The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: ann_of_loxley on August 01, 2018, 08:44:42 am
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We are getting sheep soon. Three lambs that I have been bottle feeding and looking after for awhile now. They are literally in the field next to our house so only a few yards from our own field. A CPH covers 5 miles radius I read...so would they even need a movement license to walk a few yards into our field when they make their final move?
They will be kept as pets only by the way. (I have a soft spot for sheep and love these three very much so they are welcome to live their natural life with me)
And because they will be kept as pets, I don't actually like the ear tags...but I appreciate they have to be registered some how? We have a flock number but how do I, if at all possible, get around the ear tags? They won't ever be going to a slaughter house and as they will be my pets I was considering getting them microchipped? Any help and/or advice here will be greatly appreciated! TIA
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If they're transferring into your ownership, then you need to get a flock number to go with your CPH. Then the movement license is just a bit of paper that the seller should be able to help you with - it's not too difficult.
Tags are also essential I'm afraid, since even if these are your pets, they're still technically livestock. However, if it's the size of the tags that's the issue, you could maybe switch to something smaller, like the Shearwell SET tags my friend squinty is wearing in the attached photo.
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They will have to be tagged by their current owner before they leave his/her premises, so there's no way of getting round tags. You shouldn't have to do anything r.e. the tags- just make sure the seller tags them with 2 tags. Don't accept them onto your holding if they aren't tagged properly. They should come with a movement form that the seller fills out, 1 copy goes to arams, 1 to the transporter, 1 to you and the other to the seller. Then the movement recorded in your flock book. Whether they are pets or commercial sheep they all have to be treated the same. As womble says they will move onto your CPH, the 5 mile thing only comes into play if you take on extra grazing under your CPH and the sheep are in your name/ownership.
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Thanks. The movement thing won't be an issue (we have had pigs - but we do eat those), so I won't be unfamiliar with them...just was not sure if it was required in this instance.
Shame about the ear tags though...but if it is a requirement and no way around it, then I guess I will just have to accept it!
We already have a flock number - I got that sorted out awhile ago when I was sure these were the ones! hehe
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Okay so..the 'Bubblegum EiD' looks nice....
I need two tags per sheep?
Do they have to be a specific colour?
The website is asking only for our flock number when ordering the tags so what information has to be on the tags? (on two?)
Thanks
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Sorry, it is just that the website is a little confusing. They have have to have two tags because I intend to keep them for over a year yes?....One tag will have our flock number on it... The second one has what number on it?
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[member=178474]ann_of_loxley[/member] , Close, but no cigar!
They must be wearing ear tags when they transfer into your ownership (and from your original post, I kinda thought they were already?).You don't have to do anything with those tags - they keep them for life.
For now, let's just assume they'll come onto your holding wearing double (breeding) tags. If they come on with a single (slaughter) tag then that's slightly different, so ask again if that happens (no point in complicating things now!).
What I was trying to say above is that if you don't like the type of tags they come with (say they're too large for your liking, and you're worried they'll get caught on things), then you may if you wish replace them with another type, like the bubblegum tags. However, if you do that, they'll be 'replica' tags, and will carry exactly the same information as the originals.
For info, both tags carry the same information, i.e. flock number and individual animal number. The only difference is that the yellow one has an EID chip in it, whilst the other one (colours vary) only contains the printed information.
Does that make sense?
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The rules are ore tag is yellow and elecronic . The other tag can be a colour of your choosing apart from yellow. Both tags will have the same information, i.e. a flock number and an individual number for each sheep, which will be allocated by the supplier of the tags. HOWEVER in this case none of the above applies as you can only arrange the tags for sheep born on your holding, so they will have to be tagged by the seller before they come to you, assuming the seller bred them.
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Womble if Ann of loxley choses to replace the tags that the sheep come with, they ought to be replaced with double RED tags with her flock number on. The red shows that the flock number is not the flock of birth.
Why make things complicated though, just make sure the sheep are tagged with double tags before they move to your holding and keep the tags... they are all much of a muchness and no brand of tag is drastically smaller or bigger than another brand of tag.
Whatever you choose to do, both tags must match eachother i.e. both have identical information on.
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Womble if Ann of loxley choses to replace the tags that the sheep come with, they ought to be replaced with double RED tags with her flock number on.
OK! I wish I'd never suggested it now! :-[
But they could be replaced with like-for-like replica tags (i.e. with the same number as the original tags) if that's what Ann wanted to do. In fact, if any of our bought in sheep lose a tag, that's what the Zwartbles Society rules say we must do. But yes, red replacement tags would work too of course.
I do wish they hadn't made all this so complicated - it's a real minefield for the uninitiated!
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Okay, thanks...wow...yeah...minefield! ....
They are not already tagged. I didn't think this was an issue yet as they are only just approaching 6 months and have not yet been moved.
The farmer usually just breeds his own and they go to slaughter. He got his hands full with me when I fell in love with them and decided to buy them from him...haha....
I could save him the hassle by buying the tags I want on them - with the information that he needs to put on them...and then we can all be happy? lol (and then I won't have to replace any tags, they will just have the tags they get to keep for life)....
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I think he'll need to buy them seeing that it's on his holding and flock number. I don't think I can buy tags for my neighbour... plus you normally can't just buy 3 sets of tags, normally breeding (double) tags are sold in runs of 10-20.
If he's farming commercially just ask him to double tag the lambs and be done with it. It's the application that can cause retention problems with tags, not the tags themselves. If he tags them properly (and I'm sure he will) then there shouldn't be a problem regardless of the tag brand or type.
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I could save him the hassle by buying the tags I want on them - with the information that he needs to put on them...and then we can all be happy? lol (and then I won't have to replace any tags, they will just have the tags they get to keep for life)...
The tags they get to keep for life are the ones applied at their holding of birth. You do not change the tags to your own CPH/flock number, unless they are lost, in which case you would replace them with red tags.
And, yes only the original breeder can buy tags for his flock - you cannot buy tags in another breeder's name.
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Okay thanks. That is all very helpful!
One of our pigs lost a tag once. So I know it happens. Just to be sure on the sheep front ....If they ever lost their tags, I would have to replace them with red tags only? And these tags can have my flock number/cph on it? Or the numbers they came with? Thanks
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They come with a pair from their place of birth (a yellow chipped one and another colour in the other ear)
If they lose one of those tags, you just replace it with the same details as before (and you need a replacement yellow one if it's the yellow one lost).
But if they lose both their tags and, say, you lost the original tag numbers or for some other reason cannot replace them with the original details, then you get red tags with your own flock number on.
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Okay thanks. That is all very helpful!
One of our pigs lost a tag once. So I know it happens. Just to be sure on the sheep front ....If they ever lost their tags, I would have to replace them with red tags only? And these tags can have my flock number/cph on it? Or the numbers they came with? Thanks
The tags that the farmer must put in the sheep before they arrive with you are their tags for life. If they lose them you buy replacement tags in red with the same information on them. The farmer should have plenty of tags plus the applicator to apply them. If you put your information on them and have a visit from trading standards you would have to explain how you have sheep without parents!
With pigs they do not need a tag under the age of 12 months to move between two holdings so most people finishing pigs don't put them in until they go to slaughter, so you don't have to worry about lost ones.
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TAGGING AGH !! glad to see most have got it correct , any sheep brought onto your holding that looses a tag You have two options order an EXACT REPLICA with the sellers flock number and the sheep's individual number to match the tag still in the sheep OR you can buy RED eid pair tags with YOUR flock number and individual numbers and replace both tags