The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: john and helen on March 30, 2015, 09:13:17 am
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OK…not really looked into this yet, as the paddocks are under construction,
but soon the animals will be arriving :excited:
i know they will have ear tags, attached from their original home, and i know i will need to replace any that gets lost with my own tags, i also know they need certain tags when going to slaughter,
so i looked at getting some made up……thats where i hit a brick wall…i have my flock / herd number, and cph,
but there are so many different tags….and colours..
my goats will be for breeding, my pigs will be for slaughter..NO BREEDING at this stage, and my 1st sheep will be for breeding, ….i see there are a few different tags for slaughter ??? what ones do you guys use
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I send pigs off with metal tags for slaughter and only tag them when they are in the trailer. Lambs to slaughter likewise but with plastic tags, one eid and one plain. I Get my tags from Ritchie, as for the goats well......only have one kid from last year and shhhh don't tell but he doesn't have any tags. Mums both came with tags although I noticed that one has gotten broken but as you can still see the numbers I am leaving it alone. I really hate tagging.
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You will have the same flock number for the sheep and goats so can use the same tags for both. One thing to consider is which type of sheep you will be getting and the size of their ears. Mine have little ears and I have found the Roxan ones best as the post is really small and doesn't make such a big hole in their ears.
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How have you got already a herd/flock number of you haven't got any animals yet? They are only issued when you actually have acquired the animals and they are on your holding?!
Any animals registered with a breed society and goats with the BGS will have to have identical ear tags (with original herd and individual Nos) as replacements if needed, otherwise registration invalid. The tag companies will replace, as you will have ear tag no on registration certificate. Some breed societies (for sheep) will insist on additional info on tag, so I wouldn't jump the gun and order tags just yet...
Only animals born on your holding will have your numbers.
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ok, this is good, we will be keeping poll dorset sheep, so normal tags just for staying on the land, then fit a EID when going to slaughter..i take it colour is just a personal thing ???
http://www.fearing.co.uk/tags/sheep-tags-1 (http://www.fearing.co.uk/tags/sheep-tags-1)
so pigs have a normal tag then fit a slaughter tag when they are ready to go..those metal tags look painful :o ouch
http://www.fearing.co.uk/pig-tags-1 (http://www.fearing.co.uk/pig-tags-1)
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How have you got already a herd/flock number of you haven't got any animals yet? They are only issued when you actually have acquired the animals and they are on your holding?!
Any animals registered with a breed society and goats with the BGS will have to have identical ear tags (with original herd and individual Nos) as replacements if needed, otherwise registration invalid. The tag companies will replace, as you will have ear tag no on registration certificate. Some breed societies (for sheep) will insist on additional info on tag, so I wouldn't jump the gun and order tags just yet...
Only animals born on your holding will have your numbers.
I rang up when i registered the holding, they asked me what animals i will be keeping, so i said pigs, sheep goats and maybe cattle…. they then sent me the CPH number and the herd and flock numbers
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RPA gave the CPH
Animal welfare gave flock/herd number
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we do already own 6 goats, but they are still on the holding of birth until our place is ready, and they have tags from that holding
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just out of curiosity Anke..how could you buy in stock without a flock herd number , surly you would need that number for movement… ??? or would the CPH number be enough
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ok, this is good, we will be keeping poll dorset sheep, so normal tags just for staying on the land, then fit a EID when going to slaughter..i take it colour is just a personal thing ???
http://www.fearing.co.uk/tags/sheep-tags-1 (http://www.fearing.co.uk/tags/sheep-tags-1)
so pigs have a normal tag then fit a slaughter tag when they are ready to go..those metal tags look painful :o ouch
http://www.fearing.co.uk/pig-tags-1 (http://www.fearing.co.uk/pig-tags-1)
No all sheep over a year old will need one EID tag and a secondary identifier (tattoo, pastern tag or bolus, or 2nd ear tag), even when on your holding.
My pigs go to slaughter with their standard ear tags in (from original breeder), never had a query from abattoir. No need for additional tags... as then they would have two different numbers...
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just out of curiosity Anke..how could you buy in stock without a flock herd number , surly you would need that number for movement… ??? or would the CPH number be enough
You only need your CPH number for movements, your own herd number only comes into play when you actually breed your own stock on your holding.
So up here (Scotland) you phone them once your animals have arrived and then they issue you with a flock number, but you get your CPH number any time (my neighbour only has CPH, I use his field with my stock, all stock born on my holding, so have my number).
If they would issue "on -spec" numbers, they would end up with loads of numbers in use for people who may then use them fraudulently... even so my pig herd number causes problems as I don't breed, but only fatten... have to keep telling them every so often, as no (pig) stock with my number has been slaughtered/sold/moved in a few years...
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ok..i am surprised they issued me the flock and herd number then…i did tell them i have not yet taken any animals to site….
our pigs will be brought in to fatten to start with, breeding will come later when the experience has been gained,
our goats are only for milking , until next year when we will start a breeding programme,same with the sheep
if we decide to have beef cattle then that again will only be for fattening up, but that is in the distant future, don't want to run before learning to walk
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I think you are running pretty much, starting with sheep, goat and pigs all at the same time... most of us took it a lot slower...
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Animal health told me I needed a flock number before I got my animals and issued one to me then
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I also got my herd number before my pigs arrived although remember I had 30 days from arrival to register them.
I have also been looking into ear tags as my pigs are due to go to slaughter in about 3 weeks. They still have their original tags and I was told I needed to add my herd number before going to slaughter.
Have also been reading that goats need one in each ear (but not EID) once they reach over a year old. Is that right?
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Yes, we were issued with a flock number before we bought our sheep ..... they said we could wait but they may as well sort it at the same time as the holding number.
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Any weaner pigs that I have bought in have just had a paint mark as this is allowed so they have no tags until they go for slaughter and that's when I put in the metal tags. I was told that they were better able to stand up to the heat when dipping to remove hair. In hindsight I would have bought a slapmarked but as I only do a few each year I stick with my tagger.
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It's interesting that they now hand out herd/flock numbers before you got your animals. I had at the time a long discussion with Animal health about this, and they specifically asked me to get back to them once my animals were on my holding so they don't issue loads of numbers to people who then never go on actually getting those sheep/pigs/goats... I now get called every so often to verify that I am still keeping pigs as I don't breed...
I don't know why the abattoir would ask you to a) remove the original identifier/tag from your pig (the number it has been registered at DEFRA/Animal Movement people with), and then to put in your own number - it seems counterintuitive to the whole idea of tagging and tracing animals... ???
Of course if piggies arrive with slap mark only, then the metal tags are easily applied once animals are in the trailer and had their customary bottle of cheap cider...
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we do the same with weaners, as they can be moved from holding of birth to a new holding on just a spray mark in first year of life. previously we've then just put in a metal tag with our herd number on a day or so before they go to slaughter. reduce the chance of getting one ripped out in the scrum at the trough. we picked up a couple last week however and the chap had already tagged them, with individual plastic tags- not ideal in the heat of the slaughter process- but we'll have to deal with it.
our home bred ram lambs go for slaughter before a year old on just one "batch tag" with just flock number. ours are bright green but only because we chose that colour.
anything over a year (sheep wise) needs double tagging- EID which is always yellow and a visual tag which again can be a choice of colours (ours are blue). to be honest any sheep born here and staying here has a dual tag set aside for them but we don't actually tag them. we know whos who and after a first year of tagging everything and then mopping up blood and treating torn ears we don't bother. the only time we'd tag them is if we were selling them on for breeding elsewhere (or if the inspector came a-calling !!)
other than yellow for EID the only other "reserved colours" are red for replacement tags and black if the EID is in bolus form. other than that theres all the colours of the rainbow which is lovely, but potentially bloody confusing as far as tags go we have converted happily to shearwells bubble tags- after several disappointing tries with others.
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I think you are running pretty much, starting with sheep, goat and pigs all at the same time... most of us took it a lot slower...
Sorry, i haven't made myself clear on this one..i have very little experience, with sheep goats or pigs, Helen has been working with them for the last two years, but on the keeper side, she worked in a farm theme park, but had very little to do with the official stuff like movement records etc etc but was hands on with lambing, kidding, feet, dagging, etc etc she also worked with the pigs, deer, donkey's and fowl….i haven't, but i need to learn as well…