The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: mab on October 28, 2019, 07:12:15 pm
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silly question:
planning on taking 2 pigs to Tregaron abattoir shortly. They came here with tags from their original holding and still have them. I assume I should put that herd mark in the section 'consignment herd mark' on the eaml form but looking at the eaml2 'how to' powerpoint, it suggests I put my own herd no. Which is the right thing to put there?
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I had this issue sending my last lot of pigs.. Apparently you should tag with your own tags for the trip? Its probably best to ring Eaml2 direct as their advise to me (Remove origional tags and tag with your own), sounded really silly so has probably been clarified?
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Hmm, that does sound silly to me too - so i didn't ask such a silly question after all. ;D
Thanks for your reply.
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I use a slap mark. Much easier that re tagging.
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I use a slap mark. Much easier that re tagging.
We slap mark all our pigs when they go on their 'holidays'.
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It is not a silly question.
Yes, the pigs should have your ear tag in or slap mark for a forward move from your holding.
There is no need for pigs under a year of age to be tagged for a movement between farms so if people didn't tag weaners this problem would be largely removed. However, weaners through an auction will always be tagged.
It is a rather daft idea that a tag is removable or that on the hardest animal to restrain you would be expected to remove a tag!
When you fill in the eaml2 form you can only enter herd marks and slap marks registered to you. I think I would just add my tag and in the box where it asks if the pig has any other identification I would say yes, previous holding tag and tell them that herd mark too. I would also tell the abattoir and if yours has the same system as ours (white board on pen door) I would write on the door my name, details of pigs and say double tagged.
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Asked the "silly question" to eaml2 this morning by their contact form and here is their answer.
There is no need to remove the previous owners ear tag, we would suggest you add your ear tag to the other ear.
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Aha!, well that's sort of an answer I suppose. If I were keeping pigs on a regular basis I might invest in slap marking kit, but as it is I don't have any plans to get more, so it's just sending these two off. (idly wondering how well slap marking works on black skin)
There is no need for pigs under a year of age to be tagged for a movement between farms so if people didn't tag weaners this problem would be largely removed. However, weaners through an auction will always be tagged.
OK so mine probably needn't've been tagged when they came here. It's a moot point for me now, but I can't help wondering: if pigs can be moved without tags at <1yr and subsequent moves are all with different marks - how does that help with tracking pig movements? ???
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All pigs have white skin.
Pig movements are all tracked by licence like sheep and cattle. The vast majority of movements are by commercial units dealing with large numbers in batches. Hence some of the questions on the eaml2 form.
For small keepers weaners are generally sold once to someone to fatten and then on to slaughter so two moves. Breeding pigs may move more often but pedigree pigs should also be identified by a notch, tattoo or double tags with an identifier.
Checks happen during inspections so if you had two pigs on and moved one to slaughter then you should still have one at home, which they would check at inspection.
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All pigs have white skin.
Oh OK, only when one of mine shed her hair over the summer she looked sort of black to me - but she's gone now so I can't check.
As for the movements - I guess I'm just used to sheep who get a/two tags on their original holding and keep it/them for life which seems more logical to me.
Thanks for the help everyone.
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All pigs have white skin.
Oh OK, only when one of mine shed her hair over the summer she looked sort of black to me - but she's gone now so I can't check.
It is a common misconception that black pigs have black skin but we have kept Large Blacks, Saddlebacks and Berkshire and they all have the same colour skin on the hook.