The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: plumseverywhere on November 06, 2010, 05:26:31 pm
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OK so I've been naughty for too long now and need to do this. A friend got caught last weekend and she lives literally a mile up the road...
tomorrow I will be tagging reggie and savannah. The tags (which i didnt' have enough of anyway) and applicator arrived (far too quickly) on friday. I have to say Dalton were incredibly helpful and answered all my daft questions and advised me brilliantly and I think they sent the item via harrier jump jet so if you need anything quickly, they are the peeps to visit.
questions are - do you numb your goats ears? or just get on with it? any other tips for tomorrow's dreaded task? will obviously be reading loads tonight and looking for youtube clips of it, in between making monkey farts bath bombs and soap obviously (distraction methods, always my downfall!!)
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No numbing required - Just go for it and get it done quickly and in the right place (depending on tag used) avoiding the centre vein and not too close to the head and they'll barely notice... If you're feeling really guilty after the event - Get them some treats and give them those as soon as you're done - They'll soon show you they're not in any lasting pain! :)
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good luck!
must order tags myself...
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Mine have Shearwells tags, EID ones, (I need them for the shep, so wasn't going to order double...) and they were tagged at 4 months as I took them to a show. No problems at all (so far), and the offer of a bit of extra mix straight after tagging was all that was needed for distraction. They did scream for a minute or so though, but nothing more than would be expected. No bleeding or infection since.
It's one of these things, necessary by law if actually otherwise completely unnecessary piece of ID, but you just have to get on with it...
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Oh dear , I have my tags but cowardice in the goat dep (cause they are our babies) deters us. Sheep we can do with our eyse closed. If you can show the tags and the posh gun does that count as OK ::)
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Unfortunately there is no leeway with this one.
I now know of several cases of prosecution with huge fines for goats being left untagged after 12 months old. In one case the guy has been banned from keeping goats for life because he refused to tag.
In my opinion, it is legalised cruelty and should be changed. What was the matter with correct tattoo-ing ?
There is a move afoot to revisit this possibility with microchips being inserted under the ear. This would satisfy the requirements for scrapie monitored herds where the head is sent for testing. Also it would stop the identity of goats being changed - very easy to substitute one tage for another. Tattooing would prevent this.
If changes for the better occur - it cant come soon enough for me - then I imagine the wheels of authority will take some time for it to become legal.
In the meantime, keep tagging.
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;)strange how when defra come looking the ear tags will go in, was it not you plumseverywhere that said you would pay the fine if defra came looking, i am sure i remember this on another ear tag post in august.
btw i would also give daltons a pat on the back for its service always super fast & friendly.
good luck with the tagging :) and remember to wipe the ear with a antiseptic wipe prior to tagging to minimise risk of infection.
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it was me that would pay the fine until I realised i have to take my girl off site to get her mated...the billy owner isn't going to have her without tags...
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Next time look into AI! Worcs goat society are getting quite excited about it.
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;)sorry plums i read your post as thought you were tagging because a friend got caught without tags.
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I will do Katie ;) just saw some FB pics of Fay and the 'equipment'!!
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just twigged who you are 'katie' I think - have you got bunnies for sale in the same shop where I sell my soap? must get that coffee sorted soon if you are who I think you are ;D
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chickenfeed, i think you are probably right, its been a bit of both really. have had such a horrible month (lost milking goat and then 2 cats on the road within a week) the thought of telling the kids that xmas would be a bit tight this year due to mummy not tagging the goats and being hit with a fine made me wobble and back down.
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I ought to get down to tagging the last three yrs accidents but due to the billies having to be chucked in with the girls last month to stop them from escaping I will have at least 17 next year so will wait till then as Countrywide or whatever they call themselves can't get less than 50 and with double tagging that will mean 100 and then theres a new tagger so thats more expense.
I far prefer tagging to earmarking (no screaming and no blood)but the small ear taggs only stayed in for about 3/6 months and the ones I like aren't available any more.Double that and the price soon starts adding up!
I guess I'll start worrying about it when trading standards send me some more movement forms and as I've been waiting 5yrs for those ::).........
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if you need a tagger and your tags are the same as mine, you can use my new one :) I'll get the armed police van that keeps driving round our village every 15 minutes to drop it in to you lol!
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I think I noticed that the other day there were about four differant types of police vehicles all up each others ass,what was that all about?!
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Yep - 3 very sweet baby bunnies still for sale (tho' getting bigger every day!). Coffee's still on the hob!
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there was an incident outside our infant school and also they have launched 'operation net' apparantly which is concentrating on 'crime in the cleeve prior area' aftrer 3 trays of tomatoes, a pushbike, some scrap and a mazda got nicked.
we struggled with our last litter of bunnies, was lucky that a pet shop in malvern was really keen so they went there. turns out 2 of them have had a huge enclosure built for them and are being spoilt rotten ;D I've still got a boy guinea pig here...
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There's been a lot of trouble round here recently. It's good they're cracking down on it.
We sold a couple of rabbits through Preloved - to someone who had installed our new bathrooms a couple of years ago. Everyone round here knows everyone.....
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Just worked out who jinglejoys is - used to see you at the DFT! Small world.
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They are now proud owners of matching purple earrings. They took it quite well, custard cream biccies helped, not something I would like to have to do again in a hurry. ick ick!!
Fortunately had a lovely friend who keeps sheep and pigs and she did the icky bit while I gave them the custard cream, 9 year old was on hand to pass the tags bless her!