The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: white-blazes on April 26, 2011, 09:49:02 pm
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I'm confused. I was told by somebody today that my pigs need tags in now, and should have had the breeders tags in.
They came with nowt and we are going to order our own this week when hubby gets home, but intended on tagging them the 'night before' they go to slaughter.
Should they be wearing the breeders tags and flock no. now?
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If they are under 1 year they can be moved on a temporary marker, not needing tags.
You can then put your metal tags in the night before going to the abattoir.
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Sorry but your "somebody" is wrong.
Being in Wales, you come under the Pigs (Records Identification and Movement) (Wales) Order 2008
Sections 7&8 state :
Identification of pigs moved off a holding
7.—(1) No person may move a pig off a holding unless it has—
(a)an ear tag with the letters “UK” followed by the herdmark of the holding from which it is being moved; or.
(b)a tattoo showing that herdmark (with or without the letters “UK”)..
Exception for a pig less than one year old
8.—(1) Article 7 does not apply in relation to a pig less than one year old provided that it is identified with a temporary mark that—
(a)either by itself or by reference to a document accompanying the pig during the movement, enables the holding from which the pig was last moved to be identified; and.
(b)lasts until the pig reaches its destination..
(2) This exception does not apply in relation to a pig being moved—
(a)to a market;.
(b)to a slaughterhouse;.
(c)for the purposes of intra-Community trade or export; or.
(d)to a show, etc. in accordance with article 10
So for your circumstances your pig arrived with only a temporary paint mark. As long as it remains on your holding, it needs no further ID,no mater how long it is with you. It then only needs ID when it goes to the abattoir.
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So for your circumstances your pig arrived with only a temporary paint mark. As long as it remains on your holding, it needs no further ID,no mater how long it is with you. It then only needs ID when it goes to the abattoir.
No, it has nothing on it, no paint mark, no tattoo, nothing ??? Just the movement paperwork, that's all I had.
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oh dear it looks like a lot of people have no idea what is required and what they have to comply with to be legal :o :o :o :wave:
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oh dear it looks like a lot of people have no idea what is required and what they have to comply with to be legal :o :o :o :wave:
No I don't have an idea, and have relied on advice off people, and this forum. The breeder said when they delivered that they didn't need their tags in, so I thought that was ok, then another person who bought pigs off the same breeder as me, has told me we should have had them with tags.
It's a minefield, I thought keeping pigs would be a doddle - but keeping horses is much easier ;D
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Crazy rules worse than sheep and there stuppid, spoke to an auctioneer today about selling weaners and was told dont need a tag but better with one !!!!
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No I don't have an idea, and have relied on advice off people, and this forum. The breeder said when they delivered that they didn't need their tags in, so I thought that was ok, then another person who bought pigs off the same breeder as me, has told me we should have had them with tags.
It's a minefield, I thought keeping pigs would be a doddle - but keeping horses is much easier ;D
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Don't worry - the breeder was right that they didn't need tags, although they should have had a temporary mark - but the temporary paint mark is exactly that - was supposed to last the journey, no more, so if the breeder didn't mark it, too late and no problem now.
As stated, no need to do any ID until they go to slaughter, your "other person" is mistaken.
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Don't worry - the breeder was right that they didn't need tags, although they should have had a temporary mark - but the temporary paint mark is exactly that - was supposed to last the journey, no more, so if the breeder didn't mark it, too late and no problem now.
As stated, no need to do any ID until they go to slaughter, your "other person" is mistaken.
Thank you oaklandspigs very much for clearing that up for me, much appreciated ;)
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Hi there,
My boys are going to the abbattoir on Friday and i have the tags and tagger ready for them. I was wondering if anyone had any good tips for doing the tagging as quickly and stress free as possible. Our pigs are quite tame but extremely active so they will let you stroke them but dont stand still for too long. Should we do it once we've loaded them in the trailer so they have less room to run off or should we try to do it while they are feeding and let them run away once its done?
p.s. they look like they are REALLY going to hurt...ouch
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I do them the night before going off at feed time. They are busy eating and hardly notice the tags going in....If they do it's just a quick head shake and then they are back to eating again.
Good luck and let us know how you get on.
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Thanks a lot - I'll give it a go the night before and then i still have time in the morning if I'm unsuccessful.
Now its just a challenge of making sure only the 3 boys go into the trailer and not our girls. The tend to go everywhere en mass!
I'll let you know how it goes
P
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Well we did ours in the shed (wooden) which was their house, and they ran round and round so much I thought the sides were going to burst. Next time it will be in the metal trailer, we'll position it in their field and bed it down with straw so to encourage them to go in and sleep/feed - well that's the plan ::) 8)
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I've just used a slap marker for the first time and got to say it was dead easy to use. The guy I was With normally tags and he said he's going to get one as it was much easier.
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May I suggest to anyone who is unclear about tagging to contact the local animal health or trading standards and not to just rely on advice from "other pig keepers" with the exception of a few, they often mean well but may give you conflicting or wrong information. tagging, ID and movements are specific to pigs and you could easily find yourself in hot water should you get it wrong.
do not leave it to chance - just pick up the phone and give them a call......
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I've just used a slap marker for the first time and got to say it was dead easy to use. The guy I was With normally tags and he said he's going to get one as it was much easier.
How do you go about getting one of them then, is there a website anywhere we can order from?
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Hi I got mine from supplies for smallholders, SFS is on here. Excellent service and good product reasonably priced.
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Thanks Helen,
By the way we have now published a set of Slapping hints / tips as well - just look for the link in the info box on the left of our site.
Thanks
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Thanks, I had a look at the slap stuff, they look quite cruel, are they like a tattoo type thing, full of needles?
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Yes they are a tattoo.
Not cruel at all, cant be ripped out unlike a tag. (either when the pig is alive or in the process after slaughter)
And the pigs hardly notice it when it is done.
Thanks
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Ok thanks, I will show hubby next week when he's home from work, see if he thinks it will be easier for him than the metal tags. That was the one job he hated doing and we only had 2 pigs, this time we have 4 :o
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Seriously it's dead easy to do and the pigs hardly noticed it.
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They do look a bit horrific but I'm assured they're not as bad. I suppose on a reasonably grown pig all they're doing is puncturing the skin and the top layer of fat. Haven't done ours yet though.
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You can tattoo from 10 weeks of age using 10mm characters - the tattoo then "grows" with the pig to be the required 15mm by slaughter weight.
Thanks
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Ours are now 11 weeks old. What age would you put the 15mm on, to make sure it's ok for slaughter?
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Hi,
The 15mm is the standard size, this can be used anytime up to slaughter, but I would wait until the pigs are slightly older before using 15mm - I can't be precise with the age as I have no idea how big your pigs are - but I would suggest that it would be OK from around 12 weeks onwards.
As a matter of interest, the reason you can't slapmark before 10 weeks is that the piglets body is very efficient when it is very young, and as such will "Cleanse" even permanent Ink from the skin / fat (But not from cartilage)
Thanks
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We have taken 3 litters to slaughter so far and have decided tagging in the trailer on way to abattoir is the best...when we have tagged night before tags have been lost. Am now thinking of changing to slap mark when used all my tags that way you are also guaranteed you own pigs back which is always a worry for me. Good luck.