Udder locking

Strange name. Have to say don't know where it originates as it isn't actually a self explanatory name. Udder locking is basically the removal of wool around the udder.

 

Years back I used to udderlock all the gimmers prior to lambing time. Gimmers are the young sheep which are to have their first lambs. They were clipped earlier than the ewe flock when they were known as a hogg and as such they generally carry a heavier fleece. Due to the gimmers having a heavier fleece the wool on their tummies is heavier and shaggier too, their bags (udders) can often be smaller than a ewes bag and if it is tucked away amongst a lot of wool the lambs can sometimes struggle to find the tit (teat) when going in for their first suck. For this reason they found themselves udderlocked. Present day practices don't often see this being done until the problem should arise, when found with a hungry lamb a sheep may find itself being udderlocked prior to latching the lamb on for a suck.

 

The wool is gripped in the hand near to the sheeps skin, the other hand keeps the skin tight by pulling down in the opposite direction to the direction that the wool is being ploated (plucked/pulled) out.

 

The wool both infront and behind the bag is removed by this process.

 

S'pose it must feel a tad cold for the sheep but at least when she lambs down the lamb wont find itself sucking away at straggles of wool instead of the tit. Hoggs which lamb in bye can be notorious for having woolly bags and it often pays to give them a bit of an udder lock. All breeds vary tho', the blackfaced hill breed as shown here does have a shaggy coat whereas the likes of your cheviot has a denser coat and is less likely to have to be udderlocked. Mule hoggs which have been bred from the blackie ewe can tend to be shaggy underneath and these hoggs inparticular can sometimes require udderlocking.

 

The main reason these sheep found themselves being udderlocked was due to the fact that they all needed turning to have their feet sorted, they were three weeks off lambing at the time and it just seemed like a good idea to have their bags trimmed whilst we were doing feet, after all, it only takes a few seconds and the wool that was removed came in very handy for cleaning their feet out prior to foot trimming.