Leg Wraps...Use Them or Lose Them

Leg Wraps are a helpful way to keep shag protected and to ensure that you keep the natural shag that a lamb has. However, if you are not going to do leg wraps correctly, you might as well not use them at all. Shag is mostly genetic, however the way you treat it can impact you greatly. It is a lot harder to grow shag than it is to lose shag, so you will want to start maintaining the leg wool as soon as you get your lamb. Here are some tips for using leg wraps to get the most out of them.

1. Make sure you are putting clean leg hair in the wraps.

It is important to make sure that leg hair is clean, and untangled when you wrap legs. If not, the leg wraps really aren’t doing their job. When you first get your lamb project, chances are that the shag will not have been taken care of before. When you first get them, you will want to wash the shag and use a detangling product and wide tooth comb to get any knots out of the shag. Once all the knots are out, you can start working on the shag, but it is important to get knots out before trying to grow leg wool or show a lamb. Leg wraps help keep hair unmatted and clean until you are ready to work them again. You won’t need to wash your lamb’s wool every time you redo wraps. For the most part, you will only rinse and condition, but starting with clean wool before you begin wrapping is important because it means that the hair will stay clean underneath the wraps.

1. Make sure you are wrapping dry leg wool.

Wrapping wet or damp leg wool can be damaging to lamb’s health, so it is important to make sure that the hair is dry going into the wraps. Blowing with a dryer is not enough to make sure the hair is dry, so you will want to let it air dry for about 20-30 minutes before wrapping. This is a good time to exercise, halter break or practice setting up while waiting for the hair to mostly dry. Once you are ready to rewrap, you can blow the hair with a dryer downward and then brush once more to make sure there aren’t any tangles.

1. Wrap the leg wraps tight, but not too tight.

You want your leg wraps to stay on but you don’t want the lamb to lose circulation from using the leg wraps the wrong way. A good way to tell if you tights are tight enough is to make sure there aren’t any loose parts that you can see falling down or pieces that look like they might move too easily. To make sure they aren’t too tight, you will want to make sure your lamb can still walk freely and you can insert a finger or two in the top of the wrap if necessary.

1. Make sure your leg wraps are clean.

People often overlook this, but you will want multiple pairs of leg wraps if you are going to do it right. You will want to make sure your wraps are clean each time you rewrap for the best shag results.

 

The key to successful leg wool maintenance with leg wraps is to remain consistent. You can’t just wrap once and leave for 2 weeks at a time. That is not good for the lamb and might actually cause more harm than good. If you are going to utilize leg wraps, do it right or you’re better off leaving the lambs hair out of wraps.