Tails

People often ask us about the tails. Should they keep them, should they remove them when prepping a hide for tanning. The answer is, it depends. It depends on whether or not you like the look of a sheepskin with the tail on or with it off. We have asked folks via social media what they think and have received mixed reviews. Some love the natural look of the tail and legs on a finished sheepskin. Others think it looks just a little too real and would rather have it trimmed off. As the farmer, if you want to preserve the tail on a sheepskin you need to do the prep work at home. You will need to carefully remove the tail bones and splay out the skin of the tail in order to properly salt cure that part of the skin. If you leave the bone in, we will not be able to hydrate it properly and remove the bones after the hide has dried. Bone-in tails left on a preserved sheepskin are the first to experience bug damage-hide beetles love the fat stores around those tails! See a short video here about what we see when it arrives at the Tannery. When we smell rot on a hide, bone-in tails are the first place we look to see what’s going on. A properly cured hide should never smell. Odor is our first indicator of an improperly cured hide. If the tail isn’t the culprit of the smell, it tends to be the edges of the hide that roll up on themselves and don’t completely dry out. When prepping a hide be sure to rub the salt into all parts of the hide, especially around the legs and edges of the hide. You can find all the details you should need to properly cure a hide here.

One last word about tails. All of us working at Driftless Tannery like the look of tails on goat and deer hides. We have mixed emotions about tails on sheepskin. It really depends on the breed and the look of the tail. We also all agree that it takes time and talent to properly remove the bones and keep that tail intact. Therefore we recommend doing all your fleshing first and focusing on taking the bone out of the tail after the rest of the hide has been fleshed. If you still have time and energy, tackle that tail.

Thanks, as always, for being here and following our journey.

-Team Driftless