Docking

"What"?

"Why"?

"Where"?

"Now"?

"Do I have to"?

This was my response to my mom after she told me what I was going to be doing that afternoon.  I have to admit that I was not very excited to be told that my afternoon was going to be spent helping dock sheep.

Docking sheep is were they cut off the lambs tails and put a rubber band around there balls.  They do this to keep them cleaner and free of disease.

So, if you are going to go work on a farm you should probably wear some clothes that can get dirty, right?  Well, when I was packing my clothes to bring to NZ I packed all of my nice clothes, not old ones with holes that I used for paint ball and could get dirty.  That was a problem, so I just put on some jeans and soccer zone t-shirt.

When I got there it was not anything like I had imagined.  I did basically nothing and they did everything.

I had to hold a special blow torch that had scissors as part of it.  The flames heated the scissors and cut of the tail. The heat made it easier to cut the tail.  Holding this contraption was like sticking your hand in the oven for a while.  Finally, after what seamed like forever, someone took the contraption from me and started to use it to cut off the lambs tails.  While one person would be docking another would be drenching (deworming) the lambs.

After we finished there was still one lamb left out in a paddock that we had to go round up with the 4-wheeler.  Another boy and I stood so that there was no where for the lamb to go except for out the gate.  Once we finished with that lamb we were finished and I went home.  

But before I left for home they gave me a little tub of white bait and that is how our white bait experience began.

I don't have a picture of me working that day so I put a picture of our friends Paul & Josie docking our two lambs.

-Damon