So I’m in my first year of studying animal care and although I understand the practice of docking sheep tails as soon as they’re born and why it Is done I can’t quite wrap my head around how it works medically. I may be wrong but I understood that if you cut off blood flow to an area / limb (like what is done with docking) then that limb becomes necrotic and dies. So how do sheep not get sepsis or other issues while their tail is becoming necrotic and how do they heal after an appendage has suddenly fallen odd? Wouldn’t their be a large wound??
Sorry I hope this makes sense!
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I have two cattle dogs and their tails are docked.
I was told it was done just one or two days after birth, because the mother will care for it the same way she cares for the umbilical wound.
It is done in working dogs so their long tails don’t get damaged during their work; like being stepped on by cattle.
Why it is done for sheep, I do not know. In fact, I didn’t know it was until your post.
So what do wild sheep do since their tails aren’t being docked?
Germs need an entry point.
Because they do not cut but apply pressure, the bands cause avascular necrosis. The damaged tissue is sort of already sealed off from bacteria establishing a deep infection.
The necrotic tissue left at the periphera after the tail falls off should be perfect bacterial food, except that it has been desiccating with the blood supply removed, and quickly dries out and scabs over where exposed. Deep to that the tissue and vessels are remodeling and so is ready to fight infection.
If you pinch the tail enough that no blood flow gets to the body, it’s not an issue.
On a related note, it’s a serious issue in search and rescue after something like an earthquake or building collapse. If someone has a limb crushed, it’s common that it starts to get necrotic. The person is fine because their blood is not reaching the limb.
But when rescued and limbs freed of debris, sometimes they’ll go into septic shock immediately from the restoration of blood to the necrotic limb and suddenly circulating all sorts of toxins and bacteria.
But if the limb is amputated without ever removing the pressure, that won’t happen. Same concept.
Hi, farmer here. I actually don’t have a professionally answer about sepsis, all I will say is in all my years I’ve never seen an infected tail. As for the wound, or lack of, my understanding is the tail grows together above the ring, the tail won’t fall off until above the ring is ‘healed’. I’ve noticed when picking up lost tails that side is also healed.
It can, actually – though rarely as others have pointed out. It’s commonly called “joint ill,” and it’s a form of septic arthritis.
It will happen most often on farms with poor husbandry.
The sub keeps removing my short answer so I’m typing more in the hope that the automoderator won’t remove it. What a terrible automoderator setting, don’t you think?
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