Docking Lambs

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This week we gathered and docked lambs. My host has about 1500 head of sheep, which means that we docked hundreds of head between the two days. We docked on Friday and Sunday, and gathered Thursday and Saturday. I thought that it would take a lot longer to dock that many lambs but it only took about 4-5 hours. It was a lot of fun, but it was defiantly dirty. It rained before the first day of docking so by the end of it we were all covered in sheep poop and our shirts were a different color.

One concept that I would challenge is banding instead of cutting when you dock lambs. I think that it just depends on the operation and how many lambs you are docking. When you band there is a chance that the band comes off or isn’t tight enough and it causes more harm than good to the lamb. There can also be the same risks that can come from cutting as well. It honestly just depends on the operation and the person’s preferences. Even though I would challenge this idea, I would probably choose to band when docking.

At this point I still have questions about how they choose to pasture their sheep and when they choose to move them. I also would like to see if this is also how they handle how they pasture their cows. I’m excited to see what else I get to learn in the next few weeks.

I plan to use what I’ve learned this week to help me make decisions in my own operation. I think that it is important to know all of these things and use the knowledge to my best advantage because it can help me adapt to any type of operation that I’m on. Being able to adapt to the challenges that are thrown at you is very important and can help you overcome a lot of the challenges that come with ranching.

Submitted by: Chelsea Finch
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team