In reply to:

I thought it was in scotland that all the men where strong, the woman stoic, and sheep scared!

A little clarification of my earlier post may be in order. Among certain sectors of NZ society, lamb's tails are considered a delicacy. Theses are normally obtained, or so I'm told with a simple, swift, slash. For male lambs the cut is extended to remove their "mountain oysters" at the same time. The farmhand in question would bite them off from the severed tail, not while they were still attached. That misconception was waht made me feel sick, although the clarification provided little amelioration.