The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Womble on August 16, 2020, 10:57:38 pm
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One of our porkers has decided to celebrate nearly reaching slaughter weight by losing his ear tag. They were all tagged by the breeder when we picked them up, so I don't have any other tags here I can use.
I also can't find any references online to red replacement tags as I would use if he were a sheep. Can anybody advise what we should do please? We're in Scotland BTW.
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Ask the breeder for another.
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You should call Animal Health for the current guidance as it always seems to change! Holding of birth tags should be removed and they should be taken for slaughter with your tags on, although in practice, if they are all tagged I don't think anyone would pick you up on it.
That is the last guidance I recieved anyway
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You should call Animal Health for the current guidance as it always seems to change! Holding of birth tags should be removed and they should be taken for slaughter with your tags on, although in practice, if they are all tagged I don't think anyone would pick you up on it.
That is the last guidance I recieved anyway
I also believe pigs should go with tags from their last holding to slaughter but it seems people take them with the original tags in. I'm not sure why people tag their weaners before they sell them. It is a waste of tags.
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Ah ok, this is only our second batch of weaners. The first time, the seller tagged them as we loaded them into the trailer, and we just sent them to slaughter using those numbers. The EAML database was updated automatically as the movement to the abattoir was received, and all was well - I thought!
I therefore thought that was just what you were supposed to do, so again asked for them to be tagged this time at point of sale. It made sense to me at the time because that's what you do for sheep, and what sort of maniac would invent a different system for pigs? :dunce:
[member=24672]harmony[/member] - So say I buy three new tags with my own herd number on them, and tag, how do I change the EAML records to show this? Surely I'm going to end up with three (old tag) pigs still shown as resident on my holding, and three more with new numbers that appeared from nowhere? ???
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[member=2128]Womble[/member] when you registered on the eaml2 system it should have asked you for your herdmark? When you select the herdmark you would normally select your own but you must have added the herdmark from the pig tags so it wouldn't necessarily pick up on this. For example I borrowed a boar who has a tag, so I wouldn't put mine in. If you look on the eaml2 system you can see what herdmarks you have registered by looking at the drop down box by that question.
If it was ok last time it will probably be fine this time as they can see those pigs came on and are going off. I don't think you will be taken to task. The worst would be a letter saying don't do it again.
Under a year of age pigs can move between holdings on a temporary paint mark. I never tag weaners being sold for fattening. Everyone puts their own in.
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I'm not sure why people tag their weaners before they sell them. It is a waste of tags.
They would need to have tags in for the journey from the breeder to the new owners.
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I'm not sure why people tag their weaners before they sell them. It is a waste of tags.
They would need to have tags in for the journey from the breeder to the new owners.
No. Pigs under a year of age moving between holdings can move on a temporary paint mark.
From gov.uk "All pigs must be identified by an eartag or tattoo (either on the ear or a slapmark on the shoulder) containing your herdmark before they can leave the holding. Pigs less than 12 months old moving between farms can be identified by a temporary paint mark instead.".
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OK, the resolution:
- I phoned the abbatoir. They weren't particularly bothered about the missing tag as long as the right animal number is on the movement doc.
- However, I was a bit nervous about that, so I called my tag supplier to see if I could get a replica tag. They said no I couldn't, and what I am supposed to do is remove the tags from ALL pigs and replace them with my own herd number before sending to slaughter.
- The thing is, if I do that, I've effectively invented three extra pigs, right? So how do I identify them on the SCOTEID system? So I phoned SCOTEID. They said there was no need to re-tag the pigs which still have their tags after all, and that it's ok for me to send them to slaughter with their original tags and numbers. However, for the one that's lost its tag, I need to re-tag using my own herd number, and then make a note in my herd book to say that I have re-tagged.
So there you have it (maybe!). Quite why they couldn't have had the same system for pigs as sheep I don't know, but at least that last point 3 above gives us a way forward. Now I just have to find a way of re-tagging 100kg of excitable pig. Wish me luck!! :o
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OK, so here's what actually happened:
- I re-tagged the pig with the lost tag with our own number, and wrote that I'd done that in my herd register. Thankfully the new tag fitted through the same hole as the old one had fallen out of, so I don't think he even noticed.
- I then did the electronic movement documents for one of "my" pigs and the two others with their original numbers (as in no way am I going to be able to remove old tags and re-tag 2x 100kg pigs - it's just not going to happen)
- The movement doc was accepted by the abattoir
- And the kill sheet came back with "3 pigs, [my herd number] 001,002,003"
Which just goes to prove that you can't win 'em all, can you!?
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You have received 3 pigs and sent three pigs so there isn't likely to be a problem. Should you get a visit to check your paperwork you are likely to be advised they should have all gone with your tags in but I doubt anything worse will happen.
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Yes, that's what I thought too.
At least we got our own pigs back, and all of them this time. Last year we were a bit disappointed by the yield until the butcher found another three boxes at the back of his freezer with our name on them three weeks later! :o
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We had an extra leg once :innocent: