambing is a busy and stressful time, if you are planning on castrating and/or tail docking your lambs it is vital you understand the regulation that we are legally obliged to meet.”
NFU Livestock Board Vice Chair Oli Lee
However, while they are important procedures for managing a sheep business, members must know what the legal requirements are for lamb castration and tail docking.
Castration
- Only ram lambs under the age of seven days old can be castrated with rubber rings without anaesthesia or any other pain control.
- Ram lambs older than seven days cannot be castrated with a device that constricts blood flow to the scrotum. This includes rubber rings.
- If the lamb is over three months old, anaesthesia must always be used when castrating, by any method.
Tail docking
- Rubber rings can only be used to tail dock lambs which are aged under seven days old.
- Apart from when using rubber rings on lambs under seven days old, anaesthesia must always be used when tail docking lambs.
To clarify, if members are to use rubber rings to castrate or tail dock without anaesthetic or analgesic, the lambs must be under seven days old. Please contact your vet if you wish to carry out castration or tail docking procedures when lambs are older than seven days.
Members may also be aware of other methods approved in other sheep-meat producing nations, and some which are authorised in Scotland. However, none of these methods are currently approved for use in England and Wales, though their suitability is being considered as part of a wider Defra review of ‘husbandry procedures’.
The legal requirements for castration and tail docking are set out in: The Mutilations (Permitted Procedures) (England) Regulations 2007
NFU Livestock Board Vice Chair Oli Lee said: “British livestock farmers produce lamb and sheep meat to world leading standards. This is something I am extremely proud of as a British sheep producer.
“Even though lambing is a busy and stressful time, if you are planning on castrating and/or tail docking your lambs it is vital you understand the regulation that we are legally obliged to meet.
“If you intend to use rubber rings to castrate or tail dock your lambs, as many of us do, make sure to carry out the procedure before the lambs are 7 days old.”
Looking after your safety and mental health during lambing
The challenges of lambing time means there is a requirement to work longer hours, often into the night with early starts and less of a chance to take sufficient breaks. This causes the risk of exhaustion to increase.
Whether you lamb inside, or outside, safety needs to be considered:
- Take care with manual handling, for example with upturning sheep or carrying bags of feed. Use tools such as turnover crates or sack trolleys wherever possible.
- Take care with administering injections and other animal medications as they can have adverse effects if they enter the human body.
- While the risk of fatality is lower with sheep compared to some other livestock, they are still unpredictable and can result in injuries if, for example, you are kicked or headbutted.
- Good hygiene is important, but is even more vital during lambing, such as thorough hand washing, especially if you have to interact with a pregnant person, owing to the significant risk of miscarriage.
- Work to reduce slips, trips, and falls by keeping barn walkways clear and handling sheep in small, enclosed areas
Managing tiredness
Exhaustion can slow down the speed at which tasks are able to be completed and may create an environment where mistakes are more likely to be made. This can result in higher risks of injury or incident on farm as well as making those working on the farm and affected by exhaustion less effective and less efficient.
Evidence suggests that the months following those characterised by the busiest times of year – May following lambing and calving and September following harvest – have the highest numbers on average of fatalities. This shows a clear link between exhaustion and the impact it has on perception and risk taking.
To help manage exhaustion:
- Eat a balanced diet to maintain energy levels. Poor diets are associated with poor sleep quality.
- Take rest breaks whenever possible.
- Ensure good quality sleep can be had whenever possible.
- Try not to rush tasks, as mistakes and safety risks can occur.
Other important general safety measures are:
- Wear a helmet with ATVs. Ensure driving styles are appropriate for the circumstances. Training helps with this.
- Ensure pedestrians are kept safe when machines are moving.
- When moving bales from stacks, ensure the stack cannot fall on anyone or anything in the vicinity.
Injuries or incidents that require time away from the farm will put extra pressure on those you are working with and create additional challenges that may not be accounted for initially.
As such, it is in the best interest of the efficiency of the business and the safety of all involved to ensure that risk is managed in every aspect of work on the farm. ‘Take 5 to stay alive’ and remember to put safety measures in place.
