Why do we dock lambs?

It's that time of year again, everyone mucking in to help with the docking on the farm...

The health and welfare of our animals is very important to us, for this reason we tail dock our lambs (remove the tail) to prevent the build up of dags on the wool around the tail or hindquarters of the animal which will reduce the risk of fly strike (wool maggots). Lambs are usually also castrated, ear-tagged and vaccinated for scabby mouth during docking.