The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: ladyK on July 20, 2014, 12:46:50 pm
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I've read through all the very useful tagging threads here, and got a few samples ordered to decide on tags for my first crop of Soay lambs.
I really liked the soft fins of the Bubblegum tags, and they come very recommended here for small ears, and as they were only marginally bigger than Rototags I ordered them despite the chunky pin. They just arrived with the correct tagger, so I 'clamped' my sample tag together just to see how it would sit if applied.
I'm surprised to find that the 'buttons' sit about an inch apart on the pin after clamped shut - this means the pin/buttons would stand proud of the ear more than a cm on each side! ???
Am I doing something wrong? This just doesn't seem right to me ?
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Sounds right BUBBLEGUM have very thick domed ends and the ROTOTAGS are flat , both non eid ??
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Slightly off post but www.agriflexanimalid.co.uk (http://www.agriflexanimalid.co.uk) claim to sell an approved leg tag their PATUFLEX for sheep and goats :thinking:
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ladyK can you post a pic of your closed tag please, with a scale. The space between mine is not as much as an inch, although I don't have a spare so can't test one.
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Good idea FW, didn't think of posting a pic myself - here it is (added a Rototag next to it for comparison).
Shep - I'm nor worried about the 'domed' ends, I can see how these 'buttons' might help with retention, but I'm worried that those ends sit very far apart (no sheep's ear can ever be that thick) therefore the pin will stick out quite a bit from both sides of the ear, even before the botton end comes into play.
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Look at your original post ladyK You have written 'inch' when you meant 'cm'. 1 cm is fine for a gap - stops ears getting squashed :sheep:
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I just edited the photo post above to add reply to Shep, explaining what worries me - the 'standing proud' of the ear.
My scale shows cm, but from end to end of the tag/pin/button it is 2.5 cm, showing in the pic, which is actually an inch. How can a sheep's ear be that fat - surely it will stand proud of it by 1 cm each side (allowing for 0.5 cm of ear thickness which is still a lot i.e. will no squash?
Can anybody post a photo on how a bubblegum tag actually sits on a sheep's ear? Maybe that would help me understand what I seem to be missing here.
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Yes it will be proud inside and outside the ear this is the design so that an electronic device can fit in if wanted , and the large domes are what gives it its good retention ,since they are rounded they don't seem to catch
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Thanks Shep, that makes sense.
But doesn't quite put my worry at rest that it must be terribly uncomfortable having this massive pin sticking out on both sides. But maybe this is just first time nerves - I admit that I find this whole tagging issue very stressful, to the point that it's interfering with my sleep!
And I'm not even intending to tag anything right at the moment, I just wanted to decide on a brand and get the tags ordered so that I make no mistake when registering the lambs with the breed society, which I wanted to do soon as I want to try to sell a couple of them.
So if I now wanted to switch tag type after all I'd be in trouble as I have already got a numbered sequence of 10 and I think you are not allowed to have the same number from two different suppliers... :thinking:
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Correct if you ordered again it would be 11onwards and you would need to record the first 10 tags in your movement book as destroyed / not used or similar . Doesn't look as big in an ear as you think
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Correct if you ordered again it would be 11onwards and you would need to record the first 10 tags in your movement book as destroyed / not used or similar .
I didn't know that .... I didn't use a couple of mine as they are same number as some of the ewes I bought last year .... and I didn't want to use 13!!! I'd better record it I guess?
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I didn't know either that unused tags had to be recorded.
Do I have to record an unused tag every time the sequence is missed? (say if a tag was not applied correctly or broke etc?
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What's the feeling about the leg tags shep53 linked to, will they be better than ear tags or is there a risk of getting them caught up in stuff.
Are they a new thing ?
On the funny side they make me think of those bands you get for admission to festivals. Are we going to see goats and sheep sneaking into festivals for free. :sheep: :sheep: :goat:
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On the funny side they make me think of those bands you get for admission to festivals. Are we going to see goats and sheep sneaking into festivals for free. :sheep: :sheep: :goat:
Love it :D
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I use bubblegum tags in my Soay. If anything the flat parts of the tag look quite wide, but once in place they're fine. Those buttons an the ends seem to help prevent the whole tag pulling through the ear and making a big hole which allows the tag to swivel. Since we changed to BGs we haven't had that problem, whereas with the rototags we used to use it happened every year with a couple of ears. The ends of the tag itself would also swing round and poke into the ear canal, causing irritation. For the BGs I don't cut through the tag, but leave it as a loop to avoid this.
Larger sheep's ears are thicker than you might think, and even Soay ears are fairly thick. The bubblegum tag does keep the pin part at a set width, ie it won't squash inwards and crush the ear. The worst for doing that are the metal tags which fold over the ear and are crushed in place with pliers. I hate those, and they are the ones the HebSoc issues for registrations.
In the bubblegum tag, the EID device is hidden away in the button and down through the pin, whereas in some other tags it sits outside the rest of the tag and can look enormous. Tags with thinner pins may look less intrusive, but they can cut through the tissue of the ear, leaving a split ear and nowhere to reapply the tag, not to mention the risk of infection, pain, etc.
I promise I have never seen a sheep even notice it's tags, except the lambs when the tags first go in, and they shake their heads to see what's been done. Sometimes they notice them going in and give a little squirm, but thereafter the tags rarely bother them. As long as you position the tags correctly between the rays of the ear then they will be fine.
We've not tried the leg tags - it will be interesting to find what other think about them.
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Just one comment on timing of tagging - speaking as one who has spent the morning removing some tags from hoggs ears because the flies had been at them :rant:
We are decided to be more diligent about tagging keeping ewe lambs in October - well before the cold weather hits but well after the fly season. And / or to just spray heads with Crovect routinely in fly weather in young sheep recently tagged.
I rarely comment about tags because the whole thing makes me so mad :furious: :-X
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I didn't know either that unused tags had to be recorded.
Do I have to record an unused tag every time the sequence is missed? (say if a tag was not applied correctly or broke etc?
When you buy new tags the numbers are recorded on a national database, if you were then subject to an audit ,the official would have a list of all tags bought , numbers of all sheep that have left the holding , you will have a record of all tags applied and any tags still unused you can show them , so all numbers should be accountable . if you have an unused tag out of sequence this is not a problem since it can still be used later but a damaged tag can never be reused so must be recorded
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Thanks for all the clarifications and reassurances.
I'll still have a few more sleepless nights over that tagging business though...