80 Sheep Management, Breeds and Judging. 



on the tail back toward the body of the lamb, so 

 as to leave some surplus skin to grow over the 

 stub, and then cut the tail at a joint about one 

 and one-half inches from the body. This cut 

 should be made so quickly with the sharp knife 

 that the lamb scarcely knows that its tail is off. 

 If any particular lamb should bleed too much a 

 piece of cord or binding twine may be tied very 

 tightly on its tail close to the body. This will put 

 an end to the flow of blood, and the cord may be 

 removed from the lamb in about eight to ten hours. 

 Docking with the knife should be done in the 

 morning, so that the lambs can be watched to see 

 how they are getting along. The writer knows of 

 some men who performed this work in the even- 

 ing and the next morning found several of their 

 lambs dead, due to great loss of blood. In cool 

 weather nothing need be put on the wound, but 

 in warm weather and in fly time some pine tar 

 should be applied in order to keep the flies and 

 maggots off. 



Docking with pinchers is highly recommended. 

 The plate on page 78 shows the method of dock- 

 ing a lamb with pinchers, and plate 29 shows a 

 lamb which has just been docked. Ever since 

 Joseph E. Wing invented these pinchers the writer 

 has altogether abandoned the use of the knife for 

 this purpose. By using the hot pinchers no danger 



