Crofting Matters - Changes to Improve Welfare of Lambs

A game changer for sheep on hill grazings?   

It’s very tricky to castrate and tail lambs within 7 days unless lambs are born inbye.  Could two new techniques, that allow castration and tailing up to 3 months of age, not only reduce pain levels in lambs, but allow better and easier management on commons and hills? 

The all-important intake of colostrum and bonding of ewe and lamb can be disrupted by tailing and castrating.  Changing timings, so that one or other is carried out when the lamb is older, perhaps alongside other treatments such as vaccination or worming, reduces mismothering, and could be more efficient.  

The Animal Welfare Committee (AWC) report on tail docking and castration of lambs (2022) recommends that effective anaesthesia and analgesia should be used routinely for castration and tail docking of lambs, when the methods used are likely to cause significant pain.  In recent years new equipment that can reduce the pain associated with tailing and castrating have been developed. Numnuts and Clipfitter are now more widely available and have been shown to have welfare benefits when used for tailing and castrating.   In Scotland, the Government has allowed these techniques to be used beyond 7 days of age.   

Here we discuss the two products: techniques, benefits and drawbacks, costs and practicalities for use with lambs and calves. 

Subscribe to hear more about the project when we report on crofter’s experiences of using the products. 

Related Resources:

Watch our webinar recording where we look at how three farmers are using different methods and approaches to tail docking and castration

Webinar - Sustainable Sheep Systems - Tail Docking and Castration

Technical Note (TN679): Castration and Tail Docking of Lambs 

Using clipfitter in practice:

Using Clips for Castration and Tails (YouTube)

FAS TV - Tail Docking and Castration in Lambs