Yes indeed, it is a part of a sheep. The part that goes over the fence last. When first born, lambs have very long tails which can get gunky (use your imagination), so the practice of "docking" tails became routine. The easiest way to de-tail is to put an elastic band around the tail, cutting off the blood supply. A few weeks later, the job is done, leaving a stub about 4 inches long after the tail drops off. It's done with a tool called an elastrator. The same tool does a similar job with the same type band on little boy lambs. They are much less rowdy after that (use your imagination).
Here's the whole picture:
This is a rowdy boy-child. Also slightly grotesque. Lee is our drama king, and can make the most of any props that come to his attention. He was thrilled, absolutely thrilled, at all the treasures to be found in the sheep pasture...
and could hardly keep a straight face as he showed them off!
I have to wonder, since our neighbor's flock has white and black sheep, where are all the black tails??
1 comment:
I suspect that you have crows or ravens at your farm. Since the ones in Washington have young right now, I would think that the Wisconsin ones are in the process of nesting. All of that black wool is just right for a nice obscure nest. White is too visible. Crows and Ravens are extremely intelligent and able to make decisions such as should I use white or black. Read "Mind of the Raven". I'm on my third read through of this most wonderful book.
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