The cradle comes with two swinging arms, Use the little one for baby lambs. If you want them to be more horizontal then pack it out at the back - there are screw holes to attach a block of wood, or whatever. There are two ’seat belts’ to hold the lamb if they are wriggling - usually they lie still, with their head upwards (?). But you can use the straps to tie down the swinging arm instead - its slackness may get annoying ! Then you have to ease the lamb in and pull it out - up to you.

Maybe I should make a smaller cradle for small lambs etc - but it’s just an another complication ! Maybe you will want to cut their toe-nails… later in life … give them a manicure. Then you can change to the big arm ! Carries a lot of weight - surprising

Fitting Clips

If you watch Will (TikTok @fursdonfarming) using the tail clip for the first time, you can see that it might not have done any harm for him to have checked the far end of the clip to make sure it’s tightly closed. If not, pinch it again at the far end with the tip of the Fitter. If my little right-angled skin guard plate is annoying (screwed in at the top) then unscrew it and wangle it off ! You could even get used to giving the fitter a double squeeze first time to make extra sure it’s locked.

Talking about guards, I’ve also enclosed a small ’nipsafe’ guard in the hybrid pack. It’s a slotted plate - easy to fit. I’d recommend NOT fitting the clip underneath (it’'s meant to be protecting what’s underneath !!) but over the top. Since the balls are trapped, pull the scrotum through as far as you can, then fit the clip. Everything should be safe underneath ! Also try to apply the clip towards the dead-end of the slot .. and go as far past the end as you can. The skin and scrot can’t follow you, so you end up with a lovely empty space at the far end of the clip. That means skin and wool are unlikely to interfere with locking, and it also allows the scrotum skin to squidge !! The squidge effect it something to behold sometimes… you’re ironing out everything flat, so it gets longer .. like a rolling pin and pastry  ? - although that’s beyond my pay grade :(

As a final thought  - tails come off pretty quickly … don't be surprised if it’s a day not days. No particular harm in getting the job over and done with, and it's bloodless too unless somehow the skin has been cut (pulled, possibly, on application?). However it has to be better to find the gap in the vertebrae, pain wise. So, before I remember my final final point, I was going to suggest using NoBacz to spray the position you plan to clip, then apply the clip. It might just prevent the blank end of the tail from inviting anything uninvited ? It doesn’t often get reported, but when it does it’s headline news of course ! The final-final-point was that if you did try the Fitter ‘in reverse’ … where the spring is hooked onto the far side of the middle pivot pin ... and the jaws always want to close… then you can use the blades of the clip to find the vertebrae gap themselves; they will go bumpetybump over each bone, won’t they ? My film star Hamish does it with my double version of bigger fitters (they work in reverse all the time !) if you can find one of several Hamish videos on my playlists on clipfitter.co.uk