Nice sheep
At what age do woodies finish for slaughter? Do you have a separate paddock you could keep entire males in?
When we first started we were told that wethers finished quicker and better than entire males, but we have found the opposite is true, and in spite of Hebs going off at 16 months, we have never had meat tainted by ramminess. We run a mainly breeding flock ie selling for breeding, so we leave nearly all the Heb tup lambs entire. When we had Jacobs we castrated all the males, as they were destined for meat for our own freezer - this was because we didn't know enough at that time to compete with the top breeders. For the same reason, plus a little bit that I like fleece wethers
, now we also have all Shetland male lambs as castrates. With the Soays, we would pick out one likely lad to keep as a possible tup for sale, but the rest were castrated ( if we could get the ring on the tiny creatures' bits).
Because you are keeping a rare breed, and because you clearly already know about sheep, it would be well worth keeping them intact until they are finished, which allows you to pick out any possible potential breeders before the rest go for eating. To maintain genetic diversity in any breed or species with small numbers, it makes sense to have breeding tups in the national flock from as wide a genetic base as possible, so producing an occasional tup from your flock is good practice. When you keep a rare breed you have a degree of obligation to think about the breed as a whole, as well as your individual flock.
I particularly hate finding dropped off tails and mini purses lying around, as we did when we kept Jacobs. Now all our breeds are Northern Short tails so don't get docked. We keep a careful eye out in flystrike season, and we also use Crovect, which has been successful in keeping the maggots at bay.
If you have a separate paddock where you could put the entire males once they're weaned at 4 months, you would have no rush to send them off before they are finished, and somewhere to keep any you are keeping back in case they turn out to be potential flock sires.
So I would say "go for it, and leave your tup lambs ringless" - if it's not a success this year, then change your plan next year.
Some photos would be great - we like photos on TAS
Ive been castrating/ docking using an elastrator for years with commercials (family farm). However I now have a tiny (5ewes) flock of whitefaced woodland of my very own. And having done research it seems as long as the tup lambs are off mom by 4 months they grow quicker and are away quicker. I also do not want to castrate unnecessarily as there is a lot of info about the pain experienced, and im pretty sure advice from defra is to only castrate/ dock if essential. I know it could be argued that it is essential fir welfare issues. The newzealanders seem to manage. Could we?
Oh and tails are left long in woodies so that decisions easy.
Just looking for a discussion really on peoples thoughts. I am 90% sure I am not going to. I might aswell make a mistake with a tiny flock right? 
